The phrase 'old wine in a new bottle' is a particularly unique one. Aside from its obvious connotation, it also stands as a reminder as to why a 2.0 version of the same thing worked - because we were already sold on it in the first place. Luv Ranjan's Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety was quite that - a reminder of the decades of misogyny systematically sold to us under the garb of a Bollywood entertainer. Old wine in new bottle, anyone?

There was quite the stir in this wine bottle though, at the time of release. Many pointed out that Monologue King Kartik Aaryan was once again going after 'golddigger' Nushrat Barucha, which was both a gross generalisation of womenfolk as well as a net-net of every Luv Ranjan film in recent times. Between spewing hate on Luv and Sunny Singh's overdependence on bachpan ka dost Kartik, sometimes weirdly so, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety went on to become a superhit. Why? We decode on Monday Masala.

In Luv Ranjan's universe, women are to be blamed for everything, not Nehru. Luv doesn't even try to conceal his warped thoughts. He, in fact, makes his lead, Sonu (Kartik), the overprotective dost to the ever-indecisive Titu (Sunny) say, "Girls cause pain," about Sweety (Nushrat). Now, Luv has carved a niche for himself with such films, and the Pyaar Ka Punchnama series is proof. But the reason he managed to do so is because there was a thriving market for the same already. He only needed to identify his TG and stop trying to appease anyone else.

WOMEN, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Back in the 80s, Bollywood saw an onslaught of films that sold the idea of a joint family as opposed to a nuclear one. We saw sons walking out of their parents' homes, either after being manipulated by their vamp-like wives or after being driven away because of unmotherly step-moms. The root cause was the same - a woman - and perhaps in many ways an extension of Kaikeyi as both the manipulative wife and the unmotherly step-mom.

In the early 2000s, when sex comedies became popular, women were portrayed as mere distractions, seductresses who moved only to manipulate the men around them. Ahem, Menka.

In the end, things would sort out. Good sons returned home, manipulated sons learned their lessons, and there were no bad sons. And that was the case in Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety too. Under the garb of comedy, that is.

BUT WASN'T SONU KE TITU KI SWEETY DIFFERENT?

Fans of the film will argue how in this film, the gendered roles of Luv Ranjan universe were reversed. For Sonu was the Lalita Pawar-like saas here, brainwashing the family against Sweety to bringing back Titu's ex just to manipulate him into calling his wedding with Sweety off. But all of that was hinged on one crucial scene where Sweety admitted she is 'chalu', played up and hammered into your head with 'golddigger' playing at the back. No, it wasn't a different take on friendship, love and whatever else. It was just old misogyny in new bottle. Did we mention that already?

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety turns two tomorrow, February 23. And despite being unanimously panned by critics, the film has a 7.1 rating on IMDb. So why do such films work? Well...