There have been many meanings and dimensions to the term ‘friendship’ aka ‘dosti’. There have been a million movies which have been made with friendship being the central theme. We have also witnessed many films which showcased the friendship of two best friends going sour, courtesy a girl and the misunderstanding that comes attached as a package deal.
This week’s release PURANI JEANS also treads on the same territory of the time tested premise of two best friends falling in love with the same girl and the resulting complications which arise after that. The film is based on the belief that ‘friendship is like a pair of old jeans- the older it gets, the better it becomes’. Does the film offer anything new and how much of the film’s story is worth its salt, let’s analyze.
The film starts off with the never-say- die friendship of the self confessed ‘Kasauli Cowboys’ gang, which consists of Tanuj Virwani, Aditya Seal, Param Baidwaan, Kashyap Kapoor and Raghav Kakkar. They eat, drink and make merry together. Even though Aditya is someone who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he yearns for love, affection and friendship. That’s why he prefers the company of his friends and also the company of the lovely ‘M’ (played by Rati Agnihotri), who plays Tanuj’s mom. This is because, with them, he can be his own self, unlike at his house which consists of a drunkard mother (Sarika) and her second husband (Rajat Kapoor), a scheming opportunist. All is well in the friends’ gang till the time Izabelle enters the scene. Both the best friends (Tanuj and Aditya) fall head over heels in love with her, without being aware of each other’s feelings for the girl. While the suave cool dude Aditya makes it very vocal about his feelings towards her, the silent Tanuj suffers in silence and decides to forgo his love for the sake of friendship. Amidst all this, an incident takes place which changes everyone’s path forever. Will the love emerge triumphant over friendship or vice versa, is what forms the rest of the story.
The director and the film’s story writer Tanushri Chattrji Bassu, clearly knows as to what she wanted in this youth drama and she delivers it without any fumble. It would have been great though if she had added some more twists and turns in this otherwise predictable film. As far as the star cast is concerned, despite Tanuj being the ‘hero’, its Aditya Seal who steals the show and how! He really deserves special brownie points for his amazing screen presence and the conviction that he exudes through his character. Even though Tanuj is okay in parts, he really has a long way to go as far as his dialogue delivery and emotional scenes are concerned. As for the rest of the gang, Param Baidwaan, Kashyap Kapoor and Raghav Kakkar do their bit in carrying the film forward in whatever manner they can. As for Izabelle Leite, the film’s heroine, she should concentrate more on acting and emoting, as merely looking good on screen is just not good enough. Amongst the senior lot, Sarika, Rajat Kapoor and Rati Agnihotri enjoy their moments under the sun, while Manoj Pahwa is at his usual self.
Ram Sampath, who has composed both, the music as well as the film’s background score, needs to be applauded for coming up with some memorable tunes. The songs’ lyrics and the music seem to complement each other beautifully. While the editors Apurva Motiwale and Ashish Mhatre are commendable in their departments, the work of the cinematographers Sunil Patel and Christo Bakalov, seem to be a step ahead of them.
All in all, this film is worth a watch once… all for the sake of friendship.