Pyaar Mein Twist (2005) has a very simple plot. Boy meets
girl. They argue a little, and then fall in love. Their respective
families cause problems, but in the end true love wins out and everyone
is happy. (Contrary to popular belief, this is not the
plot of every Bollywood movie ever made. Eighty percent at most.) The
twisty promised by the title is this: the meddling relatives are not
greedy uncles or wicked stepmothers or stern fathers played by Amrish
Puri. Instead, the not-so-young lovers have to deal with the
disapproval of their own adult children.
Rishi Kapoor plays Yash Khurana, a hugely successful executive who has decided to take early retirement and turn over control of the company to his son Rajiv (Vikas Bhalla). Yash has sacrificed everything to fulfill the dreams of his late father and brother, and is now ready to start living for himself. As it turns out, living for himself mostly consists of walking his dogs in the park and keeping his pregnant daughter in law company while Rajiv runs the business. Still, Yash believes that it’s a good life.
Sheetal Arya (Dimple Kapadia) is a widow who has devoted her life to taking care of her children and fulfilling her late husband’s dreams. She’s busy preparing for the impending wedding of her daughter Ria (Soha Ali Khan, sister of Saif Ali Khan) to Raju (Sammir Dattini), despite the constant delays caused by Raju’s snobbish mother. Sheetal may be lonely, but she has the support of her children and her devoted sister-in-law Toshi (Farida Jalal).
Yash and Sheetal eventually cross paths, and immediately clash. It’s not the kind of profound dislike masking deep attraction that you normally see in Bollywood, though; after a few minor misunderstandings, Sheetal and Yash easily patch things up and become fast friends. When they are mistaken for a married couple, Yash starts to wonder if they could be more than friends. he invites Sheetal on a date, and they have a wonderful time. Unfortunately, they’re spotted by a gossipy friend of Sheetal, and word gets back to their respective children, who promptly freak out.
Yash and Sheetal insist that they are just friends, but no one listens. Raju is very supportive and understanding of the apparent romance, but Ria, Ranjiv, and the other children are increasingly hysterical. As the tension rises, Toshi suggests that they get out of town, and since you should always do what Farida Jalal tells you, they elope chastely, staying in separate rooms in the guest house of Yash’s old friend Khanna (Satish Shah). The plan is to give the kids some space and let them appreciate their parents, but it also gives the couple a chance to discover that yes, they really do like one another, and to decide what to do about that.
The love story in Pyaar Mein Twist is very restrained. It’s very clear that these two people are united by common interests and experience rather than by overwhelming sexual chemistry. they really are kindred spirits; both have devoted their lives to making other people happy, and have suddenly discovered that they want something for themselves. On the other hand, the romance may be a little too chaste; it would have been nice to acknowledge that you don’t automatically lose your sex drive after forty.
All things considered, Pyaar Mein Twist is a very nice movie. That sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, but that’s not my intention at all. It has a good, simple story, the music is aggressively pleasant, and the characters are worth rooting for; while the kids are clearly antagonistic, they’re still sympathetic enough for the viewer to want them to come around. It’s a good way to spend a couple of hours.
Rishi Kapoor plays Yash Khurana, a hugely successful executive who has decided to take early retirement and turn over control of the company to his son Rajiv (Vikas Bhalla). Yash has sacrificed everything to fulfill the dreams of his late father and brother, and is now ready to start living for himself. As it turns out, living for himself mostly consists of walking his dogs in the park and keeping his pregnant daughter in law company while Rajiv runs the business. Still, Yash believes that it’s a good life.
Sheetal Arya (Dimple Kapadia) is a widow who has devoted her life to taking care of her children and fulfilling her late husband’s dreams. She’s busy preparing for the impending wedding of her daughter Ria (Soha Ali Khan, sister of Saif Ali Khan) to Raju (Sammir Dattini), despite the constant delays caused by Raju’s snobbish mother. Sheetal may be lonely, but she has the support of her children and her devoted sister-in-law Toshi (Farida Jalal).
Yash and Sheetal eventually cross paths, and immediately clash. It’s not the kind of profound dislike masking deep attraction that you normally see in Bollywood, though; after a few minor misunderstandings, Sheetal and Yash easily patch things up and become fast friends. When they are mistaken for a married couple, Yash starts to wonder if they could be more than friends. he invites Sheetal on a date, and they have a wonderful time. Unfortunately, they’re spotted by a gossipy friend of Sheetal, and word gets back to their respective children, who promptly freak out.
Yash and Sheetal insist that they are just friends, but no one listens. Raju is very supportive and understanding of the apparent romance, but Ria, Ranjiv, and the other children are increasingly hysterical. As the tension rises, Toshi suggests that they get out of town, and since you should always do what Farida Jalal tells you, they elope chastely, staying in separate rooms in the guest house of Yash’s old friend Khanna (Satish Shah). The plan is to give the kids some space and let them appreciate their parents, but it also gives the couple a chance to discover that yes, they really do like one another, and to decide what to do about that.
The love story in Pyaar Mein Twist is very restrained. It’s very clear that these two people are united by common interests and experience rather than by overwhelming sexual chemistry. they really are kindred spirits; both have devoted their lives to making other people happy, and have suddenly discovered that they want something for themselves. On the other hand, the romance may be a little too chaste; it would have been nice to acknowledge that you don’t automatically lose your sex drive after forty.
All things considered, Pyaar Mein Twist is a very nice movie. That sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, but that’s not my intention at all. It has a good, simple story, the music is aggressively pleasant, and the characters are worth rooting for; while the kids are clearly antagonistic, they’re still sympathetic enough for the viewer to want them to come around. It’s a good way to spend a couple of hours.
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