STORY: A young couple’s perfect love story turns upside down when recession leaves the boy jobless. Moreover, he has to win over his lady-love’s terror-dad to marry her. Will his out-of-job status leave him out-of-love too?

REVIEW: ‘Romance in times of recession’ can be a buzzkill. When currency crash leads to heartbreaks and house-breaks. And the youth are left with bankrupt dreams. Morbid, huh? Hold on … this one is far from a depressive rich-girl, poor-boy plot; instead, ‘Bewakoofiyan’ is a light-hearted story of how an out-ofwork lover-boy signs on for a full-time job of making his love-life work. Mohit (Ayushmann), a successful senior airline marketing executive, is madly in love with a hip banker, designer damsel, Mayera (Sonam).

To burst the bubble in this ‘all things good-looking’ love story, enter – sullenfaced VK Sehgal (Rishi), Mayera’s deadly dad (retired IAS officer who could never make big bucks). He ruthlessly rejects Mohit as the “bloody fatichar” who can’t afford his darlin’ shopaholic daughter’s haute fashionable fantasies. He puts their pyar-on-probation with targets, tests, timelines, et al. To make matters worse, Mohit gets the ‘pink slip’ (fashionable in times of recession) and Sehgal gives the bechara bankrupt boy a tough run for his money (literally!).

This funnily leads to a series of lies, traps and troubles for the twosome which has to prove that their new-age love is not as ‘plastic’ as their platinum credit cards. Picture this: They party hard, she shops even harder. They guzzle cocktails and swipe credit cards till his bank balance dips to a 3-digit number. Never mind, love can feed the hungry. Really??!! Nupur Ashthana’s rom-com has its moments; the coolest scenes are with Sehgal and his to-be son-in-law. The film needed to invest in wittier writing (Habib Faisal), more chemistry and a tad more comedy to make it a heartwarming love-story.

The couple lack chemistry, and they fight and make-up quicker than a quickie. Even the music is unexciting. This isn’t Sonam’s best, but she looks every bit the fashionista (sizzles in a bikini too) and breezes through the film (stilettos on!). Ayushmann is charming but desperately needs to step out of his comfort zone. It is a sheer joy to watch Rishi Kapoor, who makes even stupidity seem delightful. ‘Bewakoofiyaan’ has its khoobiyaan but mostly it has majbooriyaan where the story is concerned. It tells you not to overspend. Yet the script is not as ‘penny wise’, gettit?