Rating : 3.7/5 (Good)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2018
Running time : 2 hours 5 minutes
Director : Amit Ravindernath Sharma
Cast : Ayushman Khurana, Neena Gupta, Surekha Sikri, Sanya Malhotra, Gajraj Rao, Sheeba Chaddha
Kid rating : PG-13
The premise of Badhaai Ho is inherently funny and awkward. In middle-class India, where parents of adult children are automatically relegated to elderly, asexual, ascetic-like, satsang-going status, how does even begin to comprehend the fact that mom and dad are in fact, still doing it? Our twenty-something hero Nakul (Khurana) must digest this fact, whether he likes it or not, because his mom Priyamvada (Gupta) is pregnant. Nakul is dating work colleague Renee (Malhotra), and his romantic dreams are thrown into disarray when he finds out that the parental unit are expecting another child. The news stuns the household, makes the Kaushiks the butt of jokes in their social and familial circles, and causes Nakul major embarrassment.
Director Sharma milks this awkward social situation for all its worth. While Priyamvada is firm that she’s keeping the child, she is also embarrassed by her growing belly. Neighbors yell out congratulations, and smirk behind their backs. Family members preach sanskaar and look askance at Priyam. Nakul’s friends howl with laughter at his predicament. Priyam’s mother-in-law blames her for the mishap. Her son also is not beyond reproach. Says she is a delicious sequence to her squirming son, “When did you get the time? You never have time for your elderly mother.”
If you’ve watched the trailer, you might expect a full-on comedy. And while Badhaai Ho starts off with humor, it morphs into a mature drama, with major emotional baggage. It is sweet and tender in patches, especially when showing the relationship between Nakul’s parents. The basic message of familial love and support is well conveyed, and it did get me teary-eyed. However while it does a good job of questioning the hypocrisy of it all, it also gets a tad bit preachy and OTT – Priyamvada’s’s godbharai celebration was a bit much. I also kept waiting for the common sense disclaimer proclaiming the genuine health risks of a later-age pregnancy, but it never came.
Badhaai Ho is an interesting film with a great cast. Ayushmann as Nakul rehashes the role he’s played in so many other movies – the middle-class, Delhi guy – and he’s good at it. Sanya Malhotra, whom we just saw in Pataakha, is quite lovely here as level-headed, liberal Renee. Sheeba Chaddha as Renee’s well-heeled, moneyed mom is spot-on. Surekha Sikri as Priyam’s mom-in-law is fantastic, but that’s a given with her. The real star of the film though, is Neena Gupta as the firm-willed Priyamvada, who weathers the brunt of social finger-pointing like so much bad weather.
If there’s one fault with the film, its over-milking audience sympathy. I know the desi junta loves the “family above everything” theme, but let’s not trade common sense for emotion. Still, Badhaai Ho was a fun watch, and treated a touchy topic with maturity.
Kidwise: Clean, really. The content of the film might be incomprehensible and a little unsuitable for the younger ones.
