There is nothing quite remarkable about Qarib Qarib Singlle. Aside from Irrfan Khan and Parvathy, who are remarkably unconventional choices to star in a Bollywood romantic comedy, and the fact that Yogi and Jaya – their respective characters – astonishingly manage to fall in love with each other.
A romcom that isn’t exactly a hilarious wreck – and barely has any traditional romance – is always going head first up the wall, which has the verdict written on it in bold unmistakable writing.
Or not.
The film plays its quest of underscoring imperfections to the tee, with the final production marred with glaring limitations. Whether they are supposed to underscore the many glitches in life and relationships, or those in filmmaking and writing is for you to decide.
QQS, in one word, is unconventional. Starting from its choice of characters, to its idea of romance, to its portrayal of the human evolutions – mutual and individual – to even going about setting the stage for its depiction, there is nothing in the movie that can be classified as typical.
And in an entertainment realm where the cast alone is a 95% guarantee of the box office verdict, such a venture is cinematic masochism.
Even so, in this blatant gamble, there is one sure-shot banker: Irrfan Khan. And there couldn’t have been too many actors better suited to play Jaya than Parvathy – a Malayalam star making her Hindi debut with QQS.
Yogi, a 40-year-old smalltime – yet rich – poet, meets Jaya, an insurance-selling widow in her mid-30s, through an online dating site. While the mismatch is laid bare from the get-go, Jaya just can’t seem to get rid of Yogi through a combination of stalker-ish persistence, and the volumes of intrigue that he exudes.
After a few awkward dates the two decide to take a trip to meet each of Yogi’s three ex-girlfriends in three different parts of India. Despite the inertia of pure reluctance Maya, who almost stands up Yogi at the airport, somehow manages to acquiesce to an idea that, just like the entire script, was downright outrageous.
This journey is a roundtrip, and the itinerary includes stopovers at the former lovers of not one, but both of them. And we get to travel with the duo to Rishikesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Gangtok in a trip that combines surreal scenery with an equally unlikely romance.
Where the film fails, or refuses, to make your heart pound harder than it should, it makes up with laughter – often when you might not be expecting it. The comedy comes as intermittently as it does easily, and the humour is sharp, based almost entirely on the composition of the dialogues and their flawless delivery.
Like most characters played by him, Yogi ozzes with Irrfan Khan himself. Apart from the impeccable comic timing and the unquestionable personification of the character, Irrfan Khan delivers a stellar performance by doing the one thing that he does matchlessly: highlighting the extraordinary in the mundane and ordinary.
While his is supposed to be the eccentric character, Parvathy is the polar opposite. Her insecurities brim over, as she tries to please everyone in her run-of-the-mill life with her stubborn refusal to let go of her past – it is hard to move on and find love again, when your Facebook password is your late husband’s name.
There is no shortage of symbolism in QQS – from sharing water bottles being deemed synonymous with sharing life, to the constant focus on the two travelers’ suitcases as they help unpack each other’s baggage.
Then there are airports, train stations with missed flights and wrong trains – demonstrating destinations, wrong routes, and an atypical final destination, which actually is a runway to the unseen.
In terms of the entertainment coefficient, the film kicks off with a bang and then slows down in the middle. It is inconsistent, uneven, and sometimes all over the place – just like the humans, their relationships and life it is meant to depict. Even the expectedly predictable ending, intriguingly is left hanging in the air.
As an illustration of human relations, and downright acting brilliance, QQS is a fine work of art. But the fact that it self-absorbs the many flaws it sets out to reflect, leaves much to be desired on the entertainment front.
A romcom that isn’t exactly a hilarious wreck – and barely has any traditional romance – is always going head first up the wall, which has the verdict written on it in bold unmistakable writing.
Or not.
The film plays its quest of underscoring imperfections to the tee, with the final production marred with glaring limitations. Whether they are supposed to underscore the many glitches in life and relationships, or those in filmmaking and writing is for you to decide.
QQS, in one word, is unconventional. Starting from its choice of characters, to its idea of romance, to its portrayal of the human evolutions – mutual and individual – to even going about setting the stage for its depiction, there is nothing in the movie that can be classified as typical.
And in an entertainment realm where the cast alone is a 95% guarantee of the box office verdict, such a venture is cinematic masochism.
Even so, in this blatant gamble, there is one sure-shot banker: Irrfan Khan. And there couldn’t have been too many actors better suited to play Jaya than Parvathy – a Malayalam star making her Hindi debut with QQS.
Yogi, a 40-year-old smalltime – yet rich – poet, meets Jaya, an insurance-selling widow in her mid-30s, through an online dating site. While the mismatch is laid bare from the get-go, Jaya just can’t seem to get rid of Yogi through a combination of stalker-ish persistence, and the volumes of intrigue that he exudes.
After a few awkward dates the two decide to take a trip to meet each of Yogi’s three ex-girlfriends in three different parts of India. Despite the inertia of pure reluctance Maya, who almost stands up Yogi at the airport, somehow manages to acquiesce to an idea that, just like the entire script, was downright outrageous.
This journey is a roundtrip, and the itinerary includes stopovers at the former lovers of not one, but both of them. And we get to travel with the duo to Rishikesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Gangtok in a trip that combines surreal scenery with an equally unlikely romance.
In terms of the entertainment coefficient, the film kicks off with a bang and then slows down in the middle
Where the film fails, or refuses, to make your heart pound harder than it should, it makes up with laughter – often when you might not be expecting it. The comedy comes as intermittently as it does easily, and the humour is sharp, based almost entirely on the composition of the dialogues and their flawless delivery.
Like most characters played by him, Yogi ozzes with Irrfan Khan himself. Apart from the impeccable comic timing and the unquestionable personification of the character, Irrfan Khan delivers a stellar performance by doing the one thing that he does matchlessly: highlighting the extraordinary in the mundane and ordinary.
While his is supposed to be the eccentric character, Parvathy is the polar opposite. Her insecurities brim over, as she tries to please everyone in her run-of-the-mill life with her stubborn refusal to let go of her past – it is hard to move on and find love again, when your Facebook password is your late husband’s name.
There is no shortage of symbolism in QQS – from sharing water bottles being deemed synonymous with sharing life, to the constant focus on the two travelers’ suitcases as they help unpack each other’s baggage.
Then there are airports, train stations with missed flights and wrong trains – demonstrating destinations, wrong routes, and an atypical final destination, which actually is a runway to the unseen.
In terms of the entertainment coefficient, the film kicks off with a bang and then slows down in the middle. It is inconsistent, uneven, and sometimes all over the place – just like the humans, their relationships and life it is meant to depict. Even the expectedly predictable ending, intriguingly is left hanging in the air.
As an illustration of human relations, and downright acting brilliance, QQS is a fine work of art. But the fact that it self-absorbs the many flaws it sets out to reflect, leaves much to be desired on the entertainment front.