De De Pyaar De
- Director
- Akiv Ali
- Studio
- T-Series FilmsLuv Films
- Release Date
- 16 May 2019
- Running Time
- 135 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹50.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹143.00 Cr
Review
Akiv Ali's "De De Pyaar De" attempts to mine comedy from the collision between modern relationships and traditional Indian family values, a premise that's been fertile ground for Bollywood since the '90s. However, what could have been a sharp satirical exploration of age-gap relationships and marital hypocrisy instead settles for convenient plot mechanics and unexamined contradictions. Ajay Devgn carries the film with his trademark deadpan charm, and Tabu's restrained performance as the ex-wife adds a layer of nuance that the screenplay itself doesn't deserve—she makes us believe in emotional currents the film only half-acknowledges. The younger cast members, particularly Rakul Preet Singh, are serviceable but underwritten, reduced to serving the aging male protagonist's arc rather than claiming their own narrative weight.
The real issue is structural: the film wants to be both a raunchy comedy about a middle-aged man's romantic escapades and a family drama about responsibility and consequence, but it doesn't have the wit or depth to pull off either convincingly. The deception plot unravels predictably, and when the script pivots toward emotional sincerity in the final act—with the ex-wife's unexpected support and the midnight entanglement—it feels unearned rather than cathartic. Compare this to something like "Khosla Ka Ghosla," which balanced family comedy with genuine social commentary, or even "Badhaai Ho," which used similar material to explore masculinity and aging wit
Storyline
So there's this successful guy in his fifties living the high life in London, and he ends up falling for a much younger woman in her mid-twenties. They get pretty serious pretty quickly and move in together, but here's the catch—he's actually still married to someone back in India, though they're separated. When he decides it's time to take his new girlfriend home to meet the family, things get super awkward because nobody knows about her yet, and he's got to figure out how to explain this whole situation.
When they arrive at his family home in Manali, it becomes this hilarious mess of lies and confusion. His daughter gets upset because she's worried about her own relationship drama, so he pretends his girlfriend is just his secretary. Meanwhile, his ex-wife and girlfriend are clearly not vibing with each other, and there's all this tension brewing under the surface. Pretty soon, everyone figures out what's really going on, and it blows up in his face—the boyfriend's family even calls off a wedding because of all the drama.
Things get even more complicated when his ex-wife actually sticks up for him and his new relationship in front of everyone, which catches him off guard. One thing leads to another that night, and they end up sleeping together, which absolutely devastates his girlfriend when she finds out the next morning. The whole situation becomes this emotional rollercoaster where nobody really knows what the right thing to do is anymore.
