Ever since I absolutely fell in love with RRR earlier this year, I’ve been on a quest to ingest more Bollywood and Tollywood to see if it is a genre I can really get into, or if RRR was a one-off cultural phenomenon that the rest of what I watch from the world of Indian cinema won’t measure up to. I mean, RRR went right into my top 25 movies of all time after I rewatched it in theaters in the original Telugu, and I can’t expect that of ALL movies, right? But I can still expect greatness, I suppose.

My quest initially started off extremely well, as I was recommended another SS Rajamouli film series—the two part Bahubali action outing—and the comedy-thriller Andhadhun. Both of those, while not on the level of RRR, were superb! So I was off and running! I can’t stress enough to check these two out if you, like me, are a RRR fan and want to dip your toes into the scene a bit more. Especially the shorter Andhadhun (Bahubali is two separate movies of over two and a half hours each), which takes some delightful and crazy turns.

Since then, I’ve gotten into a bit of a mixed bag, and I’ve reduced my intake to just what I can access that has come out this year. That way I can feed the need for Bolly, but also continue my climb to 100 movies watched that released this year. Everybody wins! Mostly me.

And so I finally got around to watching the Bollywood film Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, a romantic comedy released this past March.

The title, which seems to translate to either “You’re A Liar; I’m A Conman” or “You’re A Liar; I’m Cunning” depending on where you look (the subtitles in the movie, where this line is part of a song, go with the former, and frankly, that one sounds better anyway), is a bit unwieldy in any language, really. But it lets you know more than a fair bit of what the story is about. Protagonist Mickey comes from a rich and loving family where he has inherited ownership of several businesses, but he also has a side job where he helps couples break up painlessly and blamelessly when one party wants out but doesn’t want either side to get hurt. While on a bachelor/bachelorette weekend with his best friend Dabbas, Mickey falls head over heels for Tinni, the best friend of Dabbas’ fiancé.

The two have brilliant chemistry, and after some relentless pursuing—it honestly gets kind of obnoxiously uncomfortable how Mickey gets that Tinni give him a chance; though the movie makes it clear she is into him but just doesn’t want a summer fling to turn into anything more—Tinni and Mickey end up as a couple… and things move hotly and quickly between them. They meet each other’s families and make plans to get engaged…

And then Mickey’s break-up business gets a call from Tinni that she wants to end the relationship she is in.

So most of the rest of the movie focuses on Mickey trying to figure out why Tinni wants out, while he remains a step ahead of her because he knows something she does not.

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+When you get to the third act, and Tinni and Mickey have broken up and Mickey finally knows why, TJMM gets genuinely heart-wrenching. The break-up sucks because, for all of each member’s deception, no one is really in the wrong; they just want different things for their long-term future. And you are truly left guessing which way the resolution will go. Will they find a compromise? Will one side cave in to the other? Or is it just too much to overcome? And that third option is a bit more believable and viable than most rom-coms where you just KNOW both parties are getting back together, and it’s all a matter of [run]time.

I was on-board and invested in the whole third act, and my soul hurt for these characters. That’s the sign of effective filmmaking.

+Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor have instant and undeniable chemistry as Mickey and Tinni. Every moment they are on screen together works, and any good rom-com needs that.

From their courtship through to their song numbers and up past the heartbreaking break-up, everything about them is believable. It’s hard to imagine two better leads could have been cast.

-Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar is OVER TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG, and it simply does not need to be! I appreciate aspects of the length: there is absolutely no skimping on Tinni and Mickey’s relationship, and it all feels well built instead of rushed. But there are aspects of the plot that arise that are then either abandoned or never end up mattering.

There is SO MUCH talk early on between Mickey and his family that their businesses are losing money. It feels like this will absolutely matter long-term, and the viability of the family’s wealth will have to come into play. But no… this is dropped entirely after the first act. Shortly after Mickey decides he wants Tinni, Dabbas asks for Mickey’s services in breaking off his own engagement. The film spends some time on this, then Mickey realizes Dabbas’ breaking up would hurt his chances with Tinni, so he refuses to see it through. And that’s it! After that, Dabbas and his fiancé just get married and live their lives together with nothing else coming up between them.

Why are either of those storylines even taking up time here?! Edit this stuff down to two hours at most, guys!

-There is a common thread that a lot of romantic comedies suffer through, and that’s that they feel like a weird cross-pollination of soap opera (extremely, unintentionally comical, dramatic sequences) and sitcom (whacky misunderstandings where characters act in unbelievable ways or near-misses happen just to move he plot forward). TJMM definitely does not escape this. There is a stretch of time where, after Tinni calls for Mickey’s services, he does not recognize his own beloved’s voice on the phone. He uses a modulator in his side hustle, so I get why she doesn’t recognize his, but it takes Mickey way too long and too many coincidences before he realizes he is talking to Tinni. It’s such a forced and absurd part of the movie, it’s bound to take you out of your experience.

It’s such a rom-com, there’s even the stereotypical Rushing To The Airport To Confess Your Love scene!

OVERALL

The run time is absurd, and so are some of the plot contrivances, but if you get past those elements, you are left with a funny and emotional story of two people singing and dancing and loving and leaving. I wouldn’t call it great after all, but it’s at least “good”!