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I wished for God to bless the inventor of noise-cancelling earphones every minute I used them while watching Pintu Ki Pappi. Trust me, there’s no exaggeration here. This film is loud—both in its sound design and the pitch of the plot.
Amid the decibels of noise that threatened to rob me of my hearing ability, there’s actually a one-line story. One that should have been at least an hour shorter than it really is, out of the total two-and-a-half-hour runtime. (Also read: Tumko Meri Kasam review: Even a brilliant Anupam Kher can't save this film in search of an identity)
The story is about (you won’t get one for guessing it)- a Pappi. Kiss, in English. Our hero Pintu (Shushant) is a flirt, and falls in love with a girl. But the moment he kisses her- she gets married to someone else. Yeah, it directly borrows from the 2007 English flick Good Luck Chuck. Except, of course- the sex has been replaced with a kiss here. When his uncle (Ganesh Acharya) observes a pattern, he starts a business in partnership with Pintu. He kisses girls who have been waiting for a match for long- and it’s done. It’s one of those plots that might have worked if treated well. It’s right up Ayushmann Khurrana’s alley of quirky cinema.
The execution is a royal mess by director Shiv Hare. Characters saunter in and out randomly, same for subplots. Vijay Raaz is thrown into the mix as a gangster who wants to be kissed by Pintu, since he longs to get married. Some of his sequences actually make you chuckle, but that’s purely because of how good an actor he is.
Unfortunately, the humour itself on paper and execution relies on body shaming and the age-old digs at the LGBTQIA+ community. According to Pintu Ki Pappi’s makers, nothing else evokes as many laughs as an effeminate man wanting to kiss multiple other men.
The music by Nitin Arora is average, except maybe a track here or there. There’s a song every 15 minutes to wear you down.
In the acting department, Ganesh Acharya overacts, maybe because of the demand for the role. Most of his dialogues are heavily dubbed, and it’s apparent that the accent got a bit too much for him. Sushant is okay in some sequences. Jaanya Joshi and Vidhi Yadav are cast as the two love interests of Sushant’s character, and they both just about manage to make it work. Murali Sharma is completely wasted in a cameo appearance. Ali Asgar, in a supporting role, is cast as the effeminate man, and the forced humour puts the viewer off.
Overall, Pintu Ki Pappi has pretty much nothing going for it. You can safely give this kiss a miss.
E-Paper
