Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 review: The prequel had some punch, this part is flat and unfunny

The same old ‘bechara bhai-dom’ laced with the sort of casual ‘gaalis’ which were naturally used in the original appear forced this time around. And anyway they are blipped out, so we can see their mouths going ‘ooo’ which makes us supply the ‘ch’ sound all through the film: it’s not just the boys, even our presumed tolerance for cheerful invective has regressed.

Of the original cast, only one male actor has been retained. The girls are all back. And guess what, they are exactly the same stereotypes as last time, only more exaggerated and tiresome. One (Nushrat Bharucha) lets a male ‘old best friend yaa’ into the party, expecting her lover ( Aaryan) to ‘understand’. Another (Ishita Raj) is a gold-digger in an equal-rights guise, and it takes her credit-card bearing boyfriend (Omkar Kapoor) the entire length of the movie to suss her out. And the third (Sonnalli Seygall) keeps her wide-eyed fellow (Sunny Singh) dangling, while she’s off doing other stuff.

The girls are shopaholics. They are to be seen in various malls, speedily acquiring expensive cell phones and dresses which they do not ante up for: of course not, we are girls, what do you take us for? They are flighty. Not one has a good bone in her toned-by-hundreds-of-hours-on-the-treadmill bod. If an alien watched this film, it would go away thinking all girls are like these three supremely annoying manipulative young women.

As for the guys-who-are-forever-mamma’s boys, they are the victims of these devious females, who use their wiles, reel them in, and then string them along. Not one of them climbs out with any perspective or insight at all. What’s that?

The first ​had some punch and​ was okay for a bunch of laughs. The sequel is flat and unfunny.

Star Cast of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2: Nushrat Bharucha, Kartik Aaryan, Sonnalli Seygall, Ishita Raj, Sunny Singh, Omkar Kapoor

Director: Luv Ranjan

One star