No soul, just bright plastic people
Luv Ka The End is an action-packed episode in the life of the Tupperwear People. The Tupperwear People, kindly note, come in vibrant colours, are efficient, air-tight, microwaveable, very plastic and made from a Made In America concentrate. They are different from the Pearlpet People who usually come in packs of three or six, are also plastic, but scratch easy, are not microwaveable and transparently desi.
The Tupperware People in LKTE are fashioned after Archie, Veronica, Betty, Reggie, Jughead, Big Moose, Dilton Doiley, Pop Tate... Not any one character entirely, but each carrying shades of many.
The Tupperwear People are all in college together. The girls’ gang comprises Rhea (Shraddha Kapoor) and her two BFF, Jugs (Pushtiie Shakti) and Sonia (Sreejita Dey). Jugs is round and garrulous, Sonia is thin and dumb.
The boys’ gang is led by Luv Nanda (Taaha Shah), son of a rich but badnaam smuggler. He has no friends, just chamchaas. There is a bitchy girls gang, too, led by one Natasha. They are all rich.
The Tupperwear People have traces of a family somewhere in the fringes. All family members are plastic cartoon characters. Rhea’s dadi, for example, is a certifiable lunatic, and her little sister Minty is a blackmailing smarty pants.
Luv is Rhea’s boyfriend. Jugs doesn’t like Luv, but Rhea loves him and often dreams of marriage, mandap and happily ever after. She has been thinking of “doing it” with him on her 18th birthday. Luv is understandably excited. And soon Rhea, Jugs and Sonia learn from the college geek Kartikeyan and his brother (played by director Bumpy) how much and why.
Luv, you see, is a member of a secret Billionaire Boys Club (BBC). The members of this club don’t meet, they just compete. Every year there is a race for the BBC crown which goes to the boy who scores the most, with girls, of course. To give you an idea about how the marking system at BBC works, here’s an example: 1,000 points is the highest one-time score and can be had by getting really, really lucky with the cutest, simplest, prettiest virgin. And that’s what Luv is after — Rhea the cute virgin. Luv doesn’t care for Rhea, just wants his 1,000 points. He has, in fact, even announced on the BBC website that there will be a live show, as there always is, and that he will win the crown. A college friend is throwing a party where one bedroom has been reserved for Luv and Rhea, and a hidden camera is already staring at the bed.
Rhea is first sad, then angry and then determined to use that live stream to shame Luv. So the three friends get stuff together and plot. Some itching powder goes into Luv’s chaddies along with some super-strong glue. That he doesn’t notice gooey substance soaking his chaddies could be attributed to his state of excitement or the director’s creative block.
Then, Luv’s most precious `50 lakh car is towed away and vandalised; his credit cards are stolen and orders placed for thongs and other items available on backentry.com; he is administered some drugs that make him go wonky, get into a ghaghra and dance with men shouting Main hoon tazaa mutton, mutton.
But the girls, engrossed in all this excitement, are dragged to the thana, along with other sex workers. It’s midnight, Rhea’s 18th birthday, and she is celebrating it with transvestites in a police van. So sad:(
But the Tupperwear People get on with life real quick. Sonia’s loud-but-cool mother arrives, bails them out. But by now Luv, his crotch all calm and safe in fresh chaddies, is in on Rhea’s game. He insists that Rhea comes the friend’s party where all the bed action is to take place. He has a plan, and so does she. Will Rhea get to kick Luv’s b***s?
You can happily sit though this film to find out. Luv Ka The End is sometimes funny, also fast-paced and short. And, as all products from the House of Chopras, this one too is slick and smart-looking. But it has no soul, just colourful Tupperwear People.
Bumpy, who is the director of Roadies, Splitsvilla, Bakra, Fully Faltoo and other such exciting “youth programmes” commissioned by MTV, clearly has the skill and a trite comic sense. All he needs to do now is to leave the sets of his shows and venture out into the real world, meet some real people. If that’s too much, he could start with the Pearlpet variety.
Taaha Shah, who plays the obnoxious victim, is good. His crotch-scratching scene and howling over the car are funny and convincing.
Shraddha Kapoor is cute and from the Acting School of Smilies. She has one expression for shock, surprise, horror, excitement, and it involves pulling her mouth as if making an “O”. Priceless.
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