It's been a while since Hindi cinema had a zany, well-written comedy, applauds Deepa Gahlot.
There are stars who refuse to age, and continue to act opposite leading ladies half their age. And then, there's Ajay Devgn, who sportingly does a comedy about an older man, who has to meet the parents of his much younger girlfriend. They are the same age as he is, and complications ensue.
In the first film De De Pyaar De (2019), Londoner Ashish (Devgn) took Ayesha (Rakul Preet Singh) to India to meet his ex-wife (Tabu) and grown up kids, and chickening out at the last minute, introduced her as his secretary.
That tangle eventually got sorted, mainly thanks to the grace of the wife.
In the sequel, directed by Anshul Sharma from a script by Luv Ranjan and Tarun Jain, Ayesha does not have the nerve to tell her Chandigarh-based parents about her much older boyfriend, so she hides behind the dizzy joy caused by her sister-in-law Kittu's (Ishta Dutta) pregnancy, to break it to them gently -- every time the conversation goes there, Kittu pretends to go into labour.
But the secret is out before she is prepared and the parents -- Rakesh (R Madhavan) and Anju (Gautami Kapoor) -- insist on meeting Ashish. Their line about being educated, progressive and modern becomes a running gag.
Ayesha tries to conceal Ashish's age from her parents, and when they find out, they are appalled.
Ashish is not too comfortable either; for one, he does not know how to address them!
How does one call people the same age Mummy-Papa or Aunty-Uncle?
His psychiatrist buddy, Ronak (a droll Jaaved Jaaferi), advises him to try some filmi tricks to impress the parents, and his attempt to cook for them ends in exchanging info about their anti-cholesterol medication!
The interactions between an increasingly distraught father and embarrassed Ashish make for much hilarity.
Then Rakesh decides he cannot be a passive observer to his daughter's foolishness, and summons her childhood friend, Aditya (Meezaan Jafri) to woo her away from Ashish.
Aditya is young, an agile dancer, a good singer, flaunting six-pack abs and turning Ayesha's cousins into adoring groupies. ('I wish I had a son like that,' says Ronak, which gets a laugh, because Jaaved is Meezaan's father).
Ayesha does youthful stuff like hiking and clubbing, while 'Uncle' Ashish is left smarting in the sidelines, putting up with Rakesh's smug look and Ronak's snide jabs.
The script comes up with in-jokes about Ajay Devgn's earlier films. When Aditya arrives straddling two vehicles, Ashish comments, 'I did that 30 years ago,' to which Ronak says, 'She wasn't born 30 years ago, she didn't see it.'
The sharp banter between the characters is what gives the film its humour, and while it stays that way, there's a chuckle a minute.
For a while, it strays into weepy heartbreak territory and loses its way, till it gathers it wits together again and ends on a comic note.
Madhavan is actually a year younger than Ajay Devgn, and like the father in Cheeni Kum (the 2007 film in which Amitabh Bachchan falls in love with the 30 years younger Tabu), he is understandably worried about his daughter's future.
So his funny attempts to deflect her attention actually win him some sympathy.
Devgn looks a bit morose throughout, since he is the butt of everyone's ageist jokes, but does not try to steal the thunder from other actors, and a very spirited Rakul Preet Singh.
The film is a fun watch, and it's been a while since Hindi cinema had a zany, well-written comedy.
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