Qarib Qarib Singlle

Two strangers going for a road trip and falling in love at the end is a theme that can’t be called as a really fresh one. The new movie from Tanuja Chandra, Qarib Qarib Singlle is repeating the same thing but in a more organic way. With characters having that faulty characteristics and the performances making the subtle humor work out effectively Qarib Qarib Singlle is that easy love story which you won’t regret watching.

Jaya is a 35 year old widow who hasn’t been dating or seeing anyone since the death of her husband which happened 10 years back. The terrible loneliness she faces in life forces her to try her luck in a dating website. Out of the numerous perverts in that site, she found one Mr. Yogi as an interesting choice. The film Qarib Qarib Singlle shows us how these diametrically opposite characters discover themselves over a road trip.

Like I said in the beginning there is no unpredictability factor here to excite you. But it is the cheerfulness the film has got that makes it this simple feel good love story. The repartee helps the movie a lot in being alive and there are no inhibitions for the film makers to touch upon things that were kind of taboo a few years back in this kind of a film. The characters are flawed and that gives it a real feel. The subplots in the film that gets unraveled every time the couple go to some new place definitely deepens the relationship between the characters, but somewhere you tend to have this feeling that it isn’t utilized to the fullest.

Tanuja Chandra as a writer and director has a filmography with movies that has this cheesy kind of feel. This movie that comes nearly after 10 years after her last film has no cheesiness. Unlike her other films the verbal explanations are pretty less. In fact the climax portions were a little too minimal that I kind of felt there should have been a few lines. The story written by her mother Kamna Chandra isn’t breaking the template. But Tanuja manages to make the give and take between the characters in this movie really natural. The cinematography of the film had some interesting shots which played with the symmetry and lighting to depict the conditions of characters. The music was nice. And I liked the way they kept the background score to its minimal best.

Irrfan Khan as always is in that eased out form and he makes Yogi that irresponsible self centered guy whom we can’t really hate. The chemistry between him and Parvathy is so endearing and cheerful. Not because she is from Kerala, but for me Parvathy’s performance was slightly above the performance of Irrfan and a major reason for that was because her character had that much scope. She plays this insecure middle aged woman who gets advices from everyone to be in a relationship and doesn’t know how to handle her vulnerabilities. Parvathy uses the scope of this character to deliver an earnest performance. Even in that sequence where she goes high, the comedy never becomes cartoonish. Neha Dhupia and Isha Sharvani appear in brief cameo roles.

Qarib Qarib Singlle isn’t the kind of cheesy unreal love story. It’s a bit filmy for sure. But the humor in the treatment and the nature of the characters makes it that easy fun film which puts a smile on our face in the end. Resemblances with many films are there, but still this one is a pleasing film.

Rating: 3/5