3 Stars (out of 4)
Watch Aap Jaisa Koi on Netflix
R. Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh play two lonely singles on the bumpy road of love in the romantic comedy-drama Aap Jaisa Koi (“Someone Like You“). Despite a few hiccups, director Vivek Soni’s film is exactly the kind of movie Netflix India needs more of.
Madhavan stars as Shrirenu Tripathi, a high school Sanskrit teacher in Jamshedpur. A misguided attempt at courtship in his teenage years resulted in the target of Shri’s affections cursing him to be forever single — a curse that appears to have worked. Shri’s a 42-year-old virgin who’s been turned down by every woman who’s ever seen his matchmaking bio-data sheet.
When even Shri’s students — lead by class clown Rakesh (Sachin Kavetham) — start teasing him about his nonexistent love life, he takes action. Shri’s roommate and best friend Deepu (Namit Das) gets Shri on a sex chatting app, figuring Shri might be more confident over the phone than face-to-face. Shri talks to an unnamed woman who is charmed by his lack of guile. When she asks, “What’s your love language?” he replies, “Sanskrit.”
Days later, Shri’s brother’s neighbor Joy brings a marriage proposal for Shri. Joy’s 32-year-old niece Madhu Bose (Shaikh) is interested in him. She teaches French in Kolkata, she’s never been married, and she’s beautiful. She sounds too good to be true, but a covert investigation by Deepu and Rakesh turns up nothing scandalous. Shri and Madhu love spending time with each other and are quickly engaged.
To this point, Aap Jaisa Koi is a cute movie peppered with delightful song picturizations. It’s easy to enjoy and feels like a throwback to movies from decades ago. We know there has to be a problem to fix in the second half, but things are going so well, it’s not clear what the problem could be.
A conflict between Shri and Madhu reveals a problematic ideology simmering under the surface of the story. In his life, Shri is surrounded by men. His roommate is a guy, he teaches at an all-boys school, and his brother Bhanu (Manish Chaudhari) rules his household. Even though Shri adores his sister-in-law Kusum (Ayesha Raza Mishra) and his adult niece, he watches in silence as Bhanu routinely denigrates both women and forbids them from pursuing their passions.
Shri’s environment is nothing like Madhu’s house, where she lives with her doting grandmother, loving parents, and supportive aunts and uncles. It’s a shame that the film doesn’t afford Kusum any female friends, but she’s surrounded by plenty of open-minded well-wishers.
The main characters’ contrasting social spheres highlight the dangers of rigid gender separation. Shri has so little experience dealing with women he’s not related to that he doesn’t realize how he’s negatively influenced by the men around him. When he voices his concerns, it’s to the same men who believe women should be virgins before marriage and shouldn’t work outside the home.
Though Soni’s film — based on a screenplay by Radhika Anand and Jehan Handa — is message-driven, I’m not gonna complain when the message is: “Don’t be an incel.” To the story’s credit, the conflict resolves in an unexpected, yet believable way. Shri digs himself a deep hole, but the way he gets out is ultimately satisfying.
The story is helped by quality performances by the whole cast, especially the leads. Madhavan is always watchable, and he makes Shri a guy who’s unduly insecure. Shaikh is particularly good, conveying so much emotion with the slightest change of expression.
Aap Jaisa Koi draws on a long history of “woman teaches man not to be a dumbass” films, but it distinguishes itself through a refined blend of classic stylistic choices and modern relationship drama.
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