Qarib Qarib Singlle

Spoiler alert! Please do not read the following plot summary if you have not seen the film.Jaya Shashidharan is a 35 years old army widow, a successful insurance professional staying alone in her Mumbai flat while her younger brother — the only person she seems truly close to — studies abroad and she hasn’t taken a single chutti from office in two weeks. She doesn’t have many friends and lacks confidence when it comes to personal life. She shies away from meeting people, dedicates her Sundays to baby sitting and tries to please everyone around her.

The film opens with Jaya attending her friend’s wedding: “Who knew I would find a husband through Tinder?” Jaya’s Friend says. Once Jaya returns from the wedding, she looks back at the small moments in her life. She reads a book late in the night, while killing mosquitoes with an insect killer racket; she gets spooked by a lizard; she lounges aimlessly on a couch. These scenes clearly reflect the lonely life of Jaya. Later when she reaches office her friend pushes her to at least find some 'action' if not romance in her life. She tells her that Jaya hasn’t had sex for 2 years and if she continues to live this lifestyle, her virginity might return. On the advice of her friend, Jaya tentatively creates a profile on a dating Web site, ‘Are You Singlle’.

There are too many perverts who send her creepy messages which makes her wonder what she is getting into, she dumps them and finally decides to meet the poet cum inventor Yogendra Kumar Dhirendranath Prajapati a.k.a. Yogi. Yogi, is a vibrant easy going shayar. He has six self-published books on poetry, also studied engineering but never got round to actually working. He doesn’t need a job and is seen saying ‘paise bahot hain’. He puts up rough flirtatious ways and admits that he looks like a stalker but still manages to get the attention of Jaya. Perhaps it’s the ready wit and repartee or the emotional side under the coarse exterior that gets Jaya hooked on to him.

Both Yogi and Jaya come with baggage from their respective pasts, but while the former is open to new relationships, Jaya is a bit unsure. Yogi arrives for their first meeting, in a coffee shop, wearing a bright red jacket and dark glasses. His conversation is, if anything, even less distressful than his flashy style – he babbles on about lattes, poetry, jogging and the ugliness of the Indian male. Jaya barely understands a few words in, but she’s intrigued enough to meet this odd man again. He’s just as overwhelming on their next date, and on the one after that, but he clearly likes Jaya, and she’s starting to show signs of liking him too. Jaya says casually that Yogi keeps mentioning his ex-girlfriends; she finds it hard to believe that even after all these years they long for him. Yogi then suggests something outrageous: trips to Rishikesh, Alwar and Gangtok to visit his three significant exes and see how they’ve fared since he last saw them. Though cautiously, Jaya – who hasn’t been in a serious relationship after her husband and still uses his name as her laptop password – puts up a feeble protest but agrees rather quickly.

It’s a journey filled with its fair share of mishaps -- which includes a pakoda-chasing Yogi getting onto the wrong train, heading in the wrong direction, as Jaya is borne away in the beautifully appointed Fairy Queen -- the protagonists, experience a journey of emotional discovery. An interesting stranger, three sleeping pills and two exes -- a former girlfriend and boyfriend – contributes to spark off the chemistry between the two and makes them realize what they mean to each other.