Love Khichdi

Rating:**

Jat boy Vir,learning to be a sous chef,has a single-point agenda : to prong as many willing women as he can. As he skitters from one female to the other,’Love Khichdi’ shows us just how rate-limiting Bollywood’s alleged sex romps still are. Our macho hero’s search for a good time leads him to cartoonish situations,and predictable hook-ups-that aren’t,delivering much less than it promises.

Here’s Vir’s ( Randeep) gaggle of gals—Pammy ( Divya),the buxom landlord’s wife who wants to learn how to make lasagna la la la ( women who have trouble spelling Italian Khana will not go all the way). Sweet sixteen schoolgirl Riya,who has a crush on him ( little misses who wear tartan skirts are teases). Book store manager Sharmishtha ( Rituparna),who sells the Kamasutra volume to dirty old men ( ‘Bharatiya naris’ who slip up will get all guilty after the deed). Shanta Bai ( Sonali Kulkarni) the maid,whose daily visit is used by Vir to practice his ogling ( all ‘kaamwalis’ have drunken husbands ).The only woman he doesn’t lust after is the goody-goody doormat Sandhya ( Sadaa Sayed) who works in the same hotel as he does. She brings him cake on his birthday : naturally,he takes her for granted.

‘Love Khichdi’ starts out by being brave,and then chickens out. Keeping our delicate Indian sensibilities in mind,Randeep has to start showing us his sensitive side ( he gets to call condoms biscuits,for chrissakes),too soon. After a bit of fun and games with a hard-nosed call centre owner in power-suits ( women in authority are men in disguise),the film gets all drippy.

It has some smart lines,and Randeep with his bang-on Haryanvi accent,does a good job of being randy,but after a zippy start,gets mixed up. ‘Love Khichdi’ is neither a full-on wet dream,the kind that metrosexual men think other metrosexual men are having,nor a how-to on finding the right girl.