There is much that is familiar in Luv Ranjan’s new movie Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety and there is much that isn’t. The man who is deeply suspicious of women has shades of the male leads from Ranjan’s breakout hit Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011). The barbs and broadsides have been heard before too. The three main actors in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety have all featured in Ranjan’s previous projects – in fact, Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha have headlined the director’s four films till date. Sunny Singh Nijjar too featured in Ranjan’s last movie, the Pyaar Ka Punchnama sequel.
The difference? In Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, a man is jealous of the woman who is going to marry his best friend. Sonu (Aaryan) tries his best to wreck the upcoming wedding between his best friend Titu (Sunny Singh) and Sweety (Bharucha). “In India, they say that marriage happens between two families,” Ranjan said. “But in cities, friends have become the new family. So for a marriage to work, it is imperative that your friends like the new person in your life and vice versa. It is saas-bahu with a twist.”
With two hits under his belt, Ranjan has the clout to cast big names for his movies. Why does he return to the same set of actors?
Well, why not? “As long as I have a story which can be told through these actors, what is the reason that I should not cast them?” Ranjan said. “I am not one to believe in the star system, first of all. Today, if my film is a hit, these actors will be stars for someone else. They are good actors, hard working, they believe in me and I share a great rapport with them. I am not bored of them yet. And they are still young so they can be molded any way I want. So why go for anyone else?”
The recycling of actors is one strand running through Ranjan’s pungent comedies. The other is the male-centric point of view on romance. Ranjan’s movies have the flavor of a campside rant by a group of men about the women in their lives. In Pyaar Ka Punchnama, the three women who date the three heroes are revealed to be manipulative opportunists. The heroes find salvation only after they break up. The film became a sleeper hit, and its scenes have particular resonance with young men, especially a five-minute monologue by Aaryan about the difficulties men face in relationships.
The moment was replicated in Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 with an even longer monologue. Both movies have been big successes.
Is Ranjan sexist, or worse still, misogynist? “If 50 per cent of the world is women, is it any way possible that all of them are nice?” he argued. “Who is a misogynist? In television, they show sari-wearing coy women who are getting tortured and tormented. Are they misogynist or am I one, where my women are as strong as men and they have the power to torment men just like that? Of course, women will have a certain amount of power in a relationship. Why should I show them as weak?”
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