In the last couple of years, several filmmakers have tried to make films on novel, out-of-the-box concepts. Director Amit Ravindranath Sharma had last made ‘Tevar’, a commercial potboiler which was also the official remake of a Telugu film. He shifts genres by opting to make a smaller, slice-of-life comedy in the form of ‘Badhaai Ho’. Right from the time the trailer was launched, the film grabbed eyeballs for its starkly unique concept.
Nakul (Ayushmann Khurrana) is a young professional from a middle class family consisting of his father Jeetender (Gajendra Rao), mother Priyamvada (Neena Gupta), grandmother (Surekha Sikri) and younger brother Gullar (Shardul Rana). Nakul is in a relationship with his colleague Renee (Sanya Malhotra) who comes from an affluent family. Everything is going fine until one day when Priyamvada falls sick and the family discovers she is actually pregnant with a child.
The biggest asset of the film is its concept. Something like this has never been explored before and the very idea of a woman getting pregnant at a time when her son is of marriageable age is bound to get people interested in the plot. The basic story (Akshat Ghildial and Shantanu Srivastava) had a lot of promise and the screenplay (Shantanu Srivastava) does justice to it to a great extent. The film has a very simple and smooth narrative structure sans any major surprises. However, that does not mean it is dull or prosaic. The writers explore the milieu and the cultural nuances very well. Most importantly, the film is replete with entertaining moments that keep you hooked throughout its duration. But, as stated again a section of the audience might find the plot to be too simple. The characters and the sub-plots have been fleshed out well but the romantic track between Nakul and Renee seems half-baked.
Ayushmann Khurrana has been delivering winning performances one after another. This is another act he should be proud of. Sanya Malhotra suffers from a shoddily written character but her performance is good. She brings out some nuances of her character well. Neena Gupta is terrific. Gajraj Rao perhaps gets his meatiest role till date and he shows, yet again, that one needs to see much more of him. Surekha Sikri brings the house down as Dadi. Shardul Rana is quite effective as Gullar.
‘Badhaai Ho’ is what the makers will probably hear from a lot of people in the days to come as the film is a winner all the way.