Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar movie review: A romcom for the Instagram gen

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar movie is in Hindi, directed by Luv Ranjan and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Anubhav Singh Bassi, Dimple Kapadia, Boney Kapoor

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar movie review

When you look at his name, you wonder whether Luv Ranjan is his original one or something that has been chosen based on what he does, which is basically manoranjan around love. The man’s movies are basically about besotted young couples who have trouble staying besotted, but by the climax, things fall in place. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, in that sense, belongs to the multiverse, to use the new-fangled term, of Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety — two of the previous films of the same director. 

It is films like Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar that leave professional film reviewers conflicted. For, the film is more of the same from the factory of Luv Ranjan. But if it is a factory, you can expect little else.

Also, Luv Ranjan movies don’t lend themselves easily to woke parsing. In that, the characters will be patriarchal in places and make disturbing choices. It comes with the territory of Luv Ranjan movies. So we can nitpick at Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar in length, but there was no promise of anything else.

The film basically rides on the looks and bodies of the young lovers and their problems that are incidental to the scheme of things. Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor ooze ‘hawtness’ and romantic oomph, which is the sole sustaining force of the otherwise vapid first half. It is in the second half the film picks up steam, and the climactic stretch – even if predictable – is both funny and agreeably sentimental. You eventually come out of the film,  grinning and feeling young, which is not a bad thing.     

The story is a bit convoluted and contrived, and nothing symbolizes this more than what Micky aka Rohan Malhotra (Ranbir Kapoor) does as a professional service – breaking up couples. Yes, he is anti-Cupid, as it were. He sets out to Spain for the bachelor party of his buddy Dabbas (Anubhav Singh Bassi). The latter even asks Micky to scupper his impending marriage to Kinchi (Monica Chaudhary). Yup, that is how weird the storyline is. But rather than breaking the Dabbas-Kinchi equation, Micky ends up falling head over heels in love with Kinchi’s best friend Tinny (Shraddha Kapoor). 

Now, Tinny is the partying, fun-loving kind who lives life by her rules. Micky, on the other hand, has willingly tied himself to the apron strings of his family, comprising dad, mom and sister (Boney Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and Hasleen Kaur). After an adequate show of love and lustful energy, the young couple find themselves at crossroads. Just as they are about to become a couple, they need to break-up. Mind you, this is Luv Ranjan universe so things will be complicated: Micky has to offer his professional services to splinter his own love affair. But you know how these films end eventually.

As we said, the last segment is a whirligig ride of emotions and comedy, something which you sorely missed in the preceding portions.

Ranbir as a Casanova incarnate has a role that is basically a pastiche of his many roles in his previous movies. Shraddha Kapoor, looking stunning, has a stronger role, and she looks assured in it. The stand-up comic Anubhav Singh making his debut has some zingers, but many of the comic lines don’t really land. Dimple Kapadia as the over-the-top mom, hams it enjoyably and is among the likeable aspects of the film. Boney Kapoor has nothing much to do. And there is a cameo from Luv Ranjan talisman Karthik Aaryan, too. The film’s other strength is the pulsating songs and energetic dances. 

Exotic locales (Spain), great looking lead pair, crackling energy in dance and song set pieces. Basically, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar is a collection of Instagram reels stretched to be a film. The fact is, it’ll probably work for the Instagram generation.  

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar

Director: Luv Ranjan

Date Created: 2023-03-09 21:39

Editor's Rating:
2.5