Qarib Qarib Singlle: **1/2
What’s it about
A young reluctant widow pushes herself into online dating and ends up with a madcap shayar who is starkly different from her.
Review
In many ways, ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’ is a film made up of moments than a story. Sure, it’s a slice of life film that takes you on a journey with the full baggage of its characters.
South star Parvathy’s character Jaya is skillfully written and executed with subtle nuances of today’s single working woman in a big city who is bogged down by unsolicited advice from peers and family just as much as her own need to connect with someone at a ripe age of 35.
She’s neither fatally feminist nor frivolous. She braves her own inhibitions and erotic messages from horny men to log on to the world of online dating, talks to the camera (ala Kadar Khan but much less funny) and almost never lets her guard down. Parvathy does all of this amazingly well.
Of course, no less and even more is Irrfan who gets her goat every time but not enough for her to abandon him because much like the audience she too enjoys his company – unpredictable, adventurous and goofy!
Director and co-writer Tanuja Chandra with Gazal Dhaliwal rely heavily on realism and relatability of these 2 characters to bring about the connection with its audience and succeed.
The curse of the second half
While the first half breezes through with some really delectable cinematic moments, 10 minutes after the interval, the curse of the second half catches up with QQS.
The banter between the leads starts coming off as repetitive and there is no definite progression of the story nor is there any clarity on Irrfan’s past. Their chemistry too doesn’t evolve into anything tangible until its way too late.
Almost 3 hours and lack of good music starts to weigh heavy and QQS derails from the heights of entertainment it had started, and abruptly wraps up.
However, by now you would have got your time and money’s worth and quite a few moments to let ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’ be the film that you can enjoy one time whether you’re married, committed or willingly single!
- By Ronak Kotecha
ReviewRon 