Tumse Na Ho Payega Movie Review: Abhishek Sinha's Tumse Na Ho Payega revolves around Gaurav (Ishwak Singh of Rocket Boys fame). He's an average youngster trapped in a mundane job. His rival in life is Arjun (Karan Jotwani), who happens to be the son of Gaurav's mom's (Amala Akkineni) friend, Anu Aunty (Meghna Malik). Anu Aunty always presents Arjun as this high-achieving go-getter and never misses an opportunity to use him as a benchmark for others. Adding to Gaurav's woes, Devika (Mahima Makwana), the girl he's been in love with since childhood, is now dating Arjun. OTT Releases Of The Week: Ji Chang-Wook's The Worst Of Evil On Disney+ Hotstar, Jaz Sinclair's Gen V on Amazon PRIME, Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Kushi on Netflix & More.

When Gaurav gets fired from his job, he takes a sabbatical and decides that he's done with the thankless grind of his previous job. He plans to start a new business venture, but this idea doesn't sit well with his mother, Anu Aunty, or even his friends. Nevertheless, Gaurav persists and enlists the help of his best friend, Mal (Gaurav Pandey). Their venture resonates with consumers, but as it grows and attracts money-minded investors, Gaurav undergoes a negative transformation to meet the changing demands.

I remember reading Varun Agarwal's How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company over a decade ago, during my Chetan Bhagat obsession era. Stop judging me, okay? I'm pretty sure that many Indian youngsters were devouring CB novels back more than a decade before. After all, why would Bollywood produce films like Kai Po Che, 3 Idiots, and Hello! otherwise? Anyway, this novel was charming to read and even gave me a momentary bubble of inspiration to start my own business, before reality checked in.

Watch the Trailer of Tumse Na Ho Payega:

Tumse Na Ho Payega follows a similar trajectory to the novel, with comparable characters and settings. However, while the novel concludes with the protagonist successfully launching his venture and becoming a capitalist, the film takes a different route. The movie starts off well, with Ishwak Singh's charming performance, at least initially, making Gaurav and his frustrations relatable. The first-person narration from the novel transforms into fourth-wall breaks here, and although Gaurav is no Fleabag, it's hard not to chuckle when he criticises the obsession with posting everything on social media, only to indulge in the same activity later in the film.

In the novel, the protagonist and his friend start a customised clothing company that becomes successful. However, that was before 2012, when the novel was published, and the same idea wouldn't thrive in today's era of Souled Stores, Bewakoof, and Red Wolf. So, what innovative idea does Gaurav come up with in the movie?

Well, after tasting his mom's cooking one day, he gets the brilliant idea to cater home-cooked meals to corporate employees craving the same. This is where the film loses its grip on reality. Not only does this idea sound utterly unconvincing as a million-dollar concept, but it also suffers from flawed thinking. Recently, an Indian court order criticised the romanticisation of women in the kitchen, suggesting that children should have more food made by their mothers. Tumse Na Ho Payega falls into the same trap, attempting to appear noble but failing in its thought process. Bawaal Movie Review: Varun Dhawan and Jahnvi Kapoor Take You Through a Tedious European Tour in This Nitesh Tiwari Film.

Interestingly, Nitesh Tiwari, who is backing Tumse Na Ho Payega, used the Holocaust as a metaphor for marital troubles in his last directorial work, Bawaal. Thankfully, there are no lines like 'Hum sab mein thoda bahut Hitler jaise hain na' (We all have a bit of Hitler in us), but the film does get away with saying, 'We all have some Anu Aunty within us!' Still, it does make for an utterly colourless joke when Mal belittles a coder for perceiving him as a boomer (though their age difference isn't substantial): 'jitna tu hilata hai na, utna maine li hai' (I have slept with more girls than you've masturbated to). Charming...

Apart from these ideological concerns, the movie adopts a template-driven narrative that glosses over the intricacies of the protagonist's journey. Whether it's his business's initial success or its eventual transformation into a profit-focused sweatshop, the film rushes through these developments without allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the journey. The fourth-wall breaks become irritating at this point, and Ishwak Singh's performance becomes limited to mere grins and frowns. The film's pretentiousness in attempting to understand startup culture, beyond the usual clichés, becomes more evident in these segments leading to a predictable conclusion.

Among the other cast members, Gaurav Pandey delivers a decent performance. The talented Mahima Makwana also plays her role well, although her character remains somewhat confounding. Despite being portrayed as a self-driven professional, Devika's life seems to revolve around the whims of the men in her life. At one point, she even mentions that she can't take risks like Gaurav because her father won't allow it. If the intention of the scene was to highlight how men can do as they please while women still need male approval, it gets lost in a film that romanticises women cooking in the kitchen. Amala Akkineni's performance comes off as stiff in certain scenes.

Final Thoughts

It might be the Anu Aunty in me speaking, but the makers of Tumse Na Ho Payega tumbled big time in creating an inspiring rags to riches story and a motivation startup saga. Tumse Na Ho Payega strives to capture the essence of entrepreneurship and unicorn culture but falls short in delivering a compelling narrative. Tumse Na Ho Payega is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 29, 2023 06:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).