Comedy Couple review: Breezy, romantic and funny!

Comedy Couple

Director: Nachiket Samant

Cast: Saqib Saleem, Shweta Basu Prasad, Pooja Bedi, Rajesh Tailang

Streaming on: Zee5

It starts with stand-up comedian Anubhav Singh Bassi performing at a laughter club in Gurgaon. The film’s lead pair Deep Sharma (Saqib Saleem) and Zoya Batra (Shweta Basu Prasad) are up next. They’re a stand-up duo. They perform together as well as are dating each other. They call themselves the Comedy Couple. The couple looks good together and are instantly likeable. There’s a certain ease with which both behave in front of the camera, especially Shweta.

When the couple is found smooching in the elevator, the society throws them out. Zoya comes to know that Deep alongwith their broker Timmy had told the society that they are brother and sister. They’re also faced with the situation of having to get married in order to get a house they like (because most Indian societies have issues with live-in couples).

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Deep has a habit of lying to avoid complications and confrontations in life. He hasn’t told his parents that he has left his secured IT job to pursue stand-up or that he has been dating Zoya. Also, Deep doesn’t mind being an artist who doesn’t take a stand on social issues, saying sorry even if he’s not at fault. He’s just your average guy. His girlfriend also calls him that, in fact likes him for being average. She wants an ordinary, normal life, not an extraordinary one. And Deep fits the bill perfectly with his imperfections.

But when Zoya finds out about Deep’s lying habit, things between them begin to turn tense. These two being stand-up comedians help this film avoid the usual stretched out longing and belonging sequences. Instead they crack sarcastic jokes about each other when things start to fall apart. The jokes are not laugh-out-loud but funny enough to bring a smile on your face. The situations have a certain freshness to them, a lot of it also gets value addition from the film’s female lead.

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Comedy Couple makes use of quite a few instances from the current Indian stand-up comedy scene where comedians were trolled, threatened, or arrested for cracking ‘anti-national’ jokes. There’s always a danger in such films becoming gag sequences than a story. Writers Bikas Ranjan Mishra, Kashyap Kapoor, Raghav Raj Kakker, Gaurav Sharma and director Nachiket Samant have successfully managed to put together a seamless narrative.

The affable comedy couple is supported by some equally funny supporting acts by Jasmeet Singh Bhatia, Aadar Malik, and Pranay Manchanda. Rajesh Tailang (different from his usual intense outings) and Pooja Bedi (seems like an extension of her role in Netflix’s Masaba Masaba) make cameo appearances.

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What do you need from a romantic comedy? A likeable couple and some romantic and funny moments that make you root for them to be together. Rom-com, a genre which has seen a decline in the number of movies being made for theatrical releases. To be honest, OTT seems like a more suitable medium for these films as it frees you from the censorship (self as well as CBFC), please-all-don’t-offend-any-thus-mediocre narratives and the financial aspects of theatrical releases which limits the storyteller from telling an authentic story. Nachiket Samant’s Comedy Couple on Zee5 is a breezy and funny two-hour watch on your nearest mobile phone.