What happens when AI decides who you love or who your soulmate is, only for you to find out that you've been scammed?
There's a Hindi saying "Poot ke paanv paalne mein hee dikh jaate hain", which roughly translates in English to - "Coming events cast their shadows long before". From Baazigar, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Pardes, Dil Se to obviously Chennai Express, despite Sundari being half-Malayali, Param Sundari is full of Shah Rukh Khan film references.
Param Sundari begins with Sidharth Malhotra's Param saying, "Kisi mahapurush ne kaha hai kahin na kahin, koi na koi har kisi ke liye bana hai". Remember Dil Toh Pagal Hai?
What's more is that Param is a tech investor from Delhi who is yet to make a mark for himself and prove his mettle to businessman father, played by Sanjay Kapoor. After a series of debacles, Param feels a new start-up app called Find My Soulmate could be a game changer for him. He makes a wager with his father that if this new start-up app succeeds in one month, his old man would fund the Rs 5 crore project. If it's the other way around, Param will start working at the family company.
We are told that this Find My Soulmate app connects people on the basis of their frequencies. In this social media world of right swipe, left swipe, one can find their soulmate, no matter where they are. The promise is big and Param wants to test the app before putting in any money.
His "frequency" matches with Janhvi Kapoor's professional Mohiniyattam dancer Sundari who lives in a small town with beautiful backwaters called Nangiarkulangara in Kerala's Allapuzha. Sundari lives with her younger sister Amu. She converted their house into a homestay after their parents' death and as her dance studio was not making money. Sundari "hates" her job and wants to pursue Mohiniyattam.
Param obviously doesn't tell her that he is not in Nangiarkulangara for sightseeing but to match his frequency with her. Somehow this fake app leads to right match for Param and Sundari. But Venu, her childhood friend with whom she played house-house enters the scene as a "virus" and Sundari is to be married to him with 10 days of Onam.
Now, as this is a romantic comedy, Param is a Dilwala who eventually gets his Dulhania. He admits he has come to get Sundari but not without the blessings of the village elders.
From the flirting scene in the church to the whole Malayalam accent issue, all controversies aside, Param Sundari lives up to its name. Extremely beautiful. Colour-coordinated Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor look beautiful in the film, set against the beautiful backwaters and greenery of Kerala.
Though a must-watch for all Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor fans, Param Sundari is not serving anything new in the romantic comedy genre. While it never promised to be a Saiyaara (a film set in the same umbrella genre of romance but not an intense drama), this new film is not as engaging. One will come back from the theatres humming the dreamy Pardesiya, which reminds the viewer of Yeh Haseen Vadiyan from Roja.
PS: We are all for pop culture references, but films calling out the new generation for finding matches through social media apps is really getting a bit old.
Also Read | Param Sundari Star Sidharth Malhotra On Romance: "It Has Always Been An Integral Part Of Hindi Cinema"
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Janhvi Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra
