Badhai Do(2022/ Cinema Release/ Rom-Com)
A gay policeman and a lesbian physical training teacher enter a marriage of convenience to dodge family and societal pressures. Their story navigates through some hilarious and some moving situations to deliver a happy ever after climax.
Director- Harshvardhan Kulkarni
Writers- Harshvardhan Kulkarni, Suman Adhikary, Akshat Ghildial
Cast – RajKummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar, Chum Darang, Seema Pahwa, Sheeba Chaddha, Lovleen Mishra, Nitish Pandey, gulshan Devaiah
While I was waiting to take on this film, I was wondering how challenging it must be for the makers to take on such bold and taboo subject and then do the tight rope walk and balancing act .
They have to keep it entertaining, infuse humour and at the same time not trivialise things. They have to invoke emotions and create psychological acceptance. They have to avoid getting preachy and yet deliver a message.
And I was quite skeptical about it to be honest.
But the film impressed me in many ways even if it wasn’t pitch perfect.
The writers and the cast deserve a big credit apart from the director who does a fine job in bringing together all aspects.
Had loved Harshvardhan Kulkarni’s previous film Hunterr and I wonder what took him so long to come up with another one.
First and the foremost, they create relatable characters.
They bring together two strong reliable lead actors.Getting a terrific ensemble cast is another feat that brings those characters to shine.
Though it is a small town premise used for the nth time , but the set up being Dehradun makes it refreshingly different. The dialects are not over done as seen in some of the previous films in past.
The situational humour and the dialogues have a fair share of hilarious moments but they are entertaining through and through.
The film successfully manages to reach out to you.There are moments when you actually feel the trepidation, the fear, longing and the pain of the protagonists.
The music track is pleasant. The title track is foot tapping, ‘Bandi Tot’ trendy, and I particularly fell in love with ‘Seedhe Saadhe’ which has some beautiful lyrics by Varun Grover and melodious music by Amit Trivedi. What’s admirable is that all songs have lovely meaningful lyrics.
Raj Kummar Rao and Bhumi deliver their characters with aplomb.
While I have found Bhumi’s performances blandly similar in many of the previous films, this time she mightily impressed me after long. The fine nuances of her expressions deserve a mention.What a fantastic display of romantic moments when she falls for her love.
Raj Kumar Rao ,as always, makes his character adorable.
Loved Sheebha Chaddha even in her limited role.She makes you want to give her a hug.
Chum Darang deserves applaud for making Rimjhim adorable and desirable. She was pivotal in creating that buy-in from the audience.
Gulshan Devaiah is an actor who makes a mark in whatever role he plays. He is mind blowing even this time around and it’s impossible for me to pin point the finesse with which he delivers his character.
Recommendation
The film did have its share of contrivances and forced situations.It also seemed to lag in pace at times and could have been crisper.
But on the whole, it was a pleasant and entertaining package and deserves credit for attempting something very very bold.
Score 3.5 on 5.