Boys in Trouble

Writer: Kawaljit Singh

Actors: Sippy Gill,Aman Dhaliwal,Isha Rikhi

Music: Dr Zeus,Tru School,Jawar Dildar & Laddi Gill

Rating: *

Half an hour into this week’s Punjabi release Jatt Boys – Putt Jattan De,one lost all hope of ever coming across a plot. It is clearly not a romcom or a family drama,nor does it qualify for general entertainment. It is instead a big mash-up of three mismatched college groups,a warped love triangle,family feuds,songs (decent ones though) to fill in the blanks,and Om Puri in lungi-kurta,flanked by two women in matching salwar-kameez. To top it,the actors address the still strikingly handsome Rahul Dev as uncle. The film would’ve fared better as a weekend show on college romance — the bully brigade,the odd professors (Jaswinder Bhalla floors as usual) with their sidekicks (Karamjeet Anmol at his humorous best) and the nerds.

The film,being promoted as a story on generation gap and rural and urban lives,has an expressionless Sanwal Singh Gill (Sippy Gill) who has a major crush on Seerat (Isha Rikhi). He eyes her and guards her from a distance,not allowing a single wandering Romeo near her. Seerat is aware of this,and loves the attention but chooses to act pricey. In walks a Punjabi version of Bobby Deol,Waaris Brar,(Aman Dhaliwal),who decides to befriend the girl and prove to Gill that he is not the “sole proprietor” here. But why he does that is still a mystery,especially when there is no ego clash or personal enmity at play.

It gets more warped when Seerat perceives Brar’s growing interest in her as budding love. “We are just friends,sorry,can’t marry you,” says Brar. Either Seerat is too naive or too dumb to make out the difference between love and friendship. To be fair,anyone can fall in this trap and mistake love for a crush. What baffles us is how easily Brar gives her up,and how easily she lets go. That was perhaps the most damage-free break up ever.

In the middle of all this is one of the funniest villains we’ve come across — Jolly,who tries to break the three to avenge his father’s insult at the hand of senior Brar and Gill. Is there a message hidden somewhere? No. Putt Jattan De fails to rise above booze,boys,and ‘my-girl,my-land’ cliches. Nonetheless,the audience whistled,clapped and cheered excitedly.