Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar (2023) Hindi Movie Review

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Anubhav Singh Bassi, Dimple Kapadia, Boney Kapoor, Monica Chaudhary

Director: Luv Ranjan

This boy-meets-girl story, of flirting, falling in love, and then falling out of it equally soon, is as jaded as it gets. Families get involved and finally, there is a climax that's no rocket science to guess! Director Luv Ranjan's Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar starring Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, is a film that plays with the extremes. The funny parts are extremely funny, and the boring parts are intolerably boring.

The characters are confident and gorgeous onscreen, and that's what Ranjan makes the most of by showing countless close-up shots of them - crying, laughing, kissing or shamelessly ogling at each other. In parts, you would feel like it's a mixture of Ranbir Kapoor's earlier films, and then Ranjan peppers it with signature romcom flavour taking punches from Pyaar Ka Punchnama as well as Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety - oh yes, there are cameos that give a crossover feel. But as a whole, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar never comes together as a wholesome, perfect script that you would laud wholeheartedly.

Micky (Ranbir) and Tinny (Shraddha) meet at the bachelor party of their respective best friends Dabbas (Anubhav Singh Bassi) and Kinchi (Monica Chaudhary). They have an instant connection and ishq wala love happens. Micky is a family-oriented guy who can't do without his family members, Tinny is an independent career-oriented girl who needs her own space and life. Only a breakup guru can help them part ways. But is it that simple after the families are involved and the couple is almost about to get engaged? Will they make the ultimate compromise in love and career? Or as Sima Aunty (from Indian Matchmaking says), you can only get 60-70 percent compatibility, you never get 100 percent. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar touches chords with the modern-age romantic relationships and issues that aren't far from reality albeit there's no moral compass that the director defines for his characters.

The first half has no head or tail, and just keeps dragging in its mediocre writing. Micky and Tinny's romance blossoms in the most absurd manner with some cheesy pickup lines that are unapologetically mysogynist, too, but then when has Ranjan bothered about that. He does it in a manner that you'd find half of the people in the theatre whistling and cheering on those lines. Even the girl has some really problematic lines like inviting the guy to literally ogle at her, or at least some may feel so. The first half, for most part, it looks as if Ranjan just picked a template out of Imtiaz Ali's Tamasha, and replaced Deepika Padukone with Shraddha. A boy and a girl meet on a holiday, get along in the first meeting, lay down relationship rules only to be meant broken later, fall in love and the usual complications occur.

Second half opens up on a promising note but in no time, the story turns so predictable that you can almost guess it scene by scene. It's actually the last 30 minutes when the film truly redeems itself in the most hilarious, emotional and genuinely funny way. I mean, if you just saw that portion of the film, you won't feel you missed the earlier 144 minutes. It's so entertaining that if Ranjan would have stuck to that tone and pace from the beginning, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar would have been a near-perfect watch.

Throughout the film, humour is there but jokes don't always land perfectly. In fact, more than the main characters, it's the people around them who have lines that trigger some genuine laughs with their dialogues. A master in monologue writing and making his actors say those in a breathless manner, Ranjan has taken it to another level this time. There are countless monologues and almost everyone gets to say one, including Shraddha and Anubhav. It was a bit much to handle! As for the writing, the first hour seems like disjointed lines put together, not making much sense. Though later, some cleverly placed references of Alia Bhatt and some iconic family films are too good.

While Ranjan's story that he has co-written with Rahul Moody, is full of flaws, its the treatment that stands out for me here. Ranjan once again captures the essence of friendship in the most beautiful way. As Ranbir's buddy, Anubhav not only gets adequate screen time but ample scope to perform as well. Their bromance is perhaps the highlight in the first half over the lead couple's romance. For a big screen debut, he's extremely confident and has a great comic timing too. Monica Chaudhary as Shraddha's best friend Kinchi is okay and just passable in her debut act. As for the lead pair, Ranbir is in top form in the rom-com genre, and he charms you with his infamous Casanova image. His scenes in the first half definitely remind you of Bachna Ae Haseeno and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, while post interval, some emotional portions took me back to Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Rockstar times. He plays both the romantic guy and heartbroken hero with equal ease, and honestly, there's nobody who does it better than him. Complementing him well on-screen, Shraddha delivers a very controlled performance though she goes a bit overboard in the emotionally charged scenes where tears start to shed even before the director would have said 'action'. I mean, beyond a point, they don't even look real. But she looks stunning in every frame, especially after she has fully stepped out of her comfort zone and donned a bikini. Even the chemistry between both the lead actors is quite interesting and doesn't look off.

Even the family relationships that Ranjan explores are heart-warming, especially Micky's modern family setup. Be it the cool daadi, loud yet caring mother (Dimple Kapadia), busy-in-his-own-world but always there father (Boney Kapoor), a loving sister (Hasleen Kaur) and the sweetest child in the family (Inayat Verma) who's shown to be a bit too mature for her age (she's a show stealer), they're a riot together.

Dimple is too good in whatever she does. Even when she's screaming at the top of her voice, you love her. She commands a strong screen presence and the film does full justice to her carefree spirit. Boney Kapoor is badly wasted here without any dialogues or even proper scenes. It's only a couple of times you seen him talk but never beyond a line or two. In fact, Hasleen has way better dialogues and screen time than him. Inayat is a show stealer, though showing a kid making a peg for herself with juice could have been well avoided.

If you a fan of Bollywood music, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar won't disappoint you as it has not one or two but five-six full-fledged songs. Three of them come in the first 30-40 minutes and they're peppy tracks.- Don't care if they were needed in the storyline or not!

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar is your age-old love story packaged in a modern day setup. It's weird and problematic but rendered in a funny manner, which might hook you in. You may struggle to sit through the pre-interval but things settle a bit after that. Definitely a one-time watch for some entertaining performances and monologues, if you love them as much as Kartik Aaryan does because it definitely helped him click with the masses.

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