Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat Review: Anurag Kashyap serves political agendas in the name of love thesis

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Cast: Alaya F, Karan Mehta, Vicky Kaushal (in an extended cameo)

Where: In theatres near you

Rating: 2.5 stars

Until very recently, many of us thought that Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat is either a romantic audible series or a music video, but thanks to Vicky Kaushal, who was introduced as DJ Mohabbat, it turned out to be a 112-minute feature film. It happened since for a film format, it looks slightly dated. Also, one can’t associate such titles with Anurag Kashyap.

For those, who don't know, it might come as a shocker but it was supposed to be Alaya F’s big screen debut, but Jawaani Jaaneman (2019) stole the thunder, and what a saving grace!

The plot rides on two different landscapes — Dalhousie (Yakub-Amrita) and London (Harmeet-Ayesha) but with similar looking couples, played by debutant Karan Mehta and Alaya F, and Vicky (DJ Mohabbat) is the connecting link between the two. He, in a way, anchors the love stories running parallel to each other.

Anurag cleverly picks up issues of national interest, considering he is best known for his social media presence. Love Jihad, patriarchy, same sex marriages, etc — Anurag pin points on everything but loses control.

The film seems to be aimless; even Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016) and Manmarziyaan (2018) had similar issues. He doesn’t know where to go after a certain extent. His characters might seem real but not convincing and unnecessarily dramatic. He smartly keeps the climax open-ended.

Dobaaraa (2022) was a good attempt but again it was an official remake of a Spanish sci-fi movie Mirage. Although, Anurag is good with helming stories from the heartland of the country, the moment he tries to experiment — even a bit — he disappoints and derails from the original motive.

The beauty of Alaya F is that she can play a school-going girl and a grown up adult too, courtesy her physicality. Anurag launches a new boy Karan Mehta, who is decent enough. He is honest and watchable. In his soothing extended cameo, Vicky carries flamboyance similar to Manmarziyaan and reads shayari on his podcast throughout.

Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat is not a new age love story or nowhere close to a cheesy high school romance — it’s only an Anurag Kashyap film.