Badhaai Ho (2018) [Movie Review]

Dir: Amit Ravendranath Sharma

Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Neena Gupta, Gajraj Rao and Sanya Malhotra

Dur: 2 hrs 3 mins

Genre: Comedy-Drama
Rating: 3/10

Seriously! This was one Bollywood’s biggest releases of this year! My word, and I could barely sit through it! This was honestly one wasted outing.

Let me help me get an idea of what went down. Basically, it’s a story about an ordinary middle-class Delhi family who turn out to be extraordinary when the mother gets pregnant at an advanced age and decides to keep the baby. That’s essentially what the story is about. The drama surrounding such a strange occurrence and how the typical Indian reaction of “log kya bolenge?” wreaks its havoc within the otherwise undisturbed family.

The film seems to want to give you the experience of the drama and how it unfolds in a typical way, not in the filmy version. Perhaps, that does not sit well with everyone like myself, for example. The characters aren’t very well developed. In my analysis, too much importance is given to the character of  Ayushmann. The whole film rotates around him which is neither appropriate to the story nor to the intention. However, it appears to have worked when one looks at the box office results. Neena is the real star with her masterful performance as an archetypal mother. Gajraj, who plays the father, seems to be the character for comic-relief, something he executes with finesse and with more than a funny face. Mention must also be made of Surekha, who plays the archaic grandmother/mother-in-law role and who is a far better and decisive character than Ayushmann’s. Shardul Rana plays Ayushmann’s younger brother and seems so desperately out-of-place throughout the whole drama. Sanya Malhotra shines in her role as Ayushmann’s love interest and in a rare case, she isn’t objectified at all throughout the film, save at the item song in the credits.

The film had a great concept and from the looks of it, it did a fairly good job getting across an important message to cinema viewers. Life is a precious gift and there is no shame in welcoming that gift at any time. Love and life must prevail over the “log kya kahenge?” mindset. The mindset itself is called into question and its high time, the educated Indian work towards getting rid of it altogether. The film sustains its drama throughout, which is worth appreciating however, the drama was quite dry and began to feel tedious. While I appreciated the message of the film, I don’t think it was really worth all that ticket money.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unAljCZMQYw