Director- Amar Kaushik
Writers- Niren Bhatt, Ravi Muppa, Pavel Bhattacharjee
Cast- Ayushmann Khurana, Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam, Javed Jaffrey, Saurabh Shukla, Seema Pahwa, Deepika Chhikhalia, Sunita Rajwar, Abhishek Banerjee
In a nutshell
This story that revolves around the travails of a balding man is a fair mix of humour and message about self acceptance.
Plot:
The movie opens to a young school going Casanova -isque Bala ridiculing his dark complexioned classmate Latika.
Some twenty years later Karma strikes and Bala( Ayushmann)is shunned by hair & women. His family comprises of an indifferent father( Saurabh Shukla), a doting mother, a grand father & an un- empathetic younger brother who forever is forced to help Bala in his hair hacks. Together they make a hilarious family.
After trying all possible hacks, he finally resorts to hair patch that helps bring in his confidence and Pari( Yami) who is a tik tok celebrity hired to endorse fairness cream .
All this while brick bats with Latika (Bhumi) continue who is now a lawyer very confident in her skin but being pushed into match making by her aunt( Seema Pahwa) by photoshopping her pics.
When Pari proposes marriage, Bala is in a fix and under moral pressure to tell her the truth.Because of some communication gap , they do get married but without her knowing the truth.
The rest of the story tells us what fate has in store for Bala and Pari. Does Latika who has forever faced bias and ridicule find love without compromising on herself respect ?
Analysis:
Screenplay by Niren Bhatt successfully weaves in the substance blending it with humour. After a moving opening about the harassment faced by young Latika, the movies remains on a lighter note specially till the interval. The humour brought in by the situations, dialogues and performances by a good set of actors, will keep you fairly engaged and entertained even though the pace seemed sluggish.
Post interval, the story picks up pace and twists and the focus on the message increases.
They were able to highlight well, the obsession about good looks that plagues the society resulting in constant pressure to fit in , look good ,be popular, feel wanted, by encashing on looks.
But as they say , its more sensible to change yourself rather than expect the world to change. Without resorting to a conventional climax, the makers were able to drill home the point about how accepting ourselves as we are, is the ultimate resolution to our complexes.
Director Amar Kaushik has done a good job of blending in good writing with good performances in some real locations of Kanpur, Lucknow. He has created and delivered an overall feel that was entertaining and thought provoking at the same time.
Performances:
Ayushmann, as always, carries the film well with a credible performance,even when it flounders in pace.
Yami, Bhumi, Saurabh Shukla , Javed Jaffrey , Seema Pahwa,all put in a good foot.
Abhishek Banerjee as Bala’s friend (last seen in Stree) and the actor who plays his brother deserve a special mention.
Recommendation:
You might not find humour rib tickling but worthy of chuckles. The film was definitely entertaining,engaging and thought provoking. Backed up by good writing & performances, it is worth your time and money .
Score 7 on 10