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‘Luka Chuppi’ is a mod­ern-day rom-com that revolves around the issue of live-in relationships. While the comedy stems from a blend of political satire and Bolly­wood stereotype of a weird joint family, the romance is pretty sim­plistic and at times feels rushed. If anything, this movie is a “brainless comedy” but nonetheless also a stellar entertainer.

The story follows Guddu Shuk­la (Kartik Aaryan), a reporter at a local TV station at Mathura who’s gotten himself quite a rep­utation for his quirky TV persona with his best friend and camera­man Abbas Sheikh (Aparshakti Khurana). Funded by Tripathi Ji (Vinay Pathak), the chief of a Hin­du nationalist party (that makes demonizing live-in relationships and PDA its political agenda), the TV station assigns Guddu the issue of live-in relationships. For his new assignment he gets partnered with Rashmi Trivedi (Kriti Sanon), daughter of Trivedi Ji. Their friend­ship quickly escalates into full blown romance in the course of their assignment.

 Who should watch it?

Fans of rom-coms should totally watch it. If you’re looking for a total entertainer to unwind this weekend, this is a good option. And most definitely if you’re a fan of Kartik and/or Kriti. They won’t disappoint.

Guddu then drops down on his knee and proposes Rashmi. Even though she freaks out at first—part confused, part curious—Rashmi proposes they first try a live-in rela­tionship to test their compatibility. The story follows their adventure as they experiment with a post-mod­ern concept in a conservative Hin­du society.

Both Aryan and Sanon are fully into their roles, almost intoxicating­ly so, with their amazing chemistry. While that can be said for most of the cast, the over-the-top character of Babulal (Pankaj Tripathi) feels a little out of place.

The comedy and the irresistible romance make up for an utter disregard for logic

With its political satire, situational comedy, and plot twists, the movie is sure to give the audience a good dose of laughter. The story also peddles a host of other socie­tal issues like misogyny, gender inequality, caste bias and moral policing, all of which get a funny treatment. And the story couldn’t be easier to follow.

The plot is a little predictable; the trailer makes it even more predictable and spoils important scenes. The plot also feels repet­itive at times. On the plus side, there a number of good political satires. (In a scene a journalist is seen asking “So you’re an anti-na­tionalist?” when an actor reveals he’s in a live-in relationship.) The subtle dig at the moral policing of the BJP-allied Bajrang Dal is also on the mark.

Again, while the movie dis­plays an utter disregard for logic, the comedy and the irresistible romance make up for it. If you’re willing to leave behind logic at the ticket counter and watch the movie for what it truly is, you’re surely to be entertained for the two-hour runtime. As a debutant, director Laxman Utekar does an amazing job of bringing it all together.

Movie: Luka Chuppi

Genre: Comedy/Romane

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Aparshakti Khurana, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Atul Srivastava, Alka Amin

Direction: Laxman Utekar

Rating: 3.5/5

The Indreni Foodland at Maharajgunj, Chakrapath, opened its premises at a time fine dining was still rare in the area.

 Located opposite of the Bhatbhateni Supermarket Maharajgunj, the Indreni Foodland is a multi-cuisine restaurant with a dedicated café as well. Don’t get fooled by its Nepali name though. The Indreni Foodland is a chain of lavish fine-dining restaurants that operate in various places around Kathmandu with the same name, under the broader Indreni group. It is an established brand in the hospitality industry of Nepal with almost a dozen entities under its portfolio.

 Coffee and cocktails, naan and sandwiches, palak paneer and pastries, Indreni Foodland has them all and you can enjoy your meal at its luxurious premises, which are almost secluded from the busy ring road by a bit of greenery.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Tiger Chicken

- Jumbo Prawn

- Swiss Roll

- pastry

Opening hours: 8 am-10 pm

Location: Maharajgunj

Cards: Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 2,000

Reservations: 014720421

 Following the success of ‘Dhamaal’ (2007) and ‘Double Dhamaal’ (2011) comes ‘Total Dhamaal’. With a stellar cast and previous success of the franchise, this film however fails to meet expec­tations: for a comedy film, there are hardly any moments where you feel like laughing out loud. The plot is simple enough. Rs 500 million has been stashed away in a zoo in a town called Janakpur (no, not the one in Nepal). This leads to a mad chase for the booty among a bunch of eccentric and greedy characters. Among them are bad­ly-matched siblings, a bickering couple on the verge of a divorce, a conman, local goons, and a police commissioner. Their slapstick ride to get to the money first, complete with flying cars, falling bridges and crashing helicopters, is what the film is all about. Previous movies of the franchise were also about treasure hunts.

Who should watch it?

Fans of slapstick comedy could like, nay, even enjoy, Total Dhamaal. So might the old fans of Madhuri Dixit. Her pairing with Anil Kapoor is a nostalgia-filled walk down the memory lane.

This film packs in many inter­twined sequences within 2h10m of runtime with ease. The rath­er simple plot also makes the story easy to follow, even though there are a welter of characters. The lavish songs and dance-num­bers are also pleasing on the eye. Fans of comedy movies will get to see known faces in Bollywood like Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Javed Jaffrey, Sanjay Mishra and Johnny Lever, not to mention the famous Madhuri Dixit-Anil Kapoor combo who have made a comeback in this film.

But the movie could have been so much better given its great cast­ing and a famous franchise name. Excess use of badly-executed com­puter graphics and predictability of punch lines are downers too. Dialogue delivery is sloppy, leading to poor comic timing, a problem compounded by equally bad editing.

Devgn, who has appeared in many hit comedies like the ‘Golmaal’ fran­chise, is a letdown. We have also seen better camaraderie between Javed Jaffrey and Arshad Warsi. The film does not do justice to their collective talent and performances they have delivered in earlier install­ments of the film. But Deshmukh does justice to his character of a conman. Though Johnny Lever gets far less screen-time, Deshmukh’s scene with him is hilarious.

Rest of the talent like Boman Irani and Esha Gupta are lost in half-heartedly written characters and poor dialogues. We are see­ing Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit together on-screen after a long time and this is the first mainstream com­edy where they have acted togeth­er. As a quarrelsome couple, they make for a potent combo. But given their filmography of hits like ‘Ram Lakhan’, ‘Beta’ and ‘Tezaab’, these two deserved a better comeback.

The director of the film Indra Kumar has said in an interview that another film will be released under ‘Dhamaal’ franchise, to be called ‘Full-on Dhamaal’ or ‘Triple Dhamaal’. If only movies lived up to their names!.

Movie: Total Dhamaal

Director: Indra Kumar

Genre: Comedy/Action

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Arshad Warsi

Rating: 2.5/5

You don’t always see exotic wild animals at Chitwan. Even if you are lucky to, when you’re on a holiday, you probably don’t want to wind up in bed at 7 pm for lack of night activities. Well, such was the case a few years ago, until the restaurateurs started taking tourism and partying seriously.

The Snooks Café and Pub is one such venue at Bharat­pur, Chitwan (you might have to pull out your Google maps for this one) that has taken the nightlife in Chitwan to the next level with a dedicated stage performance and live music from different bands EVERY DAY. Yes, you read that right.

The owners of Snooks like to call it the “only rock bar” in Chitwan, and rightly so with their loud and rocking music. Locals in the area, tourists from Kathmandu, Pokhara and other cities as well as foreigners throng Snooks for its live music, multi-cuisine food and a variety of domestic and imported liquor.

 THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Grilled Wild Boar

- Spaghetti Bolognese

- Coin Chicken

Opening hours: 12 noon to 11 pm

Location: Bharatpur-10, Chitwan

Cards: Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 2,500

Reservations: 9855050700