Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan and director Saket Chaudhary – this is a combination that is difficult to go wrong with. This film is an interesting take on life after marriage! The first half of the movie is revitalizing, fun and humorous regardless of its expectedness. Farhan has established in the last few years that he is here to stay. This movie is no different for example the comic timing that he showed in `Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara` is revisited with `Shaadi Ke Side Effects`. The subtle changes in his expressions, frustration, fear, and real affection are all very faultlessly directed and captured. Vidya Balan is one actress who owns the spotlight in any film she acts in and here of course, is a true natural.Yet, this edition of ‘Side Effects’ is perforated with clichés in comparison to its prequel ‘Pyaar Ke Side Effects’.
Farhan and Vidya fill in the shoes of Sidharth and Trisha Roy, a happily wedded couple living in the modern Indian household . Sidharth, an aspiring music composer, tries to make the relationship work with some white lies and some `inspiring` pieces of advice for married couples. However things change with the coming of their first child, Mini. The movie is about how Farhan tries to plan around the changed relationship at hand. Sidharth`s broad-mindedness is truly tested here, with Trisha’s increasing shift of attention towards her focus to the child. Just as `Pyaar Ke Side Effects` was an impartial look at the metropolitan relationship, `Shaadi Ke Side Effects` takes a look at the metropolitan marriage. However, this movie will make you believe that marriage equals baby; and preferably it should have been called “Baap Banne Ke Side Effects” (The Side-effects of Becoming a Dad). The entire movie is practically based on what having a child did to the husband and not the wife! , Seriously!
Sidharth is in a tight spot fine-tuning to fatherliness, and a lot of laughs are created by portraying the lengths a family has to go through to adjust to child-rearing. You really start sympathising with Sidharth`s state. Though independently Farhan and Vidya give worthy performances but their on-screen chemistry is slightly lacking zest, they were more comfy on-screen Koffee with Karan. Vir Das as the character Manav, is severely badly used and he seems to be a filler with no real involvement to the plot of this film. Ram Kapoor`s character is well imprinted out, while Ila Arun and Purab Kohli have short but attention-grabbing roles. The first half is all you can expect from a rom-com, it is humorous, eccentric, goes at an even pace and reflects modern marriages rather successfully. But the humour fizzles out after that. The movie begins to slog and mislays the promise it shows initially. There are times where the movie almost falls into a modern-day melodrama. The introduction of additional characters in the second half makes an already overextended plot a tad bit worse by challenging the viewers’ patience. The music by Pritam is fun and lively. `Harry’s Not a Brahmachari` by Jazzy B and Divya Kumar is a fun dance number and its sure to be prevalent in clubs scene.`Bawla Sa Sapna` by Mohit Chauhan is poignant.
If only the film-makers found more creative second half, this could have been a 10/10 for me. The film is still a great watch due to the freshness of Farhan and Vidya pairing up, and the layman status of Farhan`s character that everybody can relate to. The Bollywood Tempest awards this film a 7/10.
Rating : 3.5 Stars
