LUKA CHUPPI

Maddock Films and Jio Studios’ Luka Chuppi (UA) is a romcom.

Guddu Shukla (Kartik Aryan) works in a cable TV channel as a reporter and lives in Mathura with his father, Badriprasad Shukla (Atul Srivastava), mother (Alka Amin), eldest brother, Varun Shukla (Vishwanath Chatterjee), sister-in-law, Janki (Neha Saraf), unmarried elder brother, Vikas Shukla (Himanshu Kohli), and a little nephew, Chiku (master Samarth). Elder brother Vikas is frustrated because he is still unmarried despite numerous marriage proposals brought by the local match-maker. Rashmi (Kriti Sanon), who has studied in Delhi, comes home to her family for a month and joins the cable TV channel. Rashmi’s father, Vishnu Trivedi (Vinay Pathak), is the leader of Sanskriti Raksha Manch. He had lost in the elections last time but is gearing up for the elections again. His aide, Shrikant (Ajit Singh), and his other volunteers have made cleansing of the youth’s mindset their main agenda in the election manifesto. They target youngsters who publicly display affection and romance in the open, and blacken the faces of the guys indulging in the above. The Sanskriti Raksha Manch is totally against live-in relationships as, according to it, it goes against Indian culture which doesn’t allow proximity between a girl and a boy before marriage.

Guddu and Rashmi soon grow fond of each other. As luck would have it, Rashmi is keen on a live-in relationship just to be doubly sure before marrying Guddu. Since Mathura is a small town, Guddu isn’t sure how they’d make their live-in relationship happen. However, they get lucky when they are sent to Gwalior for 20 days, on a work assignment. Accompanying them is cameraman Abbas (Aparshakti Khurrana) who comes up with a brainwave.

Going by Abbas’ idea, Guddu and Rashmi take a flat in Gwalior on rent. Since the locality is quite backward, the two pretend to be married and even exhibit fake pictures of their ‘marriage’ all over their home so that their neighbours let them live in peace, as a couple. However, Babulal (Pankaj Tripathi), the brother of Guddu’s sister-in-law, spots Guddu romancing Rashmi at a public place in Gwalior. He spills the beans before Guddu’s family which lands in Gwalior and is shocked to see that Guddu is married to Rashmi. Both, Guddu and Rashmi, can’t muster the courage to tell Guddu’s family that they aren’t married and that they are in a live-in relationship.

After a lot of heartburn and discussions in both the families, it is decided to officially get Guddu and Rashmi married for the world to know. But since Rashmi’s conservative father is against performing the marriage rituals over again, the wedding celebrations are held for the world to see but the marriage ceremony is not performed. Rashmi now comes to live with the Shukla family as Guddu’s wife. However, both, Guddu and Rashmi, are guilty as they aren’t still married. In a way, they are now in a live-in relationship but with the boy’s entire family!

Guddu and Rashmi try to complete the marriage rituals so that they can be a legally wedded couple but they have to obviously do it on the sly. Each time they try, Guddu is caught and the repercussions are catastrophic because everybody thinks, Guddu is going in for a second marriage!

What happens finally? Do Guddu and Rashmi marry each other? Do the two families get to know about their live-in relationship in Gwalior?

Rohan Shankar has penned a story and screenplay which are different, yet interesting. The concept of live-in relationship has been tackled in such a comical way that it keeps the audience in splits, especially after interval. Frankly, the first half is a bit slow and also not as funny as it ought to have been. Nevertheless, two scenes of Babulal are hilarious before interval. Also funny are the scenes of the ultra-inquisitive neighbour in Gwalior. Rohan Shankar’s screenplay is excellent post-interval. In fact, the fun element in the second half is so outstanding that it elicits loud rounds of laughter ever so often. The last around 30 minutes of the drama are simply extraordinary. The frustration of Vikas Shukla on learning that younger brother Guddu is married while he still hasn’t found a match, and again, when Guddu is, time and again, assumed to be marrying another woman, is too funny to be true. Babulal’s Nosey Parker scenes are to die for. The mass marriage sequence in the climax is also hilarious. All in all, the second half is not just fast-paced but also truly terrific because of the wonderful comedy. Rohan Shankar’s dialogues are just too lovely and create a lot of humour.

Kartik Aryan does a fine job as Guddu. His acting is effortless and he is the best when he is helpless in the second half. Kriti Sanon looks very pretty and plays Rashmi ably. She has an endearing style which enables her to connect well with the viewers. Pankaj Tripathi deserves full marks for playing Babulal so effectively. It would not be wrong to say that he brings the house down with laughter each time he comes on the screen. His clothes and demeanour only add to his performance. Aparshakti Khurrana stands out in a relatively subdued role as Abbas. He is very entertaining in the second half. Ajit Singh deserves distinction marks for his performance as Vishnu Trivedi’s aide, Shrikant. The guy is remarkable. Vinay Pathak lends lovely support as Vishnu Trivedi. Atul Srivastava provides excellent support as Guddu’s father, Badriprasad Shukla. Alka Amin is very good as Guddu’s mother. Vishwanath Chatterjee shines as Guddu’s eldest brother, Varun. In the role of the second brother (Vikas), Himanshu Kohli is also remarkable. Neha Saraf’s performance as Guddu’s sister-in-law is applause-worthy. Mas­ter Samarth has his moments as Guddu’s nephew, Chiku. Arun Kushwaha is good as Chhotu. Abhinav Shukla makes his presence felt as film actor Nazim Khan. Sapna Sand needs special mention for her acting as Mrs. Srivastava. Vimi Mehta leaves a mark as Mrs. Savitri Trivedi. Nabil Singh (as the fake pandit), Kuldeep Singh (as the pandit in the hill temple), Poonam Mathur (as Mrs. Kohli), Jitendra Gaur (as Mr. Kohli), Vijay Srivastava (as the broker) and the others lend fine support.

Laxman Utekar’s direction is excellent. He may have taken time to get a grip on the subject but once he does that (just a little before interval), he provides the audience non-stop entertainment. Music (Tanishk Bagchi, White Noise Studios, Abhijit Vaghani and Tony Kakkar) is very nice. ‘Laung elaichi’ and ‘Coca Cola’ are fast-paced and entertaining songs while the other songs are also good. Lyrics (White Noise Studios, Kunaal Verma, Nirmaan, Mellow D, Harmanjit and Tony Kakkar) are in synch with the film’s mood. Song picturisations (by Ganesh Acharya, Vijay Ganguly and Ruel Dausan Varindani) are engaging. Ketan Sodha’s background music is impactful and complements the drama. Milind Jog’s cinematography is nice. Manini Mishra’s production designing is of a good standard. Editing (by Manish Pradhan) is sharp.

On the whole, Luka Chuppi has an excellent second half to keep the audience thoroughly entertained, and the producers, distributors and exhibitors extremely happy. In commercial terms, the very moderately-priced Luka Chuppi will definitely prove to be a box-office hit.