The movie Friday Night Plan narrates the events happening in the life of two brothers in a span of 24 hours. It’s not a movie that you might necessarily say is fresh, and there are a lot of inspirations you can see from all those Hollywood teen comedies. But somewhere, I felt a relatability element makes this sibling drama emotionally connecting. With an even pacing, I found this lighter version of Kapoor & Sons comfortable to sit through.
Siddharth Menon and Aditya Menon, who are siblings, are our central characters. Sid is a member of the school’s football team and has a massive crush on a girl named Natasha. On the other hand, Adi always likes attention and wants to be the center of a party. In Friday Night Plan, we see the series of events that happens when Sid scores the winning goal for the school team, and both brothers get invited to the Friday Night Party held at Natasha’s house.
As I said, the template isn’t necessarily exciting or mold-breaking. In fact, in many areas, writer-director Vatsal Neelakantan was simply using the structure we have seen in movies like Superbad or Project X to create those typical teen movie moments. But the dynamic he had formed between the brothers is interesting as it goes through many things in a short period. The dysfunctional yet complementing nature of the duo is ultimately authentic. And I would say the climax being close to that relationship made me smile when the movie ended.
As the introverted elder brother who changed after his father’s demise, Babil Khan portrays the insecurity and shock of that character in a very believable way. The character is significantly different from his debut film, Qala, and the realism helps the actor a lot in making the character real. In the movie, my favorite, and most probably everyone’s favorite, was Amrith Jayan as Adi. There is a scene in the film where Adi irresponsibly asks his brother to forget about their car that got taken by police and focus on chilling at a party, an opportunity they might not get again. You will just feel like slapping Adi. And the same guy later acknowledges his obsession to be at a party and says sorry. It is challenging to make the audience empathize with a character that they hated at one point, and the best thing about Amrith’s performance was how he managed to achieve that.
As the mother of the two brothers, Juhi Chawla was an apt choice as her body language as a concerned mother and the inherent coolness we associate with her work perfectly for that character. Aadhya Anand, as the slightly nerdy Nitya, delivered a memorable performance.
Vatsal Neelakantan is kind of relying on the performance of the actors to make the drama work. If performed poorly, the slightly cheesy “I am sorry” sequence between the brothers can seriously ruin the whole idea, as the plot part is really thin. But the placement of the evolution of the equation between the brothers, in between that eventful night, was kind of smart, and to make things slightly better, we have that funny Police Station sequence featuring actor Ninad Kamat, where Vatsal sort of shows us how the brothers backs each other in a difficult situation.
The chances of Friday Night Plan becoming a repeat-watch go-to movie for you to feel better is slim as a significant portion of it is inspired by already existing films that had set the grammar. But the breeziness makes it a comfortable watch with a story with subtle elements of relationship dramas rather than hefty conflicts.
The breeziness makes it a comfortable watch with a story with subtle elements of relationship dramas rather than hefty conflicts.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
