Do Aur Do Pyaar is a new Hindi movie directed by Shirsha Guha Thakurta. The cast includes Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Ileana D’Cruz, and Sendhil Ramamurthy.
Do Aur Do Pyaar Review
Vidya Balan anchors this complex tale of infidelity in two middle-aged couples losing their warmth and intimacy in their marriage, and they have extramarital lovers. It is essentially an emotional foursome well served by some strong and nuanced writing.
The Good
- Vidya Balan
- Not squeamish
- Nuanced approach
The Bad
- Long for a relationship drama
- Too bold a theme
When it comes to the depiction of flings outside of marriage, Indian cinema is still conservative. It is never too convincing when it comes to showing infidelity in marriage. Those indulging in adultery are usually the bad type of people.
For, if unfaithfulness is kind of normalized on screen, it can have some unsavoury consequences in society, which, as it is, has too many issues between men and women to contend with. Of course, this may sound like a prudish view, especially in these times. But fidelity is a virtue, irrespective of the era.
In that sense, Do Aur Do Pyaar pushes the envelope, as it were when it comes to featuring adulterous couples as the protagonists. But the dilemma of the debutante director Shirsha Guha Thakurta, who has an advertising background, is clearly evident.
She wants to bring to the table the sassy sensibilities of the ad world but is counter-weighed by the unease that may not work with the large majority of the Indian audience. In the event, Do Aur Do Pyaar, which is said to be a remake of Azazel Jacobs’ The Lovers (2017), keeps balancing itself and loses the cheek and chutzpah which was attendant on the original.
But whenever the film stutters a bit, Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi carry it forward with their conviction and understanding of what a tough role in an Indian scenario is. The film’s strength is not getting into the grey area of morality, and the lead actors don’t bring any squeamishness into their performances.
The Lovers was about two middle-aged couples losing their warmth and intimacy in their marriage, and have extramarital lovers. And as it happens, the unsatisfied couples, unbeknownst to them, have swapped partners.
Anirudh Bannerjee (Pratik Gandhi) and Tamil girl Kavya Ganesan (Vidya Balan) are the first couple enduring a tepid marriage. The spark in their marriage is long gone, and as Kavya says they are not even interested in fighting any more. But for their emotional and physical needs, Ani hooks up with an up-and-coming actress Nora (Ileana D’Cruz), while Kavya links up with Vikram (Sendhil Ramamurthy), a typical photographer from the West.
Things, of course, come to a boil as Nora gets pregnant. There is pressure on each character to come clean to their other official half. Will they go back to their original marriage or move on with their new choices? Or is it just one of the post-marriage impulses? Or do they continue with this strange but convenient arrangement?
These are the film’s climactic segments, and nuanced writing is very helpful here. The lines are smart and witty. The emotions are real and not imagined. Whenever there is a shortfall, Vidya Balan steps up brilliantly to fill it- she is faithful to the morally ambiguous role, if you will.
Pratik Gandhi, who had a different role in the recent Madgaon Express, is also full of spunk. Ileana brings plenty of spark to her character, filled with modern sensibilities. She is another strength of this film. Only Sendhil’s character seems a bit undercooked or a tad predictable.
Written by Suprotim Sengupta and Eisha Chopra, the film also takes an interesting detour into father-daughter links, which are equally complex.
On the whole, Do Aur Do Pyaar does throw up an ethical conundrum. Can a marital relationship be saved as much by loyalty as by some dollops of infidelity? It’s an interesting idea, for sure.
Do Aur Do Pyaar was released in cinemas across the UAE and is rated PG15.