<h2>Director: Anuj Saini Actors: Sparsh Walia, Sargun Kaur Luthra, Kunal Vaid Rating: 3.5 stars</h2>
I love the fact that among the three leads in this film &mdash; friends since school, dealing with subsequent drudgery of an entry-level, corporate-executive existence &mdash; is an equally recognisable woman (Sargun Kaur Luthra).&nbsp;
She provides a counterpoint to this movie &mdash; protecting it, hence, from a typically gabru-jawan, &lsquo;laundon wali&rsquo; romcom that could veer towards a sex comedy, instead.&nbsp;
Or, which is more likely, merely a catharsis for tone-deaf men, henpecked by the opposite gender &mdash; most of whom, they believe, are a bunch of unfair nags, anyway.
The movie&rsquo;s gaze is at least partially female &mdash; although just as sexualised, once you consider there are as many close-ups of naked men as you may find in a Nat Geo doc on Kumbh mela.&nbsp;
But, of course, these are much better-looking jocks, plus bikinis. This is a brightly lit, young, candy-crush romance, after all.&nbsp;
The said girl, and the two guys (Sparsh Walia, Kunal Vaid), live sit-com Friends style, as platonic flat-mates in NCR. Which, I suppose, is the future of relationships. Given that marriage as an institution is fading, if not legitimately getting delayed, from most urban lives.&nbsp;
She feels &ldquo;sookhi&rdquo;, overdependent on &ldquo;VPIN&rdquo; (euphemism for internet porn) &mdash; loveless, luckless, basically. As do her two male friends.&nbsp;
Whether or not reluctantly, they head together to their school&rsquo;s reunion, which kicks off the film&rsquo;s plot &mdash; inevitable marriage, and hummable songs, are somewhat central to it still, making this very much a &lsquo;Bollywood&rsquo; pic, as we&rsquo;ve known and loved them to be.&nbsp;
I also enjoyed the trigger to this plot about three younglings searching for their supposed first love/lust, back in school.&nbsp;
Good ol&rsquo; Rajkummar Rao makes a kind cameo at a random wedding, dunking himself in drinks &mdash; pissed that he never got to confess to his crush, who&rsquo;s sitting right behind on the stage as the bride. What good is the goddamn &ldquo;ektarfa pyaar,&rdquo; he bemoans.&nbsp;
The film argues, making the first move &mdash; despite dangers of imminent rejection &mdash; is a bit like buying lottery. If you don&rsquo;t pick it up, you&rsquo;ll certainly never win! I know it doesn&rsquo;t work like that.&nbsp;
Likewise, there&rsquo;s a fine distinction made in the movie, between commitment and relationship, which is a bit like a secure government job, versus contractual employment.&nbsp;
Or about how being hot is a curse &mdash; nobody seeks anything long-term, everybody wishes to touch and go. All these nuggets could sound reasonable or dubious; depends.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s these trivial/&lsquo;sutli&rsquo; truth bombs, usually delivered without an explosion, and through cheery characters alone, that give romcoms the lightness of being relatable. It doesn&rsquo;t matter how old you are for it. You&rsquo;re every age you&rsquo;ve been! &nbsp;&nbsp;
What happens to the two guys and the girl, who meet two girls (Alisha Chopra, Sakshi Vaidya), and a guy (Tushar Chibber) &mdash; from the same batch in school, nestled in the mountains, with hardly a social life outside; yet, somehow, they barely seem to know each other, wearing name tags at the reunion &mdash; is the stuff of the film&rsquo;s story. Too much backstory ain&rsquo;t essential.
How old are they? I&rsquo;m guessing in their late 20s/early 30s, for a board, you notice, that suggests they graduated in 2014, and that they call sex clips, MMS! What draws you to them, and therefore the film?&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s really the minor banter, quick repartees, and most crucially, the fact that the debutant director (<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/gandhi-godse-ek-yudh-actor-anuj-saini-did-not-want-to-debut-with-a-typical-rom-com-23265639" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Anuj Saini</a>) knows how to freeze/frame the big moments, bearing the kinda film in mind. Take that moment the hero (Sparsh) and the heroine (Sakshi) first kiss in the back of a moving bus.
I lose memory of how many humbug Hindi romcoms we&rsquo;ve sat through, lately, assuming the genre is dead &mdash; what with conflict in romance itself progressively fading, as it were. I don&rsquo;t agree.
All of the aforementioned cast is brand-new &mdash; catching your attention, through and through. God knows, we could do with even more fresh faces on the desi big screen. None get there. Bollywood&rsquo;s eternally romancing oldies started out, similarly. But who&rsquo;s to invest?&nbsp;
The film&rsquo;s co-writer and producer, Luv Ranjan (<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/tu-jhoothi-main-makkaar-box-office-ranbir-kapoors-film-collects-rs-109-cr-23276294" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar</a>, 2023), obviously, holds a post-doctorate in this specie of young cinema.&nbsp;
He similarly debuted as director with Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) that developed its own cult over time. I thought young Divyenndu Sharma was the best actor in that lot; Kartik Aaryan became the star.&nbsp;
Who&rsquo;s to say about <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/pehla-pyaar-doosri-baar-first-look-luv-ranjan-brings-six-newcomers-spotlight-23650487" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar</a>, besides wish them equally well. Yeah, I know, it&rsquo;s still kinda about f-bois and clingy females, no? But, hey, it&rsquo;s just such frickin&rsquo; unpretentious fun!

Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar is a refreshing romcom about three school friends navigating love, lust and commitment. Its relatable banter and fresh faces

Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar movie review: A fresh take on first love

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All untested talents on the big screen, with a genre deemed dead for cinema; much to enjoy!

Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar movie review: Sheer freshness on first-love story

Director: Anuj Saini
Actors: Sparsh Walia, Sargun Kaur Luthra, Kunal Vaid
Rating: 3.5 stars

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