Jabariya Jodi is tiresome, but entertaining.

Jabariya Jodi is a colossally stupid film. Like producer Ekta Kapoor’s last venture, Veere di Wedding (2018), it can either be one of the most outrageously hare-brained films you’ve seen or a fun and frothy entertainer. For whatever reason, I saw it as the latter - a popcorn masala film that makes up for what it lacks with a biting screenplay, and a strong support cast.

The film is based on the pakadwa shaadi phenomenon in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where gangs of men kidnap grooms who’ve rejected marriage proposals on the basis of dowries and force them to marry. Set in small-town Bihar, this is the story of Abhay Singh (Sidharth Malhotra), a goon who indulges in such practices, with his own aspirations to enter politics. His childhood friend, the firebrand Babli (Parineeti Chopra) wants to marry him, which he rejects - sending her into the obvious realisation that she must give him a taste of his own medicine - she’s going to do pakadwa shaadi with him.

Firstly, props to writer Sanjeev Jha and dialogue writer Raaj Shandliya. Pakadwa shaadi is not only a dangerous phenomenon, it’s also a horrific thing - one that’s left multiple brides and grooms in marriages they never wanted, all from this misplaced sense of female empowerment. So, bringing up this important story is a plus, but couldn’t we do it in a better way? The best thing about Jabariya Jodi is Sidharth Malhotra. He’s in a majority of the scenes as the loudmouth Abhay.

We first meet him romancing a seemingly desi Elli AvRam, in Tanishk Bagchi’s (thirteen thousandth) remixed Zilla Hilela. Abhay is a deeply interesting character. He’s what I like to call an offshoot of Geet from Jab We Met. Since 2007, we’ve had a number of loud small-town motormouths who’ve overcompensated for their childhood traumas with this facade. Abhay’s trauma is his father (Javed Jaffrey)’s acts as a womaniser and a lecherous human being.

He and Babli play off each other, because they both are effervescent loudmouths, who never take no for an answer. They’re not the first couple of firebrands from small town India, remember Badri and Vaidehi from Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017) or Guddu and Rashmi from Luka Chuppi (2019) or Tanu and Manu from Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015) or Mudit and Sugandha from Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017). You get my point.

The problem is that Jabariya Jodi feels so much an offshoot of these films that preceded it, that its predictability and artificiality start to overshadow the lighter, frothier moments - of which there are plenty in the first half. In the second half, the energy takes a hit. Both Abhay and Babli change into sombre, dramatic characters - losing key traits that defined them in the first hour. Even the characters that surround them, the ridiculously good Aparshakti Khurrana as Santosh, or Sanjay Mishra and Javed Jaffrey, lose their spunk.

But, trust Sidharth Malhotra. He’s good as Abhay. He lends to him more nuance than we’re used to. With permanently paan-stained lips, he somehow manages to strike a balance between filmy and reality. The same can’t be said for Parineeti. She’s played the same character, Babli, in too many films. Be it Daawat-e-Ishq, Shudh Desi Romance or even the horrid Namaste England, Parineeti’s become, I’m afraid, typecast as the small-town girl with big-town sensibilities.

Jabariya Jodi has its lows. The second half loses energy. Songs like Macchardani and Khwabfaroshi, though beautifully composed, hamper the narrative. It also loses its characteristic joy and the filminess of it all in the second half. But, if you’re willing to go for that, I suggest you give it a try.