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The basic premise is one giant leap of fantasy, given that we are in 2026. A young man, Abhi (Abhijit Amkar), who works in Bangalore, is summoned to Mumbai and told that he will be married off to his father’s friend’s daughter the very next day. Reluctant to do so and yet not strong enough to defy his parents, he has no option but to run away.
At the station, he encounters a girl, Krutika (Priyadarshini Indulkar), who runs after the departing train in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge pattern while he is leaning out of the door, but he does not help her in. She manages to board the train and wants to know why he has been so unchivalrous. She is dressed up as a bride, complete with jewelry, and so is he. The two have a spat on his “ego”, much to the disgust of fellow passengers.
Later, the ticket checker (Prabhakar More) is initially hoodwinked by Krutika into believing that the two are husband and wife who have had a row. However, ultimately, he tells them to alight and takes them to his superior. But they manage to escape.
Now here come the monstrous doses of absurdities: Both have run away minus any baggage, money, or even shedding their wedding attire. Krutika does not even have a phone and Abhi has thrown away his phone in a fit of irritation. What’s more, the two alight in the small town near Mumbai, though we are not told why the two wanted to leave by this particular train and its destination.
A chain of misadventures (after reluctantly joining forces due to shortage of funds—Abhi sells his watch and Krutika, her ring), they “land up” in Alibag, a town over 70 kilometers away, while essentially walking! The family has reported Abhi’s disappearance and the police are tracing him from wherever he borrows a cellphone to speak to his buddy JP (Shreyas Vaidya). The number of hours the wedding is shown being postponed is completely absurd and then it is revealed that the girl too has run away. But is the runaway bride Krutika?
This tantalizing question is revealed only near the climax as meanwhile Abhi finds his feelings for Krutika turning to love, though he knows that a boyfriend—her reason for running away—exists.
The twist at the end is ingenious and would have been superb had the script not taken recourse to complete illogic as mentioned above. The Krutika-Abhi interactions, complete with Abhi soon dreaming of a duet with her in Kashmir, are tangy, humorous and quite spirited, and most of the people they encounter on the way are whacky, like the cop (Abhijeet Chavan) and the ticket checker. Then there is the man who rues being unmarried because of persistent bad luck (Sunil Mangesh), though that sequence seems out of place, forced and unfunny.
The film leaves some questions unanswered, but if you can overlook that as well, is a decent “timepass” entertainer that will give the viewer a relaxed time in the theatre. One major reason is the powerful performance of Priyadarshini, who is at her fiery and spirited best and yet shows her vulnerability repeatedly and very sweetly. As Abhi, Abhijit Amkar does his best to look and behave like Shah Rukh Khan but is decent otherwise. The supporting actors mentioned above are good, the rest okay.
Technically, the film is decent and the music is low-key. The editing (Sandesh Koli) keeps the pace flowing minus monotony and the script by director Akshay Gore remains fairly whacky.
If you want light fluff, this one is for you.
Rating: ***
Mahaparv Films’ & Jija Film Company’s Lagnaachaa Shot Produced by: Akshay Mahadev Gore, Vijay Mahadev Gore, Abhishek Utkarsh Koli & Suresh Maganlal Prajapati Written & Directed by: Akshay Gore Music and lyrics: Pravin Koli & Yogita Koli Starring: Priyadarshini Indalkar, Abhijit Amkar, Sanjay Kulkarni, Rutuja Kulkarni, Prabhakar More, Shreyas Vaidya, Abhijeet Chavan & others
