Prema Pipasi

On the whole, Prema Pipasi is a youthful love tale that has a few moments in the second half. Hero GPS’s painful performance in the second half is good. But lack of proper screenplay and uneven narration in the first half makes the film dull and boring watch this weekend.

Love stories have evolved a lot over the decades, also giving life to many stars who were once underdogs. However, the current crop of small films makes one wonder where the love is in the story. It is especially traumatising to see the director of this particular tale treat women the way he does and glorify an alcoholic man who stalks, gropes, abuses and forces women. Our ‘hero’ in the tale even goes a step ahead and begins threatening women to sleep with him. Literally that’s all the first half of the film holds – a man only referred to as ‘bava’ exploiting multiple women. And just so you don’t feel he’s too disgusting, the women are all shown as gold diggers, as if that makes it better. What’s even worse is how you’re expected to believe his cheap techniques and cringe-worthy flirting make women cave. Things take a turn for worse when he meets a girl he once loved and falls in love with her again, believing she is who he has been looking for all along. Consent be damned, because she sure doesn’t seem interested. His idea of making her fall for him is to sit in front of her home and drink liquor till she says yes. And for some inexplicable reason, a multi-millionaire (Suman) decides to help him in this endeavour. By the time the cliché ending rolls around, you won misogyny has won the day. GPS is as confusing and confounding as his name as an actor. He does not perform well, even if all he’s required to do is grope women in the name of love. The multiple women deliver pathetic performances too and there’s nothing to write home about when it comes to the technicalities. Prema Pipasi is a two-and-a-half-hours long rant on women allegedly doing what the protagonist of this tale does in the name of love. While it is unknown what urged the director to make this film, his characters sure need some police counselling and a lesson on consent.