Meri Pyaari Bindu, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Parineeti Chopra and directed by Akshay Roy, is in theatres today. Here is our Meri Pyaari Bindu review.

Meri Pyaari Bindu Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Parineeti Chopra

Meri Pyaari Bindu Director: Akshay Roy

Meri Pyaari Bindu Rating:

© Provided by India Today (3.5/5)

Meri Pyaari Bindu is like the proverbial cup of extra-milky tea with two spoons of sugar on a rainy Calcutta evening. Calcutta, not Kolkata. Because the Kolkata that writer Abhimanyu Roy (Ayushmann Khurrana) and aspiring singer Bindu Shankar Narayan (Parineeti Chopra) live, love and grow up in, is an emotion. Not politically-correct changed spellings.

Abhi is madly in love with his mad neighbour Bindu. Mad, unreciprocated love. But obviously. How else will you reach a happy ending unless you first show the trials and travails you need to go through to reach there? But the bigger question in Meri Pyaari Bindu is whether or not you reach that happy ending at all. Director Akshay Roy's story is a slice of life. And life doesn't have happy endings. But who can tell what the next chapter holds.

Abhimanyu is a published author of many pulpy, horror-sex-ey books. 'Horror sells,' Abhi tells a family with whom his parents are trying to fix a match. A particularly hilarious sequence involving the girl's father reading out steamy portions from one of his books is one of the high points of this beautifully-written film. We are introduced to Abhimanyu when he is struggling with his 'love story', a project he needs to get out of the way before another visit from his publisher happens. He hasn't written a book for three years. He is struggling with a severe case of writer's block. He types, and discards his words, the crumpled balls of paper lying all around his sea-facing Mumbai flat. You know the drill.

In the next scene, we are thrown off guard when Abhimanyu's mom (Bengali actor Aparajita Auddy in a superbly convincing role) and his dad (Bengali actor Rajatava Dutta in an equally brilliant role) call him to announce they are divorcing each other. Roy is hijacked to Kolkata. He lands in the city to crowds of relatives cheering him with 'Welcome Home Bubla'. His daak-naam, as is all Bengalis', is a constant source of embarrassment. He realises, as do we, that his parents have played an emotional blackmailing game just to see him.

In the middle of a Bengali madhouse, like any Bengali household is, Abhi stumbles upon a mix-tape.

We are taken on a trip down his life. He tells us the story of his first crush, Bindu, her father (the ever-dependable Prakash Belawadi in a memorable role) and mother. It is not a happy story. There are happy moments.

Director Akshay Roy gives us a story all too relatable. To borrow Abhimanyu's words, 'Happy endings bikte hai yaar.'

The story of Meri Pyaari Bindu shines for most parts. The first half is brilliantly done. It throws you into the story right from the word 'Go', and doesn't let you stop feeling for Abhimanyu for even a moment. We see Bindu through his words. We fall for Bindu through his words. The credit behind Meri Pyaari Bindu is as much its actors' as it is the director's. Both the teams come together to create a charming film.

So in the second half when Meri Pyaari Bindu falters for a bit, you want to forgive the director for the lapses. There are times when the pace of the film drops. But the next scene makes up for it. Much like the bumps in Abhi and Bindu's story.

Meri Pyaari Bindu scores big on the technical front, as does it in the writing. The flavour of Calcutta is captured well. Abhimanyu's family is a chapter out of any Bengali family. These people are real. Full marks to the casting director for choosing actors who could blend into the scene without a crinkle.

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Akshay Roy's hero Ayushmann shoulders Abhimanyu with an ease that even a Bengali-speaking actor might not have been able to. Parineeti is vivacious as ever. She shines in her role as Bindu. These two young actors are the fulcrum of a well-oiled machine that doesn't leave you unsatisfied. Or ill-satisfied. Sachin-Jigar's music adds to the overall charm of Meri Pyaari Bindu.

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Watch the film for everything. And come out of the theatre with a big, foolish smile. The kind that appears on your face after a bite into a keemasamosa on a rainy Calcutta day, after a sip of your hot-sweet tea.

(The writer tweets as @ananya116.)

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Ayushmann Khuranna and Parineeti Chopra team up for Meri Pyaari Bindu in a story that is also a nostalgic tribute to yesteryears’ music. Here’s the review of the film.

movie reviewsUpdated: May 13, 2017 07:24 IST

Meri Pyaari Bindu
Director: Akshay Roy
Cast: Ayushmann Khuranna, Parineeti Chopra, Abish Mathew
Rating: 2/5

Remember the sacrificial, selfless love shown in the films from the Raj Kapoor era where the best friend of the heroine loved her but she only cherished his friendship? This was much before Shah Rukh Khan and Co told us that friendship is love. Meri Pyaari Bindu is a nostalgic tribute to the time and attempts a similar love story. Only, Abhimanyu Roy’s (Ayushmann Khuranna) love is not selfless and this is no classic romance.

Filmmaker Maneesh Sharma bet his money on nostalgia and Khuranna two years ago with Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Now, director Akshay Roy has attempted the same, using Khurrana and Parineeti Chopra’s screen presence. Maneesh has produced both the films. We will have to wait and see if Meri Pyaari Bindu too resonates with the audience.

Meri Pyaari Bindu harps on nostalgia from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Abhimanyu (Khuranna) and Bindu (Chopra) are childhood neighbours who strike a charming but unbalanced friendship - while the boy concentrates on the girl, she is only concerned about her singing aspirations.

The story is narrated through a set of songs ranging from Md Rafi and Asha Bhosle’s Abhi Na Jao Chhor Ke (Hum Dono, 1961) to Aarti Mukherjee’s Do Naina Aur Ek Kahaani (Masoom, 1960) and Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar’s Disco 82 (Khuddaar, 1980).

The dialogues such as “love stories to koi bhi likh leta hai, bankers bhi likh lete hain” and “background me ‘Govinda, Govinda baj raha hoga aur tu mere saamne ghutne tek ke maafi mang rahi hogi’ come as a breath of fresh air.

However, the story lacks the passion and depth required for a love story to move the audience. Even at two hours, Meri Pyaari Bindu seems stretched and lengthy. Also, the narrative keeps shifting between flashback and the present, making it too confused at times.

While Khuranna is quite convincing as the hopeless lover who is a best-seller writer of soft porn (Chudail ki Choli and Dracula’s Lover), Chopra fails to spark the hidden, unspoken feelings her character is supposed to nurture for the hero. Khuranna and Chopra nonetheless are charismatic when it comes to portraying friendship - the screen lights up with life and charm every time they get into the zone and enjoy some harmless fun on the streets of Kolkata.

Chopra’s passionate craziness for singing, too, is not visible. As the audience, you are supposed to imagine that she loves singing more than anything else - and that is mainly because of the reiterations of Abhi and not because of Bindu’s behaviour.

The director, nonetheless, must be applauded for bringing the 80s Kolkata and current-day Mumbai on to the screen with the minutest of details. From the signature Goddess Durga idol overshadowing people to the property brokers of Mumbai advising a single girl that landlords prefer to rent out flats to a married woman.

While the nostalgic references will ensure smiles keep making fleeting appearances on your face, the film won’t quite make you root for the characters.

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First Published: May 12, 2017 14:13 IST