Pyaar Ke (Side Effects) (DVD)

Pyaar Ke Side Effects is a Hindi language film starring Rahul Bose as Sid and Mallika Sherawat at Trisha. Sid and Trisha are a couple who've been living together for 3 years when one day, out of the blue, or so it seems, Trisha proposes to Sid whilst he's watching cricket. He doesn't really pay attention and she's really upset that he seemingly ignored her. He then tries to make up for it by proposing to her. Things go from bad to worse as he doesn't ...
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I guess Pyaar Ka Side Effects could be classed as an adult comedy. There's no nudity or profanity in it but children would be rather bored rigid with the grown up topic of the film. You might, as a viewer, feel that some of the characters are being childish but who of us has not had a friend in our lifetimes who was not ready to settle down to marriage or parenthood - this film looks at the amusing side of how people behave. I am sure ... more

Pyaar Ke Side Effects is a Hindi language film starring Rahul Bose as Sid and Mallika Sherawat at Trisha. Sid and Trisha are a couple who've been living together for 3 years when one day, out of the blue, or so it seems, Trisha proposes to Sid whilst he's watching cricket. He doesn't really pay attention and she's really upset that he seemingly ignored her. He then tries to make up for it by proposing to her. Things go from bad to worse as he doesn't really feel ready to get married and what with his best friend being commitment phobic and his own sister's husband also not ready to become a father, Sid seems to be surrounded by the stereotypical man who doesn't believe in commitment.

This is a pretty funny film, different from the normal Bollywood fare and Rahul Bose did very well in the lead role. Especially successful was his constant dialogue towards the camera which was amusing as this isn't common in Hindi films (although it might have been done to death in Hollywood movies).

I can grudgingly say that Mallika Sherawat was passable in the role, although it could have been carried off just as well, if not better, by a hundred other actresses. I really didn't feel that she made the role her own as Rahul Bose did.

Although there was a fairly able supporting cast in the film, none of them stood out particularly well enough for me to discuss them individually. The film really did belong to Bose with Sherawat as his leading lady.

It is interesting to see Bollywood dealing with a mature topic like living together as normally it steers clear of showing people "living in sin" as it were as it likes to show any couples living together as married so as not to corrupt the younger generation. Let's face it, it's 2008 everywhere and India has to move on along with the rest of the world so it's about time they actually used films like this to show that couple have the same doubts about tying the knot and settling down in India as they do in the rest of the world.

I especially like the way they show Sid as having a job which isn't very stable (a DJ) and he's just always looking for the one big break. He is also portrayed as being short and middle-aged - as well as a real stereo-type of a bachelor not ready to get tied down. He plays clubs and bars and parties and is shown to never earn anywhere near as much as Trisha who is from a rather well to do family which is also an issue for them. What also doesn't help their situation is that Sid first met Trisha on her wedding day from where she ran away and their initial decision to live together is based on the fact that they don't want to get married. When she changes her mind, albeit 3 years down the line, it's very confusing for him and he doesn't understand why she suddenly wants to change the rules of the "game".

One of the funniest scenes in the film for me was when the leads are having an argument and we see an "argument scoreboard" up on the screen with the numbers increasing as each one of the couple says something else and you see the scores going up hilariously predictably - with the ultimate bursting into tears by the female running up the highest score. Another scene that was well done was when Sid was with 2 pals and one of them is insisting that superheroes do not get married and he brings up Superman and Batman as examples. He asks how it would be if they were out saving the world and their wife called on their mobile phone and asked "Honey, what time are you coming home tonight?"

I guess Pyaar Ka Side Effects could be classed as an adult comedy. There's no nudity or profanity in it but children would be rather bored rigid with the grown up topic of the film. You might, as a viewer, feel that some of the characters are being childish but who of us has not had a friend in our lifetimes who was not ready to settle down to marriage or parenthood - this film looks at the amusing side of how people behave. I am sure there's a Hollywood film out there that this has "borrowed" the storyline from but I haven't seen it, so I found this film quite refreshing and fairly amusing - I really did laugh out loud in several scenes.

The film was released in 2006 and directed by Saket Chaudhary and supporting cast included: Ranvir Shorey, Sophiya Chaudhary, Suchitra Pillai-Malik, Taraana Raja and Aamir Bashir.

The songs in the film generally were quite enjoyable and not unpleasant when I went back to listen to them but generally they detracted from the storyline which was somewhat irksome for me. Pyar Karke was a good dance tune that I didn't mind listening to several times. Playback singers for the film included Sophiya Chaudhary, Sunidhi Chauhan, Alisha Chinoi, Kunal Ganjawala and Zubin. Incidentally Sophiya Chaudhary plays a role in the film as Sid's girlfriend when he splits up with Trisha. Her acting really wasn't worth nothing, although she's good eye candy for the fellas...

Overall I'd give the film 6.5 out of 10 for being quite different. It loses marks for having too many songs (although most of them were enjoyable enough to listen to) and Mallika's deadpan expression in every scene she appeared in!

NB: Even if you don't want to watch the film, you might want to have a look just to see the awful ripoff of Sinatra's "My Way" - I was horrified to say the least to hear the Hindi rendition of this classic song!

P.s. in all seriousness what woman in her right mind would propose to her man whilst he's totally engrossed in watching his cricket/football team about to defeat another country?

DVD: if you'd like to purchase this film on DVD it's available at Amazon for £15.99 or from audiorec.co.uk for under £10, or you could always try your usual DVD rental source. 

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