Rating : 4/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 11 minutes
Director : Amar Kaushik
Cast : Ayushmann Khurana, Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam, Saurabh Shukla, Seema Pahwa, Sunita Rajwar, Abhishek Banerjee
Kid rating : PG
Balmukund Shukla (Ayushman Khurana) is a young man with a rapidly receding hairline. There seems to be no cure for his condition, and Bala is losing hope of ever finding love. Things take a turn for the better when Bala is gifted a hairpiece. With the hairpiece securely on his head, Bala turns into the confident young man of his dreams and even begins to romance model Pari Mishra (Yami Gautam)!
Bala works in the marketing department of “Pretty You”, a fairness cream. Pari Mishra is the fair model of “Pretty You”, whom Bala crushes over. And Latika Trivedi (Bhumi Pednekar) is Bala’s dark-skinned friend, infuriated by his perpetual criticism of her skin color. So there is the obvious storyline with balding issues, but there is a secondary angle which deals with fairness creams and the fervor to be light-skinned.
Bala is about acceptance, and you know that by the end of the film, the hero would have made peace with his (lack of) hair. But Bala goes beyond the balding theme, and takes to task society’s double-standards and sexism. Latika has learnt to deal with the taunts on her dark-skin but the barbs still hurt. In little asides, Latika’s single aunt admits that her “mooch” (she displays a mustache) put paid to her attempts to settle down. Latika, as a lawyer, advises a woman to divorce her philanderer husband, but the woman demurs; the unfaithful man is her “true love”. It underscores everyday sexism, when Bala’s friends exhort him to lie to his fiancee until marriage. Such is the order of things, they say; women just have to deal with it.
The film is set in Kanpur (which is referred to as “Kanepur”) and excels in building the small town milieu. Each character in Bala is beautifully sketched out, from Bala’s Ranji-trophy-playing, bald dad (Saurabh Shukla), to his mom (Sunita Rajwar) and barber-friend Ajju (Abhishek Banerjee). Seema Pahwa as Latika’s mausi (aunt) is, as always, magnificent. Khurana and Pednekar are excellent of course, but I was blown away by Yami Gautam. Gautam plays small-town model Pari, and she gets her role down pat, from the accent to the mannerisms.
While Bala gives Latika’s issues some screen time, it focuses on Bala and his hairy problems. I’d so like to see a film on Latika though – her fiery character seemed very interesting, and the issue of skin-color deserves some discussion! Bhumi’s skin has been darkened for the role, but the makeup was inconsistent; in some shots she seemed darker and in some lighter.
Ultimately Bala succeeds, even though it felt a little stretched. Director Kaushik manages to tell this almost-preachy tale with panache and humor, while creating an interesting, flawed hero whom we really like – no small feat that! I’m having a hard time believing that this is the same guy who gave us Stree – Bala is so, so much better than that film. Go see!
Kidwise: Apart from some mild references to Bala’s nether regions, this film is pretty family-friendly.
