De De Pyaar De 2 review: Madhavan is the real star of Ajay Devgn film; Luv Ranjan comes of age

Of course, in the interim, much fun-and-games and drama ensue: how can a desi mom-and-dad, however liberal-and-modern they claim they are, embrace a would-be-damaad who is in the same age bracket as them without a ton of ‘kalesh’? Given that co-producer Luv Ranjan has written the film (he also had writing credits in the first one), we know what we will be up for, a mix of new and old — Suhasini Mulay as a grandmother with a terrific memory, Ishita Dutta as a supportive, very pregnant sister-in-law, Tarun Gahlot as an equally supportive bada bhai, and Meezaan Jafferi giving being a green flag a good go.

It’s not just the film which has leapt forward in years, it is also Ranjan’s writing of men, progressing from the boys-will-be-boys of his Punchnama days, to now when potential boyfriends are happy to help the girl get her ‘asli pyaar’, the birth of a baby girl is a thing to vocally celebrate, and the happiness of women, who are of course still smarter than men, is paramount.

I had really enjoyed the first one for its novelty factor, as well as the perkiness of Rakul Preeti Singh who balanced the dour niceness of Ajay Devgn: the presence of Tabu, who plays Devgn’s older love, added to the film, as it always does. In this one, Rakul is as animated, but Devgn appears almost subdued, with Jaaved Jafferi returning as his pal-and-therapist providing tips to navigate the tricky terrain the former has landed in — what do you call your ‘hone-wali-saas’ who is most likely younger than you ? Mummyji, behenji, yaaaa by her name?

Watch De De Pyaar De 2 trailer:

I missed Tabu in this, but R Madhavan’s loving-dad-who-will-do-anything-to-protect-his-daughter is the real star of part 2. In ‘Shaitaan’, the last film Devgn and Madhavan had done together, the latter had neatly stolen the show. The same happens here, as we see Madhavan follow the arc of ‘protection’ which benign patriarchy neatly nestles into, to letting his daughter go. This Simran is all ready to live her own zindagi, and make her own mistakes. Now that’s real adulting.

If only the film didn’t resemble an extended sit-com, with a house where most of the action takes place not bothering to hide the fact that it is a set, the length making us restive. Yes, we applaud all this modern-liberal stuff, but should it take this long to come to the point? Just shows how tough the sell of an older-young romance still is; and what if, shudder, the woman was older and the man much younger? Now that would be real growth.

De De Pyaar De 2 movie cast: Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan, Rakul Preet Singh, Jaaved Jafferi, Gautami Kapoor, Meezaan Jafferi, ishita Dutta, Tarun Gahlot, Suhasini Mulay, Ekavali Khanna
De De Pyaar De 2 movie director: Anshul Sharma
De De Pyaar De 2 movie rating: 2.5 stars