Weight of love

Nonika Singh

Yash Raj banner is best known for opulence, larger-than-life romance, super rich and super cool people, picture-perfect bodies, and all things grand. In fact, why blame YRF; Indian cinema as a rule has been obsessed with beautiful people and their tales. But, things are changing and it’s not just offbeat directors and indie films that are treading a different path. Even from the stable of YRF comes a film that tries to capture the joys of ordinary people from very ordinary backgrounds. Kudos to that!
So, here they are, an odd couple if not chalk-meets-cheese. Prem Prakash (Ayushmann Khurrana) is a good-for-nothing semi-literate youngster. He runs a cassette shop (the film is set in 1990s) in Haridwar, is in love with Kumar Shanu’s voice and hopes to marry a pretty damsel. Sandhya Verma (Bhumi Pednekar) is educated, capable, but overweight. Expectedly, law of attraction fails; no sparks fly, though she is taken in by him. Families prevail. In a mass-marriage ceremony, they tie the nuptial knot even though he is not quite happy or interested. Ah, but that’s how millions of marriages in India are arranged, even consummated. So is theirs, but dulhan wahi jo piya man bhaaye.... Only, this dulhan is no coy, blushing bride, but a woman of substance and dare. She takes the initiative to entice her hubby and the scene where she goes to buy nightclothes for the seduction act is rather delectable. But then, she also has the guts to slap him and call off the marriage when her dignity is in question. Till the film’s tagline ‘love comes in all sizes’ comes true, their recriminations and ups and downs of their prem kahani unfold. And it sure is a story youth, especially in small towns, can relate to. Actually, though it never quite transforms into a searing or intense love ballad, the film does touch you, at least in parts, and delights you in many more.
Shorn of glamour and razzmatazz, its treatment is precise and minus appendages. Excess of any kind, be it over-sentimentality or melodrama, has no place here. Even though the film is laced with a significant message, it never comes on strong or heavy-handed. Rather it is suitably interwoven. It is right there, but never a constraint. On the flip side, at points the narrative does turn a bit tepid. Nevertheless, its realism despite quaint touches does not strike a single false note. Nor do its actors. Khurrana finds his métier and comes out of his Punjabi-munda image. As a guy who finds himself trapped in a marriage of coercion, he emotes with just the right degree of subtlety and prowess. The debutant, Bhumi, who by the way was till the other day an assistant casting director despite her girth is endearingly cute as well as incredibly convincing. While all cameos are spot-on, Sanjay Mishra as Khurrana’s father, who browbeats his son as well as spanks him with a chappal, and is equally perturbed about his marital life, deserves a special mention. So does Seema Pahwa as Bhumi’s mother. 
Indeed, in times when India, like the rest of the world, is obsessing over hour-glass bodies, there is a need to take a break from cosmetic looks and love. And the film, whose concept undeniably is praiseworthy, does exactly that. But, if you like your movie spread to be lavish with add-ons that begin and end with one word called glamour, stay away. However, if out-of-the-box ideas engage you, you will be besotted by this charming and  heart-warming tale whose simplicity is its USP. 
Just in case you are wondering about the mouthful title of the film, well it’s the name of a race in which the husband has to carry the wife on his back. Before the feminist in you goes searching for hidden meanings here, let you be reminded, love is an emotion which has nothing to do with isms of any kind.