‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ is the kind of title that effortlessly makes folks of a certain generation smile: the opening lines of a song that remains effervescent and unforgettable. This movie with the same title is not all that, certainly, but it does gladden your heart. Mostly.
It has been a while since the audience got to see a genuine, cutesy, no-frills romance. Granted, it is not “époustouflant”.
This is Madhu Bose’s (Fatima Sana Sheikh) favourite French word (and err...the only one she utters). She is a French teacher, you see, and uses that word (which means breathtaking) to describe Shrirenu Tripathi (R Madhavan), a Sanskrit teacher in a Jamshedpur school.
Madhavan is suitably shy, unsure and cute; and anxious that he is still a virgin at 42. Fatima is your independent ‘thanks, I can think for myself’ Bengali woman with a large Ilish-chomping family staunchly behind her.
The two are brought together through a traditional ‘bio-data’ exchange, and really, there is so much promise here that you chafe when the story does not stick to their old-world, awkward but sweet romance. There are some lilting numbers too! Instead, it wants to get all pious and self-righteous in the second half and stumbles into really iffy territory with its caricatured patriarchy and family meh-drama.
That said, the film is sincere in registering its protest against male chauvinism and makes a valid point about how such behaviours stem more from nurture than nature (and so, there is always hope for change).