Gone are the days when you had Barjatya-esque families full with shuddh desi sanskaars for whom the word ‘sex’ was equal to a cuss word. Now we’ve families like Kapoor & Sons, Mehras (Dil Dhadakne Do), Banerjees (Piku) & joining this latest trend is our cute Kaushiks. Priyamvada is the mother of the family, a kind who emotionally blackmails her son to play Housie with her kitty party friends. Nakul (Ayushmann Khurrana) as every other son, is annoyed by his mother but loves her to the core.
Nakul has a sweet girlfriend in Renne (Sanya Malhotra) and a pretty ordinary brother in Gullar. Father-cum-Gulzar Jitendra aka Jeetu (Gajraj Rao) impregnates his wife Priyamvada and that’s where our story starts. This initiates the entire phase of ‘Log kya kahenge?’ and Nakul starts ignoring his colleagues, friends as well as Renne. The story revolves around the 9 months of pregnancy and how the family faces issues from the so-called developing society.
The short yet impactful story penned by Akshat Ghildial and Shantanu Srivastava takes no time to set the mood the film. It takes off on a hilarious note and ends on a similar one having all the witty and emotional moments (second half) in between. From writing Kaushiks (without an apostrophe) in a Chiller font behind their car to usage of Yeh Kya Hua and the music of Kora Kagaz Tha Ye Mann Mera – makers have done everything right to portray this family as a crazy one.
Ayushmann Khurrana, fresh out of Andhadhun‘s success should get ready for another one. How well he switches to a different character in so less time says a lot about the level of the actor he is. I still will go with my claim of him being the most underrated actor in Bollywood and this will proof will yet again prove so. From getting the dialect on-point to speaking everything just by expressions, he has delivered a wonderful performance.
Surekha Sikri as Dadi is the biggest takeaway for me from this film. She has got some hilarious dialogues to mouth and the way she delivers them levels up the fun. Gajraj Rao is at his cutest best & his style of keeping words to his mouth makes him a treat to watch. No matter how annoyed Neena Gupta wants to look on screen she does connect with us. She has a delightful presence and she goes well with the bothersome bits too. Sanya Malhotra is wasted! She has looked beautiful but she has a very limited screen space.
Badhaai Ho is a clean family entertainer which also is a tight slap at the mentality of certain people which unfortunately still exists. This breaks a taboo by making sure you laugh throughout. Watch this watching how much you laugh while watching the film.
Rating: 8.5/10