Tumse Na Ho Payega, Review: The taste of the pudding

They have given it a negative title, which translates as You Will Not Be Able to Do it. Earlier, it was called Bas Karo Aunty (That’s Enough, Aunty). Nobody in the film says this (the title) line, and the thrust of the film is positive: that one should not take defeats and ridicule seriously, and carve a niche for oneself, as an entrepreneur. The film is based on the book How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company, by Varun Agarwal, published in 2012, when Varun was 25. Though Varun promoted three start-ups in real-life, Alma Mater, Reticular, and Last Minute Films, this book and the film are not about any of his own start-ups. It is about a tiffin service, and though there is no dessert content in these lunch-boxes, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. The film is not bad, but not finger-licking good either.

Gaurav is stuck in a job that is not to his liking. He has two friends, with whom he shares his frustrations. At one point of time, he decides to resign, with the hope that he will be able to start his own business. Suddenly, an idea strikes him. Why not start supplying tiffins of home-cooked food to office employees? He thinks of a name, Mother India, but his friend goes with Maa’s Magic. Gaurav is able to find a handful of house-wives who are ready to come on board and cook every day. Starting on a small scale, in only one area of Mumbai, he expands his business soon, and ropes in his two friends as well. One of them retains his job, but later quits, to join Gaurav as active partner. The response to Maa’s Magic is overwhelming, and the reach needs to spread wider. But he has to contend with Anu Aunty and his own mother (Gaurav has no father).

Gaurav had hidden his business from his mother, and when she finds out, she is not happy at all. Her ears are constantly poisoned against Gaurav by Anu Aunty, whose son, Arjun, is fast rising up the corporate ladder, and becomes the Managing Director of his company, often ridiculing Gaurav for his humble status. Gaurav’s love interest, Devika, is dating Arjun, who is her fifth boy-friend. Gaurav accepts an investor’s offer to expand Maa’s Magic, but, much to his chagrin, the investor suggests that instead of tiffins prepared by housewives, he should now run a centralised kitchen, to meet rising demand, and give greater returns to the investor. Initially, Gaurav agrees to this, but his heart is not in it. He wants to go back to the basic concept of Maa’s Kitchen and offers to return the investor’s money. The investor points out that the exit clause stipulates payment at current valuation of the company, which comes to is Rs. 10.5 crores. He returns Rs. 10.5 crores, which leaves just Rs. 10 lakhs in the kitty.

All the office, corporate, investment, housewife cooks, Anu Aunty, etc. tracks appear to have been taken from Varun Agarwal’s book. The friendship angle, the love triangle, the tea vendor, etc. could be the handiwork of the other two writers: Nitesh Tiwari, Nikhil Mehrotra. I am guessing of course. Nitesh wrote the screenplay of, Dangal, Chhichhore, Bawaal, films that he also directed. But he is not averse to writing for films that he does not direct. Tumse Na Ho Payega is co-produced by Nitesh, along with his wife Ashwini Iyer Tiwari, who gifted him the book that was to metamorphose into a film. "We want to tell our youngsters that they should lead their lives on their own terms and conditions, carve a path for themselves, and define their own parameters of success rather than getting bogged down by the pressures and expectations of people around them, " is the raison d’être of the film. The other writer, Nikhil Mehrotra, is a Tiwari regular, having collaborated with him on a bunch of films, since 2014.

Are films generally getting vulgar, in their use of expletives, or am being I unduly sensitive? This film did not need a single swear word, but it has about 100 of them, uttered by both men and woman without batting an eyelid. The ease with which Gaurav convinces the housewives to hop on is a little hard to believe. Even harder to believe is the Rs. 5 lakh that the tea vendor offers to three down-and-outers, who owe him around Rs. 535 on the tea account, to use as they please. There is no background offered on the deal with the investor, which was necessary. Anu Aunty and Arjun do represent a class of Indians who will go all out to belittle and pull someone down. However, a subtle approach, rather than an over-the-top depiction, was required. Devika’s idea of women’s liberation - checking out several boy-friends before deciding on Mr. Right -  might just be the clarion call for a lot of young women. Supplying tiffins is no revolutionary idea, least of all to Mumbai-ites, who have institutionalised the concept of an iconic food delivery service, and named it dabbavaalaas (lunch-box bearers). A really out-of-the-box innovation was needed to anchor the story. Moreover, the story plays along predictable lines, and we all know where it is heading.

From making music videos for Darshan Rawal, Abhishek Sinha gets a break to make something for the OTT platform. He has a not too familiar cast to play with and a script that might appeal to niche audiences. Sustaining interest should have been his primary motive. Unfortunately, he falters here. Not having read the novel, one cannot assess whether the problems lie with the book itself, in the adaptation or in the execution.

An architect who threw away his blossoming career for the love of the movies, Ishwak Singh (as Gaurav; Veere Di Wedding, Malaal) would find the theme of Tumse Na Ho Payega not dissimilar to his own lot in life. He resonates his real life in this reel life outing, with sincerity. As the savvy Devika, Mahima Makwana, makes her Hindi film debut. It is good as debuts go. Karan Jotwani, as Arjun Kapoor, plays the meanie with due meanness. A friend for all seasons, Gurpreet Saini (Hardik Vaghela) lives up to the role. As the other friend, Sharad ‘Mal’ Malhotra, Gaurav Pandey has more footage and a sharper delineation. Playing Aunty Anu Kapoor is Meghna Malik, with a vicious streak. There is not much motivation for her dark deeds, but some people are born that way. Mrs. Nagarjuna, Amala Akkineni, a Tamil films veteran, is a rare choice for the role of Gaurav’s mother, and does a very good job. A surprise packet is Parmeet Sethi, cast as the investor, VC. He is slick, suave, ruthless, and delivers. Farida Dadi, a veteran of so many decades who shone as a child-star, is her cherubic self as Pammi Aunty, the prime motivator of the chef-brigade. The tea vendor, Omkar Das Manikpuri, for once, gets a good opportunity to show acting prowess. Competent contributions come in the field of cinematography by Navagat Prakash (Unpaused), editing by Chandrashekhar Prajapati (who keeps things manageable, at 132 minutes) and music by Abhishek Arora and Ananya Purkayastha.

Tumse Na Ho Payega is a welcome effort, and works not too badly as a comedy. That, I feel, is doing the film a disservice. But unfortunately, it just does not put enough meat and spice on the table to cater to gourmets, which, I think, it deserved to. In an interview, director Sinha had said, “This film is our cinematic salute to everyone brave enough to go after their dreams.” There needed to be more challenges, more dream chasing and more bravura to make us sit-up and applaud.” Ideally, the premise itself needed to be something novel, not a tale of a lunch-box delivery service. That it is a largely faithful adaptation of a novel, has generally good writing and direction and the cast being up to the task, saves it from becoming a mere pot-boiler.

Tumse Na Ho Payega is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from today (29^th September, 2023).

Rating: **

Trailer: https://youtu.be/jcd9YYE1EXk