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Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari movie review: Wedding crashers. Five star Rajasthan hotels. Brand endorsements for glittery apparel. And not to forget the most important element, shiny baubles standing in for characters: Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari settles creakily back in the sangeet-sagaai-shaadi template awash with star-crossed lovers and their parivarik conflicts.
In short, everything we’ve seen before, in multiple iterations, over the years, because that’s literally all mainstream Bollywood rom coms seem capable of these days. Even the usage of the word ‘situationship’ feels familiar, even when it is mouthed by Ananya (Sanya Malhotra) to describe the thing between her and Sunny (Varun Dhawan): why should only boys have all the fun? She was his, and now she’s not, and he needs to deal with it, even as a BFF Bantu (Abhinav Sharma) shoulder comes in handy. Of course, there’s a bestie; how else will heroes be propped up?
Duly, Sunny Sanskari and Tulsi Kumari (Janhvi Kapoor) show up at the wedding festivities, and trouble and broken hearts and ‘asli pyaar’ converge. Cue, crowded scenes crawling with guests and stagey events — it’s a five-day tamasha, giving the chief wedding planner (Maniesh Paul) lots to do. Cue also, loud exchanges between groom Vikram (Rohit Saraf) and his overbearing mummyji and bada bhai (Akshay Oberoi) and bhabhi (Manini Chadha), who wants to do her thing, but will have to bash patriarchy loudly before getting her moment. Remember the sister in ‘Rocky and Rani’ who gets that speech about breaking free? Yes, very much like that.
The actors are all made to succumb to the DDLJ-coded vibe, with Sanya Malhotra showing some nifty moves on the dance floor: if ‘Bijuriya’ is trending, how far can Sridevi’s ‘kaate nahin katate’ be behind? None of the new versions can hold a candle to the OG, though, even as the endless dance sequences and background music keep getting inserted, and we are left waiting for the film, and its characters, to return and catch our attention.
Watch Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari movie trailer:
Shashank Khaitan teams up with Varun Dhawan after Humpty Sharma and Badrinath Ki Dulhania, both of which felt fresh and of the moment, and both of which I had enjoyed, mostly. In this one, you can see the struggle to emerge from under the layers of heavy costumery and light dialogues. In too many places, the spectacle is allowed to overpower the screenplay, which is too busy whipping up hit-film-referencing dialogues and situations to bother about creating real feeling.
By including bit parts from such influencers as Prajakta Koli — her character used as yet another look-at-that-bridal-outfit hook–and Dharna Durga — as the heroine’s pal, showing a bit of spark, before vanishing from the scene — the Orrification of Bollywood is complete. By bunging in a cosy-letting-it-all-hang-out-scene between Sunny and Tulsi, as they lie next to each other, displaying nary a whisper of passion, the fraternalisation of lovers in Bollywood is complete. So much so, that when they actually lock lips, it comes as a belated surprise.
Kissy-kissy, sure, but not enough bang-bang.
Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari movie cast: Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Sanya Malhotra, Rohit Saraf, Maniesh Paul, Akshay Oberoi, Abhinav Sharma, Manini Chadha
Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari movie director: Shashank Khaitan
Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari movie rating: 2 stars
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