Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Panorama Studios’ Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (A) is the second in the Pyaar Ka Punchnama series. It is a comedy, based on the same premise as the first – that girls can mess up any and every relationship because of their self-centred nature. Anshul alias Go Go (Kartik Aaryan), Siddharth alias Chauka (Sunny Singh Nijjar) and Tarun alias Thakur (Omkar Kapoor) are bosom pals living together in a rented house. Cupid strikes all the three around the same time.
Anshul meets Ruchika alias Chiku (Nushrat Bharucha) at a party and sparks fly between them. Ruchika is self-centred to the core and she has different rules for herself and for the rest of the world. Siddharth falls head over heels in love with Supriya (Sonali Seygal) whom he meets at a wedding. Supriya reciprocates his romantic overtures and although she has no courage to tell her parents (Sharat Saxena and Mona Ambegaonkar) about her affair, she continues to date Siddharth. Meanwhile, Supriya’s parents, treating him as a dear friend, use him to do all their household work and, because he is an engineer, also get their electronic and electrical gadgets repaired from him. Tarun dates Kusum (Ishita Sharma) who pretends to be very clean and clear in money matters but doesn’t miss a chance to blow up Tarun’s money. She is so money-minded that she keeps poisoning Tarun’s mind against his two friends as far as finances go.
The party for all the three friends is on the verge of getting over after some courtship time.
Ruchika has a friend, Sunny (Manvir Singh), coming and staying over with her after a breakup and she starts ignoring Anshul while looking after Sunny. Why, she has no qualms even about sleeping on the same bed as Sunny. To add to Anshul’s woes are Ruchika’s friends, Tina (Karishma Sharma) and Ruchi (Rumana Mola), who keep filling her ears against him.
Siddharth realises that Supriya will never muster courage to tell her parents about him even though the parents have started groom-hunting for her. She keeps meeting prospective grooms, even exchanging text messages with them on her cellphone while all the time professing her love for Siddharth. But when her father complains against Siddharth to the police, Supriya has no spine to stand up for him.
Kusum drives Tarun nuts with her greed and selfish nature. She uses the same friends, whom she bad-mouths in front of Tarun, to make Tarun see her viewpoint.
What happens thereafter? Do all the three friends reconcile their differences with their respective girlfriends? Or is only one of them lucky? Or do two of them tide over the difficult times?
Luv Ranjan has come up with a fresh story although the premise is the same as in Pyaar Ka Punchnama. The story flows seamlessly and the characterisations are so superbly written that just ten minutes into the film, and one falls in love with the endearing characters of Anshul, Siddharth and Tarun. Rahul Mody, Tarun Jain and Luv Ranjan’s screenplay is fantastic. For one, it keeps the audience engrossed and entertained right from the word ‘go’. Secondly, although the premise is the same as in the first film, nowhere does it appear to be exactly like the first film. Thirdly, the comedy is so fresh that the viewers have a truly fun time watching the drama unfold on the screen. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the audience feels completely entertained, thanks to the outstanding comedy. At several times, the drama offers laugh-a-minute comic scenes which bring the house down with laughter. The lengthy monologue by Anshul is a clap-worthy highlight. The scene in which Siddharth sums up, in just two words, what he thinks about Supriya, at the police station, is another highlight scene and will be met with thunderous applause in the cinema halls. The good part about the screenplay is that nothing in the drama looks forced or contrived. Rather, it is a very free-flowing screenplay with fresh situations and comedy galore. Rahul Mody, Tarun Jain and Luv Ranjan’s dialogues are extraordinary, and the use of the language and words is so contemporary that the youth will simply adore them while identifying with them. Although a lot of swear words have been beeped by the CBFC, that doesn’t seem irritating because the beep sounds tickle the audience which understands what word has been beeped while not embarrassing the family audience.
Kartik Aaryan has an endearing and innocent face and his acting goes well with that. He absolutely shines in the role of Anshul. Sunny Singh Nijjar is cute and natural to the core. He does a fantastic job as Siddharth. Omkar Kapoor is lovely in the role of Tarun, adding the right amount of maturity to his role. He dances very gracefully. Nushrat Bharucha is excellent as Ruchika and adds a good amount of zing to her character. She looks glamorous. Sonali Seygal exudes oomph and performs very beautifully. Ishita Sharma is sexy and acts with effortless ease, leaving a distinct mark. Her solo dance is also lovely. Sharat Saxena makes his presence felt with a fine show. Mona Ambegaonkar provides very good support. Manvir Singh has his moments as Ruchika’s heartbroken friend, Sunny. Rumana Mola (as Ruchi) and Karishma Sharma (as Tina) lend excellent support. Amit Arora (as Pankaj), Swarna Mamgain (as Supriya’s friend), Kanwal (as Siddharth’s friend) and Vini Bakshi (as Ruchika’s maid) provide the required support.
Luv Ranjan’s direction is praiseworthy. He has not only extracted wonderful work out of his cast but has also kept a fast-paced narrative style which keeps the audience thoroughly entertained. Credit is due to him for making a second film on the same premise as the first and yet not making it a copy of the first. Music (Hitesh Sonik; one song, ‘Sharabi’, by Sharib-Toshi) is good but not hit. Lyrics (by Kumaar, Akram Sabri, Danish Sabri, Hitesh Sonik and Luv Ranjan) are lovely and complement the mood of the film. Choreography (by Bosco Martis, Caesar Gonsalves and Howard Rosemeyer) is eye-filling. Hitesh Sonik’s background music is excellent. Sudhir K. Chaudhary’s camerawork deserves distinction marks. Rajat Poddar’s production designing and Kailash Sahu’s art direction are of a good standard. Editing (by Akiv Ali and Ajay Sharma) is crisp and sharp.
On the whole, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is a small film which will prove to be big at the box-office. Its comedy will keep the youngsters and young at heart in splits and, therefore, its distributors smiling from ear to ear. A sure fire hit!