In a sea of unwatchable films, an under-promoted, contemporary narration places importance on simple, old-fashioned family values, making it a breezy cut above the rest.
Dad (Manoj Pahwa) is the regular middle class bank manager who rides a scooter and dispenses wisdom on how to trim unnecessary expenses. While his sober older son takes tuitions to enhance the family income, flamboyant second son Yudi (Prit Kamani) can’t wait to break into the upper crust. That would mean looking with disdain at the lower bracket Kishanchand College and entering the rich portals of Oakwood High, aiming to walk into the cool, high echelons of social media queen Saisha Oberoi (Kavya Thapar).
When his dad and his mom Jaya Sharma (Sapna Sand) who runs a lunch catering service from home, pool their savings of Rs 1.5 lakh and send him to Oakwood, Yudi who aspires to be ‘Mussoorie’s sabse cool launda’, feels like Sachin has arrived at Lords.
Meanwhile, his bestie Pannu Chawla (Omkar Kulkarni), son of an eatery owner, would rather rap than be “a halwai”.
Director Ratnaa Sinha who has also written the story, keeps it youthful with Yudi’s pranks to catch Saisha’s eye. His cockiness does bring him into Saisha’s orbit but she who has a longstanding rivalry with Aisha (Eisha Singh), dangles a condition he has to fulfill. ‘Hook up with Ash, break up with her, break her heart and come to me.’
A little like the ‘Chhay din, ladki in’ advice that Shah Rukh Khan gave Saif Ali Khan in Kal Ho Naa Ho, Yudi woos Ash.
Looking on with alarm is his buddy Pannu who cautions him not to hurt anybody.
But Yudi has his swagger, even doing a High 5 to Lord Ganesh. Being cool means clubbing and paying bills he can ill afford. It means telling middle class dad, “Awkward nahin. Oakwood”. It also means dumping mom’s lunch dabbas, he can’t be seen lugging them around to her customers. And mom who’s apologetic for making him her delivery boy takes up for him.
There are inevitable outcomes: showdowns at home, at Oakwood and with Ash and Saisha. Until, along with the rap song, “Tu kaun hai pehchan le”, there’s the gradual awakening to make amends for his follies.
The screenplay by Yash Keswani and Sima Agarwal has a familiar, even predictable, but comforting arc. The music (Himesh Reshammiya) and picturisations are in keeping with the youthful mood like Yudi’s carnival date with Ash but there are unnecessary additions like the avoidable song, ‘Naya pyaar…’. And there are no chartbusters. The dialogues by Suraj Gianani are peppy although there are too many references to “bathroom” and “su-su in the swimming pool” and the usual rhyming lines like, “Cool and funny like Bugs Bunny” and “Chawla-bawla”.
The one question would be, why has this film been so underhyped? Because, with Manoj Pahwa anchoring the family, Prit Kamani is a surprise as Yudi. He’s cheeky and on the wrong side but there’s something endearing about him. Prit excels in a standup comedy scene and the last sequence, though expected, is heartwarming.
For all his ill-intentioned misdemeanours, Yudi (Yudhistar Sharma as you finally discover) is not a total yatichu.
Say it backwards. You’ll know what it means.
Watch Middle Class Love Trailer:
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