Pyaar Ka Punchnama

Plot

Rajat (Kartik Aaryan), Nishant "Liquid" Agarwal (Divyendu Sharma) and Vikrant Chaudhary (Raayo S Bakhirta) are bachelors who live together in a flat in Noida. Rajat falls in love with Neha (Nushrat Bharucha). Nishant falls for Charu (Ishita Raj Sharma) who is his colleague. She makes him do a good part of her own work in office and also makes him foot her beauty parlour bills but he is naive enough to not understand that she is only using him for financial assistance and moral support. Charu has a boyfriend, Abhi, but they aren’t on the best of terms. Vikrant loves Rhea (Sonalli Sehgall) who also can’t get over her boyfriend of 5 years, Varun. Rajat leaves the bachelor pad. Vikrant, however is aware of Varun, and also knows that Rhea has not yet called off that relationship but he doesn’t mind waiting because he is besotted by Rhea. On her part, Rhea keeps assuring him that she will end the relationship but actually ends up sleeping with Varun while she is dating Vikrant. Missing their meetings and bar-hopping, the trio decide to take a time-out by themselves. All three women, however, find out and decide to accompany them to the beach where they eventually mingle. Charu here kisses Nishant, while Rajat has a fight with Neha back at home. Charu starts to ignore Nishant and ends up eventually insulting him openly at work. Rajat and Neha eventually work out their differences, but soon after, further problems arise between them (such as Neha's constant tantrums). Rajat becomes so frustrated that he walks out on Neha, telling her that she is 'not worthy' of him. Nishant goes into depression but is brought back to reality by his two friends Vikrant and Rajat who drive him to Charu's house and Nishant slaps Charu's boyfriend. Vikrant finds out that Rhea slept with her ex and leaves her.

In the end the trio are seen sitting together, laughing and feeling happy with the moment they have with each other. In the end credits, the three girls whom the trio fell for are shown having new boyfriends.

Cast

Production

Production Companies: Panorama Studios Viacom18 Motion Pictures Wide Frame Pictures

Distributors: Panorama Studios (2011) (India) (theatrical) Viacom18 Motion Pictures (2011) (Worldwide) (theatrical)

Other Companies: T-Series (music on)

Critical reception

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5, saying that "On the whole, Pyaar Ka Punchnama has a single-point plan of engaging and amusing the spectators by telling a story which is unusual, yet relevant. It's radiantly good cinema that needs to be lauded and encouraged. Strongly recommended, go for it!" Subhash K. Jha of Now Running gave 3.5 stars in a scale of 5, commenting that "Pyaar Ka Punchnama is a delightful rugged romantic-comedy." Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India gave 3 stars out of 5, noting that "The film had promise and does have a few funny sequences. But by and large, it's a case of promises unfulfilled."

Blessy Chettiar of DNA India gave the movie 3 stars in a scale of 5, concluding that "The only problem with PKP is its running time. The second half seems never-ending, sappy and pleading for sympathy. The MCPs probably don’t realise that women don’t think much of them and PKP won’t do much to change that." Swati Bhattacharyya of Daily Bhaskar gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 5, saying that "It’s a youth centric rom-com, watch it to see the contemporary take on love with twists and turns. Whether your relationship is a danger warning, if your brain can’t tell you at this moment, Pyaar Ka Punchnama will definitely give you an answer. It’s entertaining and fun filled. Don’t go if you are expecting a conventional romantic movie as it may qualify to be blasphemous and a sex comedy."

Anupama Chopra of NDTV Movies gave the movie 2 stars in a scale of 5, commenting that "Pyaar Ka Punchnama, starts out with some promise, echoing Dil Chahta Hai with a laid-back, buddy vibe but that evaporates as soon as the women appear."." Shaikh Ayaz of Rediff gave the movie 2 stars in a scale of 5, concluding that "Pyaar Ka Punchnama is half-way funny but soon descends into a running commentary on why relationships with women are impossible and eventually wends its way to a very implausible end. It could have definitely done with some editing. If it were crisper, with more thought put into its script, situations and dialogue, Pyaar Ka Punchnama would have made the cut." Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave 2 stars out of 5, saying that "The movie acquires rhythms of a TV show, like so many do. We're already in the fifth season by the end of it. Though if this were a TV show, it'd be closest to an authentic Indian version of Friends, or How I Met Your Mother."

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 1.5 stars in a scale of 5, commenting that "Disguised as a light-hearted comedy, Pyaar Ka Punchnama is such a misogynistic film that you can't help but wonder if it was made by someone who's had his heart brutally stamped on by a woman. It's about as much fun as walking on broken glass." Sonia Chopra of Sify gave 1.5 stars in a scale of 5, noting that "The film claims that men are victims; but actually there’s only victim here – the viewer." Komal Nahta of Koimoi gave the movie 1 stars out of 5, concluding that "On the whole, Pyaar Ka Punchnama may be a moderate-budgeted film but its box-office prospects would be limited to a few cinemas in the cities because it is radically different from what the average cinegoer is used to watching."

A sequel Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 was released on 16 October 2015.

Box office

Pyaar Ka Punchnama was steady in several centres in second week.

Awards

Soundtrack