The film opens in Amritsar with Shiv (Sushant Singh Rajput) preparing to migrate to Budapest for a bank job accompanied by his best friend Radha (Varun Sharma). At the airport they watch a video about a comet shower nicknamed ‘Love Joy’. All this is going to matter somehow. We have to wait an interminably long time to find out the significance, but not as long as our main characters have waited to avenge some love story gone wrong. The three sides of this love triangle as Shiv, chocolate maker Saira (Kriti Sanon) and millionaire type Zakir (Jim Sarbh).
Shiv really reckons himself as a lady-killer but all this comes to a halt when she sets eyes on Saira. Their meet-cute (which is not so cute) happens in her chocolate shop. Shiv instantly becomes a stalker and pursues Saira. Saira too cannot understand her undeniable attraction to Shiv. Shiv also appears in her recurring nightmares which feature drowning, which also explains her hydrophobia. What is harder to explain is her fickle attraction to any man that pays her a compliment. She dumps one boyfriend with Shiv and then, when Shiv is out of sight, shamelessly flirts with Zakir. We find out that Saira was always like this – even hundreds of years ago when she was some tribal warrior. Turns out Saira, Shiv and Zakir have a past life connection that did not end well before and is unlikely to end well now.
Click Here For All Latest Bollywood News
Pre-interval is only about Saira and Shiv’s silly love story. It’s just a whirlwind of balloons and silliness showcasing Budapest. But then Zakir arrives and Jim Sarbh’s interpretation of the twistedness takes the story not just back in time, but also to another tonal level. The savage costumes and thick eyeliners and body tattoos are more interesting than the conflict in prehistoric someplace. In this time and space, with Sushant Singh Rajput ditches the Budapest sugar or caffeine high and get down and dirty, he’s rather good. Sanon though is the same throughout – staring in wonder, befuddled, seemingly having no control over her own life, flip-flopping between men. Jim Sarbh in danger of being typecast as the bad-man, doesn’t find a consistent pitch in the present and is short-changed in the past. Under a great deal of make up and an altered voice, Rajkummar Rao is wasted as the wrinkled ancient chief.
Probably an ambitious debut film for producer turned director Dinesh Vijan especially as the script is too loose as well. This one can be skipped in this life and the next.
Rating: *
