“Live-in relationships” are still a taboo in Indian society. This contemporary way of trial and error before marriage is embraced by most people nowadays. Luka Chuppi glorifies live-in relationships in the form of a light comedy. The movie is based on the backdrop of Mathura that covers exquisite divinity of it. Guddu, a famous cable news reporter falls in love at first sight with Rashmi, an intern. After spending a lot of time together, Guddu proposes to Rashmi which initially freaks her out. Rashmi is adamant on a live-in relationship before actually getting married to Guddu. Guddu is reluctant initially but eventually gives in.
Rashmi’s father is a regional political leader of a political party that stands for conservative Indian values and he is completely against the concept of live-in. His party’s youth group beats and blackens the faces of couples who meet secretly. Guddu and Rashmi decide to go to Gwalior to check their compatibility and spend some quality time away from people’s watchful eyes.
The real mess occurs when their orthodox families come to know about them living together and assume that they’ve married in secret which leads to a cat and mouse kind of chase. Luka Chuppi is an adorable romantic movie that portrays modern time relationships in a comical way along with the theme of Indian values, culture, morale, traditions, regulations, religious bond and politics.
Kartik Aryan is cute and innocent as Guddu and does full justice to his character. His struggle to maintain a balance between his love and family is commendable. He shines throughout the film with his comical timing. Kriti Sanon is equally good as Rashmi whose character is very modern but still traditional at heart. She is more bold and confident than Guddu and often convinces him in taking risky decisions.
Kartik and Kriti’s chemistry spreads magic as both look lovey-dovey together. Aparshakti Khurana as Abbas is highly hilarious in spite of his minor role and proves a perfect advocate of inter-religion bond. Pankaj Tripathi is excellent at his forte, being effortlessly humourour and shines throughout the film. Vinay Pathak is shown as a strict political leader but a light hearted father and is quite good at it.
The movie wonderfully captures scenic and historical beauty of Mathura and Gwalior. One gets to see the rich cultural art and spiritual beliefs throughout the movie. The film has melodious soft music as well as foot tapping numbers. The major highlight of the film is when an old lady supports live-in by saying that if she had known her husband to be an alcoholic she would have never married him. This shows that finding compatibility in one’s partner is pivotal.
Director Laxman Utekar and writer Rohan Shankar have together blended humour and social anathema with this film. They have provided a thorough entertainment in an outline of mad comedy under the disguise of a satire on Indian culture and beliefs. The movie speak volumes on inadequacy of open mindedness in small villages. Luka Chuppi conveys a delightful message at climax which focus on the needs and desires of the youth. Overall, Luka Chuppi entertains with slapstick and mistaken identity, humour, societal and family values and thus corroborates a full fledged Bollywood laugh riot.