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Plan A Plan B Movie Review: Riteish-Tamannaah's Rom-Com Barely Has Any Reason To Feature In Your Plans
Quite early in the film, when a lehenga-clad Nirali (Tamannaah Bhatia), riding an autorickshaw, tells her matchmaker-mother Kiran (Poonam Dhillion) to stop a wedding over the phone, the latter replies, "Shaadi hain, Netflix nahin hain jo pause kar dungi main."
Thankfully, Netflix's latest offering Plan A Plan B, with a runtime of almost two hours, gives you the luxury of hitting the pause or fast-forward button if what's unravelling on the screen doesn't hold your interest
What's Yay: Tamaanaah's drunk scene, another sequence which features a young kid teaching her how to dance
What's Nay: Lousy writing, Feeble execution
Streaming On: Netflix
Story
Kaustabh Chougule AKA Kosty (Riteish Deshmukh), a divorce attorney is struggling to come to terms that his spouse cheated on him and refuses to divorce her in order to seek revenge from her. He suffers from OCD and amid his ongoing messy divorce, hooks up with online dates while struggling to let go of his wife.
On the other hand, Nirali (Tamannaah Bhatia), a psychologist-cum-matchmaker believes in bringing people together despite her own 'unhappy' love story. Soon, she shifts into a shared office space which also co-hosts Kosty. The two lock horns over their habits, the office smells and bicker about each other to their respective close pals.
"Opposites se mat bhaago. Zindagi perfect nahi hoti hai naa hi log. Aise log chuno joh saath rehkar imperfections ke saath aage badhe," Nirali is seen advising one of her couple clients. Koustey who eavesdrops their conversation softens a bit post that.
The friction between Nirali and Kosty soon gives way to sparks. But will their respective pasts soon catch up with them?
Direction
Director Shashanka Ghosh who has helmed films like Khoobsurat and Veere Di Wedding in the past, picks up the theme of 'opposites attract' and builds a story around it against the backdrop of the millennial hustle culture. Unfortunately, it's the lazy screenplay coupled with clichéd storytelling which makes this rom-com plain boring.
Ghosh simply fails to bring any novelty to the hate-love troupe in his film. Some of the characters are half-baked. Rajat Arora's dialogues sound more like Whatsapp forwards. The filmmaker might have had hefty ideas on paper but that just doesn't translate on screen. Also, the film deserves a 'boo' for one of the most shoddily-shot makeout sequences in recent times.
Performances
Riteish Deshmukh tries to do justice to his poorly-sketched character with his charm. At times it works, at times it doesn't. Nevertheless, his comic timing in a couple of scenes helps you sail through the film. Tamannaah Bhatia looks resplendent in every frame and gets a few good moments for herself.
While Riteish and Tamannaah's standalone performances are just passable enough, the couple's chemistry is just fizzle on screen, simply because the makers barely develop any scenes between them where we connect with their emotions. Poonam Dhillon gets the loudest cheer when we see her dressed in a shimmery outfit, shaking a leg to her own hit song 'Tu Tu Hain Wahi.' Kusha Kapila ends up in a wasted role.
Technical Aspects
Jaya Krishna Gummadi's camera work captures the urban vibe of the film quite well. Shweta Venkat pulls off a decent job on the editing table.
Music
The songs of Plan A Plan B suffer from run-of-the-mill lyrics. Some catchy music in the film would have definitely added some spark to this film.
Verdict
"Yeh pyaar hain Diwali ka sale nahin. Logon ko online sales ke cart mein add kar kar ke, checkout pe faisle nahin hote. Shaadi hain, pyaar hain, rishte hain, yeh sab zindagi bhar ke liye hota hain and this needs your input," Tamannaah's character Nirali explains at one point in the film. One wished that Shashanka Ghosh and the writers had taken some cue from their own dialogue!
We give 2 stars out of 5 to Riteish Deshmukh-Tamannaah Bhatia's Plan A Plan B.
