Indoo Ki Jawani Movie Review - Insipid Meet Up

Indoo Ki Jawani is neither a biting satire nor a diverting comedy.

There is an interesting, if not excellent, film somewhere in Abir Sengupta's Indoo Ki Jawani. Its conceit of representing the India-Pakistan relationship as a pair who loses itself to mostly caviling is notable at best. Sengupta proceeds with his pantomime by designating Indoo (Kiara Advani) as India and Samar (Aditya Seal) as Pakistan. After this classification, Indoo Ki Jawani runs out of ingenuity and starts spinning like a wheel. The screenplay (also written by Sengupta) begins force-feeding the pros and cons of the two countries and stresses the hell out of the point it is trying to make. What should have ideally been both witty and eye-opening ends up being both repetitious and jejune.

But I am getting ahead of myself. So much happens before the couple meets. One should also acknowledge how Indoo Ki Jawani keeps on building its theme of "blind judgment." Allow me to explain a bit. The film opens inside a rickshaw where the driver keeps staring at Indoo through the mirror. She informs her boyfriend about the driver's behavior and labels all the auto-drivers as rapists. The driver responds to the accusation by telling her that he was only looking because her boyfriend was not taking "no" as an answer (the boyfriend begs to sleep with her, and she rejects his advances. She first wants to get married). In case if now you are judging the seriousness of this scene, then let me put you at ease. It is treated with light-hearted humor, which can also be said for the whole film.

But coming back to Indoo and her preconceived notions. She concludes a duo to be in a romantic relationship by merely seeing them on a bike. She is unaware of a concept called "benefit of the doubt." It doesn't matter whether the duo is in a romantic relationship. The fact that Indoo confirms them as a couple without any proof tells us about her mentality. This is the reason why she declares Samar as a terrorist when he says he is a Pakistani. She looks young, but her thoughts match that of the aunties at your colony. Indoo hates the prying eyes roaming in her community. What she fails to see is that she is a product made out of her surrounding. They openly gauge with their gaze while she holds her judgments inside, one of which assumes all the men to be the same, i.e., horny. You can't blame Indoo for having such a belief when every man in her society acts as a thirsty wolf.

Indoo's thoughts were not developed independently. Her best friend, Sonal (Mallika Dua), has some influence on her mindset. Whenever Indoo has a problem, Sonal dishes out SONAL GYAN. She is her Google. If only Indoo knew the search engine never gives the correct diagnosis. It converts a fever into cancer. Anyway, Sonal armors Indoo with tips and adult films. She wants to perfect this woman with practice. And someone needed to perfect the script of the film.

The main problem with Indoo Ki Jawani lies in its idea of comedy. Three oldies and a couple of youngsters leer at Indoo. One of them spikes her drink and later forcefully enters her house. A man hits on Indoo in front of her wife. Then there is Indoo, who invites a stranger into her home after chatting with him for ten minutes on Dinder! Indoo Ki Jawani wanted me to laugh in all of these situations. On the contrary, I felt uncomfortable. You can apply a political angle to it. Like the men represent a country taking "illegal" measures to infiltrate India/Indoo, but it still remains creepy. Let me know if its facetious humor worked for you.

The jokes don't work even if I keep my feelings aside. To elucidate, take the scene where Indoo and Sonal force a driver to park in the middle of the road as they chat on Dinder. This moment demonstrates the strength and the weakness of the film. The strength: this gag has a purpose. Texting with Samar creates ruckus on the road, mirroring the future event where Indoo and Samar's interaction would bring commotion. The weakness: it is stretched beyond repair and is also not funny. Indoo Ki Jawani has non-success scribbled in its writing. No wonder it translated so badly onto the screen. There is one question I kept asking - Why did Indoo's father mock his son over IIT? Or why did he despise him at all? I thought every middle-class father wanted his son to crack IIT. Try answering this Google. Or Sonal.

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