I’m worried people will read that headline and think it’s sarcastic. It’s not! Luv Ranjan is like Chuck Lorre in that it is cool to dismiss their work, but if you actually objectively watch it, they are the opposite of what everyone says about them.

This is probably Luv’s biggest film to date. His last one was with Ajay Devgan and Tabu, which is pretty darn big (you can watch it on Hulu, De De Pyaar De, it’s good!) but it didn’t get the release and promotion this film did. This is a Holi release, and Ranbir instead of lowkey Ajay as the big name. I’m a bit sad because it is a very good script and a good story and I would have liked to see what Luv’s usual ensemble did with it, especially his lead couple Nushrat Bharucha and Kartik Aaryan. He’s been working with them for YEARS and he writes scenes with their talents and strengths and weaknesses in mind, and I could see that Shraddha and Ranbir were just slightly not right for his vision. I wish he’d been given this budget and this promotion with his original stars. But the film still works, because ultimately it is the script that is the star more than any of the actors.

Ranbir is essentially playing Kartik Aaryan in this. Super smart, very fast talker, but with a huge sincere heart at the bottom of it. Shraddha is playing A Person. That’s why I love Luv, his heroine’s are never types, they are always people. The heroes tend to get more of the humor and “bits”, but that is because it is the heroine’s sincerity that drives the plot. Watch De De Pyaar De, you’ll see, Ajay is the lead character but it is Tabu and her inner life that form the story. Shraddha does a great job with her Person, and it shows what happens when an actress gets a well-written deep character. She has motivations, history, complexity, and Shraddha is allowed to draw on all of that scene by scene and let it play out on her face.

It’s also just super FUNNY. Luv’s scripts are The Best, he throws in a ton of humor around modern Indian life, your Mom being embarrassing, your smart aleck little niece, your Dad who won’t shut up about that time he drove super fast to the hospital. Luv’s break out movies were about “the youth today” with lots of things on modern dating and blah blah. But that’s not the only thing he can make funny, he can make anything funny, and in a way that has a particular bite crossed with sweetness.

The other thing about this film is that it gives you A Lot to talk about. Remember that list I did a while back of films to start a feminist discussion? This is definitely one of those. There are no easy answers, or right answers, just a lot of open issues to consider.

So yes, go watch it! And then go over to my SPOILER review to discuss it! I will give you one TINY TINY spoiler, if you pretend the movie ends at the airport scene, you might like it better. Or, you might not, tastes differ.