Despite a fun and exciting ensemble film 'Andhadhun', Ayushmann Khurrana's "Badhaai Ho" is the best film I have seen this year. Most of it is predictable, but I never had as much fun, I never laughed as much hard in any film as I did watching this one. Amit Sharma, the infamous filmmaker of 'Tevar' has elevated the storytelling so much that the characters and scenes will truly stay in your mind even after years watching the film. It's surely a film which pinpoints the stereotypes and social, sexual stigmas hilariously. It's an enjoyable love story with effective writing, and always worth a revisit. I am going with 3.5 for 'Badhaai Ho'. Congratulations on watching the best Hindi entertainment ride of 2018, dear me.

If you thought Sharat Katariya was the only master household storyteller (who directed Sui Dhaaga this year) then think again. In Badhaai Ho, director Sharma crafts comedy out of thin air; out of routine familial conversations, which is so sweet to watch that it melts in your mouth like the caramel popcorn you prefer while watching such comedy dramas. There is no shortage of such palpable moments in this honest drama that you will complete watching it with a big smile on your face. But, when you go in to watch Badhaai Ho this week, don't go in to be outsmarted by a relevant story, but instead go in to get your mind blown with a crispy drama that will make you laugh and cry - in a way that Bollywood hasn't been able to in a lot of years. TN.

It's been an eventful week with the Sabarimala issue & MeToo campaign creating waves across the nation. Bollywood has been at the centre of the MeToo campaign with Nana Patekar, Alok Nath, Vikas Bahl etc. being accused of having made sexual advancements towards their colleagues. But even as this issue is burning on, we had a couple of movies that had hit the screens this weekend. One of them happened to be Amit Ravindernath's "Badhaai Ho" which had quite an interesting trailer due to which I decided to check it out. Hope it wont be as mediocre as "Helicopter Eela".



Nakul (Ayushmann Khurrana) works in a MNC & dates his colleague, Renee (Saniya Malhotra). He hailed from a middle class Delhi family where his father, Jeetender Kaushik (Gajraj Rao) worked in the Railways while his mother, Priyamvada (Neena Gupta) was a typical housewife who took care of her rather irritating mother in law (Surekha Sikri). Things moved along uneventfully in the household until Priyamvada becomes pregnant which her sons disapproved of as it made many of their friends & relatives to mock them. It even rocked Nakul's relationship with Renee & how he as well as his family comes to terms with the arrival of the new member forms the crux of the movie.



After the forgetful "Tevar" that released in 2015, Amit Sharma is back this time with a story rooted in reality which is portrayed with a dash of humour. The major strength of the movie is the manner in which the situations are treated with sensitivity & realism and kudos for the script goes to Shanatanu Srivastava , Akshat Ghildial and Jyoti Kapoor. Amit deserves praise for having done justice to the script as it doesnt bore the audience even for a brief moment. On the technical side, Sanu Varghese's visuals were impressive while Tanishk Bagchi's music & Abhishek Arora's BGM was fine.



Though Ayushmann might not be in the league of Rajkummar Rao, I have always been impressed with his choice of movies as he makes an earnest effort to dabble with various genres. More often than not, he invariably comes out in flying colours just like how he has done here & "Andhadhun" a fortnight back. It's been a while since we have seen Neena Gupta in a meaty role & she was brilliant as Priyamvada as her expressions more than effectively conveyed the emotions without having to use words. Gajraj Rao was fantastic along with Surekha Sikhri, who could have easily gone overboard but handled with elan. As for the rest of the cast, Saniya Malhotra continues to impress with each performance while Sheeba Chaddha was classy as usual.



Verdict: It has all the ingredients that will make it endearing to the audience. In all probability, it should be a winner at the box office. Though we have had movies like "Pavithram" etc., this is an interesting movie in it own way. In short, definitely give it a try!!!



Rating: 3.5/5



Regards...Ben