Never Kiss Your Best Friend Review

I am not a Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na fan, but it was better than Never Kiss Your Best Friend. I didn’t like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil at all, but that still was a better film than this web series. Though this series resembles Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na more, you will find the equation between Sumer and Tanie resemble Ayan and Alizeh’s characters. 

If India’s best-selling authors, Sumrit Shahi and Durjoy Datta write stuff like Never Kiss Your Best Friend, I am glad that I haven’t read any of their work. Having said that, I also believe that books are always better than the films and series. If that’s the case then why I am judging them without reading their books? Because, together, they have written the story, screenplay, and dialogues. Where the story was predictable, dialogues were… ummm… What should I say? Okay, here are a few dialogues. You judge them yourself:

1. Sumer’s father during a heated argument calls his son, ‘Behenchod.’
2. Tanie sees her best friend, Sumer, in Episode 1 after years and says, ‘Behenchod.’
3. All the empty spaces are filled with, ‘behenchod’
4. The restaurant scene in episode 8 where Kabir and Tanie are on a date and then Laica and Sumer come to the restaurant. Here’s the dialogue which was supposed to be funny butttt…

   Kabir: Kids section uss side hai
   Sumer: Bachche mann ke sachche, tumne pehne kachche? (Did you find it funny? I did not)
   

5. In the same scene,

   Tanie to Kabir: Aur tum kaun ho?

   Laica: Bhosdika

Sumer: Bhosdika (Both Laica and Sumer laugh and behave like they are high on something) – I watched the scene with a straight face, in fact, I watched the whole series with a straight face.

6. When Tanie enters Sumer’s room (a room in her own house) while he is having sex with his girlfriend (we will discuss this scene later), he says, ‘yeast infection hoga tujhe waha’ and then she says, ‘aur tujhe puss-filled pimples – wohi pe.’ Obviously, they are talking about each other’s private parts.

And then there are many more – some unnecessary, some meaningless, and other times, absolutely filmy dialogues. If you spot any, drop them in the comments below.

Now moving on to the scenes. The story is predictable, a journey from ‘we are just friends’ to ‘I love you,’ so let’s not discuss the story. Let’s talk about the scenes.

Problematic Scene 01: When Tanie opens the room of her own house with the help of the keys where Sumer is having sex with his girlfriend. I mean, who does that? You don’t enter anyone’s, not even your best friend’s room when he/she is having sex. You just don’t. Then while he puts on his clothes, she simply turns around while his GF is still laying in the bed. You won’t do that even when your bestie is of the same gender.

Problematic Scene 02: Tanie enters men’s toilet looking for Sumer. She actually opens the cubicle where she finds him sitting on the seat with tissue papers rolled around his head. She tells the audience, ‘Sab Acting.’ Matlab friendship ke naam pe kuch bhi????

Problematic Scene 03: Tanie enters Sumer’s room with her boyfriend from the backdoor. Why? To cuddle. If you just want to spend time with your boyfriend, why not go to a beach and take a walk? Or go on a date? And if you so want a room, why not book one? I mean, why sneak into a best friend’s room when he is not in the house but his parents are? 

Dialogues – Done, Scenes – Done, Story – Done. Let’s now talk about the performances. Anya Singh, the female lead playing the role of Tanie Brar has only one expression on her face. All the time, you feel that she is in a forced relationship with her best friend, Sumer Dhillon, played by Nakuul Mehta. She never makes you feel like she adores him. It feels like she simply hates this man. The forced fights make this hatred more believable. In short, the lead actors do not have any kind of chemistry between them. Hence, neither could they become the cute besties that remind you of your best friend, nor could they be the lovers that make you go ‘awwww.’ 

Without beating around the bush, performances were bad. Not just the lead actors but even Niki Walia, Rituraj Singh, Vivek Mushran and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi fail to impress. While Suchitra Krishnamoorthi trying to portray a loving mom calling her son ‘bachcha,’ wherever she gets a chance hurts your ears, Niki Walia’s character makes you cry ‘khoon ke aasu.’ We can’t always blame the actors though. It’s the Director’s job to see that the performances are up to the mark.

Good direction and good performances could have definitely saved this ‘predictable’ story because no matter how predictable, we still love ‘love stories,’ but unfortunately, nothing works in Never Kiss Your Best Friend’s favour. 

Where to Watch? Zee5