Of Love, Songs, and a lot of Heart - Meri Pyaari Bindu
Meri Pyaari Bindu directed by Akshay Roy is an amalgamation of everything nostalgic and achingly emotional. Ayushman Khuranna plays Abhimanyu Roy with innate innocence and romanticism. He is a writer who pens sleazy horror novels and is comparable to a person who’s deeply fallen into the world of love and denial.
He is in love with his childhood neighbour and best friend, Bindu Shankarnarayan. Bindu is portrayed by an exuberant Parineeti Chopra. Abhimanyu first meets her in her home’s attic with a plate of samosas and green chutney, when he welcomes her. The movie begins with him writing a climax of a novel where he says –
“Many teach you how to love but not how to forget it.”
Akshay Roy, Meri Pyaari Bindu
The camera subsequently shifts to a terrace with the sound of a typewriter clacking. The title card types out…
“Meri Pyaari Bindu”.
It’s made clear that we are in for a cheesy love trip.
Cliched but Effective
The film works because of its over-indulgent nature and that’s precisely what we feel. The brain and the heart don’t seek for the whats or the whys,
Meri Pyaari Bindu revels in our heightened sense of affection and plays a lovely loop of cute nothings with your beloved. For, Abhimanyu only sees colorful visuals of Bindu smiling and flirting, and performing songs with him.
Abhimanyu is a sucker for nostalgia. He writes on typewriters while drinking liquor. He sends letters in the age of smartphones and the internet, He makes cassette mixtapes with Bindu, or as he explains it –
“Teri meri kahaani, Filmi geeton ki zabaani”.
With his cheeky smile and mannerisms, we get an idea of why he’s a writer and an undeniably cheesy romantic. His endearing efforts to romance and swoon over Bindu seem childlike yet, pure and magical in his head.
Bollywood, Music, and Indulgence
Their mixtape also features nostalgic old and beloved Hindi songs. The shared love of Bollywood greats (with mentions of R D Burman, Waheeda Rehman, Rakesh Khanna, Gulzar among others), and their quirky interactions explain why their love is also a story filled with the grandeur of songs and drama.
So it seems apt that YRF is producing this film. The music album composed brilliantly by Sachin-Jiga is also an affectionate ode to fleeting feelings. There’s one song ‘Afeemi’ that effectively conveys the mood of the film.
Abhimanyu muses, Bindu is like a melody which once heard, can’t go out of one’s head. Afeemi is that melody! And it’s as intoxicating as the name suggests it to be.”Haareyan” also adds that warm fuzziness to the whole album.
Meri Pyaari Bindu - Flimsy yet Endearing
Abhimanyu’s unabashedly corny analogies describing and comparing Bindu to random things are arguably the best dialogues of the movie; apart from the sleazy novel titles of course. Ayushman Khuranna, a writer and singer himself, makes the on-paper cheesy filmi dialogues feel heartfelt and magical.
The writers Suprotim Sengupta & Soumik Sen create engaging & delightful dialogues with lovely supporting characters. Meanwhile, the director effectively uses Landmarks of Mumbai, Calcutta, and items that evoke nostalgia (including cassettes, gramophones, and typewriters).
These attach us to the movie akin to how Abhimanyu attaches classic songs to Bindu.
Abhimanyu jumping out of a window and climbing trees to reach Bindu’s attic during rains, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta (which is the name that the characters affectionately use, blissfully ignoring the new urban Kolkata ) reminded me of Vicky Sandhu jumping over terraces to meet Rumi, as ‘Grey wala shade’ plays in the opening shots of Manmarziyan.
Flawed but Affectionately Personal
An achingly bittersweet song, “Maana ke hum yaar nahi” written by Kausar Munir plays towards the end of the movie. This, along with the rain, and two utterly gorgeous people in the frame having a moment, made me forget everything and put a wistful smile on my face. Just like the ones on Abhimanyu and Bindu.
Also, What better way to evoke nostalgia than to have Sonu Nigam and Parineeti croon this beautiful ballad.
As the credits rolled over, I took some moments to reflect on what I experienced… An overflow of a range of emotions, with nostalgia at its forefront. ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu huh?’
Maybe I did find more faults in the film after a while. But I wasn’t bothered while seeing it.
Hehe. Is this love?
Really great review!
Good work 👍
👍👍👍👍👍
Nice write -up
We have our own Rahul Desai now.
Good observation coupled with a critical analysis ..
Could have mentioned more about cinematographical values ..
In fact , this is a very good review ..
Thanks! Yes, it was shot very nicely but i guess while writing i was more into describing emotions of the movie.
Beautifully put! The way you delve into the intricacies of love and nostalgia, it feels like you’re already inside the characters’ heads
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