Alok Nath finally steps out of his sanskari uncle avatar for Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
A fanfare of friendship in all its man-to-man moments is what Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety mostly is, besides a side order of a Punjabi household in a state of constant wedding preparations.
Sonu (Kartik Aaryan) is convinced from the beginning that Sweety (Nushrat Bharucha), the bride to be is too perfect to be real, while his best friend Titu (Sunny Nijar), insists that he is marrying for all the right reasons. Sweety is constantly winning over hearts across the three generations in her future parents-in-law's home, the NGO for children that she works for and everyone else around, including and especially Titu’s. Sonu in the meanwhile is engaged in a full-on battle with Sweety to stop the wedding, the two outsmarting each other at every step, until the day of the wedding.
Sonu’s over-protection for his childhood buddy is just a bit more annoying than the tongue twisting title of the film, but you get drawn into the fun and games soon enough. The "dosti versus ladki" question keeps you guessing until the end and the little nuggets of humour now and then are entertaining.
Watching the equation shift from one to the other and enjoying the drama thoroughly from a distance are two other "jigri yaar", Ghasite (played by Alok Nath), who is Titu’s grandfather, and Lalu, the grandmother’s foster brother.
It’s a surprise to see Alok Nath step out of his "sanskari cloak" possibly for once in all his Bollywood career, holding secret daru sessions on the terrace with Lalu and (lo and behold) the two accompanying Sonu and Titu to Amsterdam for the bachelor’s party. What an amusing contrast it is to see him bribing an old couple on the dance floor to get Titu and his ex together, while we are used to seeing him dish out only elderly advice and such.
It’s male camaraderie all the way, packed with heavy doses of brotherly love (they only just fall short of being a couple themselves), a fierce loyalty that can go beyond all other relationships (feels skewed but not unbelievable), and an inseparable bond (wonder what would become of them in an imagined after-story with wives and children in the picture).
Towards the end, you wonder, though, if the point of male friendship needs to be proved with an approach that would have been blatantly anti-woman if not for the light-hearted flavour of the film, and the decision of a marriage rather carelessly handled.
But it also leaves you thinking for a bit on your own friendships and the extent to which you would go to keep them.