Meenakshi Sundareshwar: Story of a mismatch

It is a kind of film that won’t keep you awake but provides talk-points for dinner table discussion

Essentially a tale of match and mismatch where a smart and confident girl Meenakshi (Sanya Malhotra) gets into an arranged marriage with a boy called Sundareshwar (Abhimanyu) who needs more than a bit of hand-holding in negotiating the world, it is yet another film where writers raise significant issues about family, companionship, long-distance relationship and career but fail to integrate them into a persuasive storyline.

Sundar’s father wants him to help out with matching falls to sarees in the family business but he is keen to make a name for himself. Meenakshi loves this independent streak but does the boy who has grown up playing ‘book cricket’ have the tools to chisel his ambition?

Perhaps, the writers binged on Netflix series Little Things before coming up with this Dharmatic variant where during the first meeting Sundar, an engineer, describes himself as a great problem solver and the girl, a management graduate, shares her desire to work in a small firm where she could make a big difference.