Aashiqui that challenges norms

Nonika Singh

Normal kya hota hai, normal nazariya hota hai....  No doubt perspective decides our sense of normal. But, can this love story with a difference between a bodybuilder and a trans-girl change our fixated even bigoted ideas. Well, yes and no. The breezy romantic drama does bring out a complex issue on to the foreground.

Whether it handles the complexity of the issue at hand fully is another matter. Since we have already let the cat out of the bag, Manvi Brar (Vaani Kapoor) is not just another beautiful girl and there are cues that you can pick early on. The way her lips tremble when she tries to tell her lover Manvinder "Mannu" Munjal (Ayushmann Khurrana), the truth about her gender, the manner in which she looks the other way when a transgender approaches them are dead giveaways.

But the director’s intention here is not to keep her identity hidden but bring it out in the open even though it remains under wraps till interval. Expectedly hell is let loose when it does in the film and all our deep-seated prejudices we see mirrored in Ayushmann’s  character and his over the top Punjabi family.

Yes, as the film’s title suggests, it is very much set in City Beautiful. Chandigarhities can see all its familiar landmarks and smell a sense of familiarity not only in the locales but also in the characters.   Ayushmann belongs to this Punjabi family with two obsessively intrusive sisters, a not-so sympathetic father and a concerned grandfather. The Punjabi touch to the dialogues, pronunciation is spot on. Ayushmann as the body builder and gym owner pumping iron and body building supplements is totally at ease with his part. His physical transformation, the well toned full on abs and muscled physique is remarkable and commendable. His emotional graph may not be subtle yet his hyperventilating reactions are understandable.

The he-man that he is, clearly digesting the concept of a woman trapped in a man’s body is foreign to him. That she has undergone reconstructive surgery is another matter and flummoxes him even further. Director Abhishek Kapoor of Kai Po Che and Kedarnath fame does not go too much into the medical jargon. We see Manavi popping pills every now and then. Since the physical intimacy between the lead pair is obvious, the science of sex change is explained through medical charts. The trauma and pain of being a trans-woman comes across but Abhishek focuses more on societal attitudes and the need to challenge them head on.

Only he does not lay the unconventional premise too thick and that’s why it doesn’t spread out wafer-thin either. The tone with body builders’ brawny contest and easy humour remains light but not flippant. Few incredibly peppy songs especially Tumbe pe zumba (music composer Sachin Jigar) and soulful Maafi sung by Ayushmann are in sync with the mood of the film.

As mainstream cinema continues to embrace unorthodox ideas, serving it as entertainment with purpose who can grudge its new choice and that of its lead stars. Ayushmann has been known for walking the less trodden path and here as he romances and lifts weights with full gusto you once again acknowledge his dare to be different. In Chandigarh Kare Ashiqui, it’s Vaani that deserves kudos for her brave choice and emotional heft. As Maanavi we not only see her pain and hurt but also spunk when she reminds her lover and us what it takes to truly own up the gender she was not born in.  

While the narrative challenging the idea of normal does throw in some socially incorrect lingo and words we dare not repeat, its heart and intention are in the right place. And that is precisely why it calls for a dekho, if not essential viewing.