Badhaai Ho

The new movie Badhaai Ho directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma may not be a great film in terms of plot, but the happiness it provides at the end is really overwhelming. Addressing the approach of the society towards late accidental pregnancy in a humorous way, Badhaai Ho isn’t just about humor. And what is there beyond the humor part is what makes this movie a happiness pill.

Jeetendar Kaushik and Priyamvada Kaushik lead a middle-class family. Their elder son Nakul Kaushik works in an MNC and the younger son is in the high school. Jeetendar’s mother is also there along with the family. The normal middle-class family’s equation suddenly gets disrupted when the news broke out that Priyamvada was pregnant. How this change in the family equation eventually molds each of them is what Badhaai Ho showing us.

The trailer of the movie had almost everything surrounding the conflict of the story; the pregnancy. I was interested in knowing how the movie will go beyond the awkwardness fun part. There was a fear that whether the self-realization episode in some of the characters would look typical. And to my surprise, director Amit Ravindernath Sharma and his pool of writers managed to create diversions that are smoothly linked to the main plot. By the time the new member arrives, the movie has smoothly transitioned from the humorous side to the emotional side without being so heavy. And very organically the movie shows how this unprecedented event in the family becomes a bonding factor of the family.

Ayushmann Khurrana was really good as Nakul who judges his parents initially and then realizes the fault. In both shades of the character his performance had great conviction and in most of the scenes, he shows the emotional state without any lines. Sanya Malhotra’s character Renee isn’t really a challenging one. But she manages to be natural and that’s a quality this movie demands. Neena Gupta is lovely as this most important character of the film who is a mother, wife and a daughter in law. Gajraj Rao gets a role that hopefully will give him more prominent roles and I just loved his Mr. Bean like expressions that conveyed everything without any elaboration. Last, but my most favorite in the lot of Surekha Sikri who played the role of the mother in law. The way she transforms to that understanding mother in law was a really significant moment in the movie and the actress had the total grip over the scene.

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This is Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s second film after the Arjun Kapoor starrer Tevar. Well, he now knows how to pick themes. Amit knows how to capture the essence of the moments rather than just capturing it on the surface level. The writing of the trio Shantanu Srivastava, Akshat Ghildial and Jyoti Kapoor hasn’t forgotten to make it a heartwarming story rather than a series of funny repercussions. There is an endearing quality to most of the characters and none of them are caricatures. The dialogues are hilarious and they even managed to make us laugh and feel about characters using silences. Sanu John Varghese captures the texture of the middle-class Delhi life nicely. Music was fine, even though it wasn’t a striking element of the story.

Badhaai Ho is fun to watch, hilarious and heartwarming. It isn’t necessarily an unpredictable cinema. But the way it approaches the predictable turns has a sense of realness to its credit which makes it that happy movie one would love to see.

Rating: 3.5/5