Four years have passed and not much has changed since Luv Ranjan made his directorial debut with Pyaar Ka Punchnama, the sleeper hit which blamed women entirely for men being miserable creatures on planet Earth. This time Ranjan has two new writers, Rahul Mody and Tarun Jain, give him new ammo to target women and their manipulative ways when it comes to matters of heart.

Ok, so I have a real doubt here. I guess writer-director Luv Ranjan has been hurt badly, really badly, by a girl (or two) during his growing up years. Otherwise it would be near impossible for anyone to vent out so much anger on the female species one film after another! When he did that first with Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), it was sheer fun. However, one wondered how he would take the outburst further for another two hour affair? Would he have more ammunition in hand? Would he manage to keep the spark alive? Would he still elicit all-around laughs?

In a parody to the excruciating 'no smoking' commercials, our three hen-pecked hunks, after getting repeatedly hit in their figurative nether regions by their respective worse halves (as is always the case in their world) gesticulate how itna pyaar (or tar) aapko bimar, bohot bimar banaa sakta hai. The words "love kills" splash on screen as the film breathes into an interval. Director Luv Ranjan's Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, a sequel to the previous sleeper hit of 2011, continues campaigning for the cause of mistreated, used and abused men.

The bad thing about this film is that it is misogynistic and chauvinistic. And the best part? It doesn't pretend to be anything other than that. Like 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama' (2011), the sequel, too, looks at women as nothing but a bunch of exploitative and irritating objects out to make life hell for men.

Boys will be boys. They will chase girls, swear by their boy friends and do everything possible to be duped by their pheromone driven instincts. In their ideal world, women are the gift of eden and the work of the devil. And their conundrums are just natural, unavoidable and totally justified repercussions of nature. That's the world Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is set in.

This is yet again a story of three bachelors with different temperaments who fall for girls who appear like a right choice to them. Once the falling in love happens, there is only a further decline and draining of emotions for the three guys. They cannot come to terms with the ways, whims and thought processes of their girlfriends. Gogo (Kartik Aryan), a happy-go-lucky pretty boy falls for an unbelievably dumb and cartoonish 'Chiku'(Nushrat). Chiku has a childhood friend who's nothing short of a regular boyfriend and yet their relationship is supposed to be 'platonic'.

Roomies Anshul (Kartik), Tarun (Omkar) and Siddharth (Sunny) are also close buddies. They find love simultaneously with Ruchika (Nushrat), Kusum (Ishita) and Supriya (Sonnalli), respectively. However, they discover the perils of being in a relationship soon enough.

Let's start by setting the record straight: misogyny is not the problem here. Sure, misogyny is certainly a giant (and growing) problem, but the beliefs of the filmmaker should never get in the way of an appreciation of their film. Luv Ranjan, going by the first Pyaar Ka Punchnama and this sequel, may well be a man who has lost all faith in the fairer sex (or, indeed, in their fairness), but the only question that must be asked of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is simply whether it is funny enough.

Like the first film, our heroes, Gogo (Kartik Aaryan) Thakur (Omkar Kapoor) and Sidharth (Sunny Singh) are roommates and best buddies. All three get attracted to three different girls on the same day, and things work out for all three. As what the boys do for living is not that important (remember, it's all about female bashing!), except for the fact that Thakur earns 3 lakh a month, let's look at these girls. Gogo falls for Ruchika (Nushrat Bharucha) who is a spoilt brat, and is more interested in keeping her friends happy than her boyfriend.

Early on in Pyaar ka Punchnama 2, when a comely young woman dismisses engineers as boring, one of the film's three heroes decides that it falls upon him to redeem his tribe. That is, the tribe of male engineers (because women engineers? What's that nonsense?). What will he do? Build a bridge? Construct a machine? Create a chemical compound with nondescript kitchen supplies?

Luv Ranjan's sequel to hit 2011 hit Pyaar Ka Punchnama hit the theatres on Friday. While the first film was panned by critics as misogynist, the story of three boys just out of college making a fool of themselves in love was an instant hit and Rajjo's (Kartik Aaryan) monologue towards the end remains one of the oft-quoted dialogues by men when they want to 'bitch' about women.

Four years back, in 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama', we had three guys busy doing the guy thing: slopping around in a messy shared flat and thinking of girls, girls, girls, all work a by-product of this desire. Despite its pointedly callow pro-bro point of view, in which girls were all strictly hos, 'Pyaar Ka Punchnaama' was mostly fresh and funny in a we-are-all-poor-trod-upon-guys- together kind of way.

Boys will be boys. No issues. But must they be such insensitive dolts? Luv Ranjan, director of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, seems to think that the worse they are the better. His film homes in on a trio of Delhi-NCR boys who share a swanky flat, drink like fish, party hop, and rib each other endlessly as they hunt for love. By the look of their spacious pad and the abandon with which they blow up money, the threesome appear to be doing fine in life.

The film starts off with the introduction of Anshul aka Gogo (Kartik Aaryan), Siddharth aka Chauka (Sunny Singh Nijjar) and Tarun aka Thakur (Omkar Kapoor). Amongst the trio, Tarun is the one who is highly paid (Rs. 3 lakhs per month). And it is due to this reason that Siddharth and Anshul live their life kingsize (alongwith Tarun, of course) without having to worry much about finance. Right from buying the drinks to paying the monthly rent of the flat, Tarun is the 'go-to' man for Siddharth and Anshul.