Pyaar Ka Punchnama Packs A Punch... But Not Without Flaws

Along with the romantic bits, what are some of the unforgivable atrocities that we end up committing under the garb of love? Where does understanding stop and interference or intrusion begin? What is the ideal proximity that your girlfriend's male best friend should maintain? Is sharing passwords cool or toxic to the relationship? Should the money be equally divided or one of them has to shell out more?

The sequel to 2011's sleeper hit Pyaar Ka Punchnama raises these everyday questions one finds coping up with in a modern romantic relationship. The film features the same template as the first instalment but this time the women are more ferocious and their scheming ways even more intolerable.

Directed by Luv Ranjan, Punchnama 2 paints an unbearably horrid picture of women. But not without a whole lot of fun. In fact, two of the three female characters are so cartoonish - you wouldn't even take them seriously enough to believe them for real people.

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The men - Kartik Aryan, Omkar Kapoor and Sunny Singh share an apartment cool enough to boast of an in-built walkie-talkie system. At any given point, their girlfriends are shopping, clubbing or stalking the boys on the phone. The men are well-educated, successful, decent, women-respecting and almost never manipulative. The girls are exactly the opposite. Much like the first part, this one too is about innocent men victimised by women of the truly dreadful variety.

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Leaving aside its ideological issues, the film genuinely has some terrific moments and there are enough scenes to make you laugh out loud. Like the one just before the interval where the three boys explain their tragic situations by talking like people from the anti-smoking films. Or Kartik Aryan's epic 6-minute monologue that is bound to stir a heated debate on sexism and misogynistic attitudes in cinema. Or the lovely climax where the three men go to the one woman who never disappoints (We aren't revealing who!).

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Among the performances, Omkar Kapoor's act stands out and so does Kartik Aryan's. Both appear comfortable in their skin as cosmopolitan men exhausted by an over-demanding relationship, which in current times isn't a very rare thing. True, Luv and his team of writers could have escaped charges of misogyny had they balanced the film out with one character from each gender having shades of grey, but we must understand that this is not the story he wants to tell.

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His universe features men as hapless souls meant only to be subjugated while women philander, exploit and control them. Until the dudes gather enough courage to do something about it. In that way, he isn't stereotyping women at all, he's just painting them as characters clever enough to get their way. But the problem comes up when all women are shown as exploitative and all men, their victims. While the screenplay scores in the humour department, with well-timed, clever one-liners, the imbalance and straitjacketing of the genders is not justified.

But to give credit where it's due, tons of men - well-educated and sensitive to women's needs with a strong emotional quotient - will relate to the film as it deals with the theme of romantic relationships strictly from the "genuine man's" perspective, to the extent that it offers only a lopsided female viewpoint.

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Like I mentioned earlier, it's a surprisingly well-acted film and the heroines do a convincing job of playing vamps (it looks like they had too much fun essaying those characters). While Nushrat Bharucha gets a little annoying with her obsession with colours and the over-cutesy mannerisms, she inspires quite a few chuckles as well. Ishita Raj, too, is decent while Sonalli Sehgall has a more realistic, grey character and does a good job of handling the role.

The film's running time could have been trimmed by a good 15 minutes as the proceedings get a little repetitive, but it's surely nothing that you can't sit through.

While it is largely a comedy, the film's torrid undercurrent cannot be ignored. Punchnama 2 establishes the perennial mistrust between men and women and how despite everyone's best efforts, the two sexes are yet to figure each other out.

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