Luv Films’ Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar (A) is about revisiting first love. Three friends and flatmates — Vedant Rawat (Kunal Vaid), Gautam Govind Sharma (Sparsh Walia) and Shivi Pradhan (Sargun Kaur Luthra) — decide to go for their three-day school reunion. Old flames reignite. Vedant gets lucky — or so he thinks — with Simran Sandhu (Sakshi Vaidya) whom he had a crush on. Shivi tries very hard and finally manages to get physical with Karan Shergill (Tushar Chhibber), the boy she had loved while in school. Gautam Sharma gets plain lucky when the girl he covets, Gehna Gundecha (Alisha Chopra), has sex with him even though he was not prepared for it. Do Vedant, Gautam and Shivi actually live happily ever after with their respective partners or is everything forgotten once the school reunion ends?
Luv Ranjan, Jehan Handa and Anuj Saini have written a fresh story about revisiting first love. Although one has seen episodes based on reignition of love in several films, this story is different because it is wholly and absolutely about revisiting first love — that too, of three individuals. The trio’s screenplay is laced with youthful banter and entertaining episodes. The three writers have captured the mindset of the youngsters very beautifully. How love and sex are treated casually by the youth and how seriousness sets in ultimately in their love stories make for entertaining viewing. The best part of the drama is the banter between the three flatmates. The first half moves fast but the post-interval portion slackens in pace at times because of somewhat repetitive situations. However, the entertainment quotient in the drama still remains. What is lacking is a solid foundation in each of the love stories. There is nothing compelling in the three love stories to give the audience a feeling of exhilaration and fulfillment. As a result, even though the viewers want to see Vedant unite with Simran, Shivi settle with Karan, and Gehna win over Gautam, they don’t experience an emotional high when their love stories fructify. This is, perhaps, because the writers have concentrated very heavily on entertainment but not much on true love. In other words, it ultimately becomes a game of who gets lucky with whom rather than the victory of genuine and, more importantly, deserving love. The audience are never really convinced about why Vedant or Shivi or Gehna deserve their partners. The biggest plus point of the drama is the entertainment quotient.
The trio’s dialogues are truly enjoyable. Youngsters and the young at heart will love the dialogues.
Sparsh Walia is endearing as Gautam Govind Sharma. His innocent face goes with his character, and his acting is good. Kunal Vaid performs naturally in the role of Vedant Rawat. Sargun Kaur Luthra is wonderfully natural as Shivi Pradhan. Her facial expressions are just too superb. Sakshi Vaidya looks pretty and does an impressive job as Simran Sandhu. Alisha Chopra makes a fine mark in the role of Gehna Gundecha. Tushar Chhibber has an appealing personality and acts with aplomb as Karan Shergill. Rishabh Dev Singh stands out as Karan Bothra (KB). Mohit Chauhan (as Duggal Sir), Nikhat Khan Hegde (as Ira teacher), Gobind Singh Mehta (as Vikesh Bharti), Abhisher Kapoor (as Chintan Shah alias Chull), Ishika Jaiwani (as Kanupriya Rana) and Rajat Sukhija (as Dushyant) lend reasonable support. Others are adequate.
Anuj Saini’s direction is good. He impresses in his debut attempt. Rochak Kohli and Tanishk Bagchi’s music is very melodious; the songs have the quality to become very popular. Lyrics (Kumaar, Gurpreet Saini and Raj Shekhar) are weighty. Song picturisations (by Ganesh Acharya, Raju Khan, Bosco Leslie Martis and Vijay A. Ganguly) are quite nice. Hitesh Sonik’s background music is very nice. Vidushi Tiwari’s cinematography is eye-filling. Amit Ray and Subrata Chakraborty’s production designing is of a good standard. Manann Sagar’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar is quite novel and entertaining but it has two roadblocks to contend with — general lack of willingness of audience to give films starring newcomers or lesser-known faces a fair chance, and lack of gravitas in the three love stories.
Released on 23-10-’26 at Inox (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: fair. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark everywhere.