Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety: A disappointing comedy of sexes

Is all of life a battle between sexes that the director Luv Ranjan (please mind the name) doesn’t want to grow out of or are human relations just measured in a tussle between bro-mance and sex? The Pyar Ka Punchnama fame director’s latest tongue twister Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety is just another addition to the girl bashing that became popular with Pyar Ka Punchnama and was not so palatable in Pyar Ka Punchnama 2. It is literally not acceptable in Sonu Ke…

The film makes you wonder whether the director is a woman-hater. Right from Pyar Ka... he has been crying hoarse about the frailty of a woman’s mind, her selfishness and of her being control freak. (excuse me-can’t girls say the same about boys?)

But, the director seems to have grown in the sense that in his debut film he was talking about girlfriends and how they make lives hell for their boyfriends (barring the sex of course!) and in his latest he is talking about marriage (in which sex is very important of course!)

The story is simple- the BFFs Sonu and Titu’s blessed bromance is challenged when a hot girl Sweety enters Titu’s life. Titu is a rich, spoilt young man who falls in love with any young thing in skirts. Sonu is the watchful friend who always saves him from being ‘exploited’ by the young playful sirens. But Sweety is different- a perfect girl in every sense of the word- pretty, sexy and ‘sanskari’ too. But Sonu seriously doubts the girl and takes it upon himself the job of opening the love struck Titu’s eyes. And lo, in the middle of a perfect romance, Sweety too reveals that she is not so goody-goody. And hence starts a battle between the brother and the bride (to-be). ‘Ladki aur dosti ke beech jeet ladki ki hoti hai..’ (Between friendship and love, love, ie the girl, always wins). And Sonu’s mission is to prove this sentence wrong.

Treating women just as sex objects is not new to Indian cinema. But Luv Ranjan’s films make it loud and crude too. He does not seem to grow out of it perhaps because for him, this has actually sold in the market.

In between comes some sexist comments, comic situations, often seemingly ribald and you aren’t sure if it triggers a headache or a guffaw. It is a happy relief that Alok Nath finally throws away his sanskari avatar and dons the role of an irreverent grandfather. The irreverent grandfather, though funny at times, exasperates with his one-dimensional focus on sex as if that is the only kind of man-woman relationship. The conflict between Sonu and Sweety becomes a sexist scuffle and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Treating women just as sex objects is not new to Indian cinema. But Luv Ranjan’s films makes it loud and crude too. He does not seem to grow out of it perhaps because it actually sells. Nevertheless, today where films such Shaadi mein Zaroor Aana, Bareili ki Barfi, Pad Man and Toilet-Ek Prem Katha have done remarkable business, which have treated women with dignity, assigned them meaty roles and made socially relevant comments, making sexist films as your signature genre can neither last long nor be appreciated much longer.

It is high time our film fraternity realised that there is far more to a relationship than just sex as there is much more to a film than just commercial success. Though there will be section of youngsters (read boys) who may enjoy the frivolity and the humour bordering on vulgarity, the film disappointingly remains a ludicrous comedy of sexes.