The Cinemawala

These are cynical times. The common man needs assurance that they belong to the place. The rich man is wondering whether he did a bad job funding to the wrong political party. The students are indeed taking up the streets to protest against all kinds of wrongdoings and the state machinery is in cahoots with the police, busy proving them wrong. These are dark times indeed, especially when movie reviewers expect people to take them seriously.

Nope, definitely not a piece of good news. What is good is the film that opens today, which is also called ‘Good Newwz’ by the way. Let’s see, what is good about it.

The trailer pretty much sums up the premise, so straight away we’ll go to the performances of the individual actors. It’s an Akshay Kumar film, so naturally one expects a few laughs, a screwball comedy. What one doesn’t expect and obviously gets pleasantly surprised, to see Akshay Kumar, the actor attempting to go beyond Akshay Kumar, the performer. Far away from his recent preachy avatars, Akshay plays a man, who doesn’t feel he’s ready for being a dad. The mixup of sperm samples lets his baby getting fertilized in another woman’s womb, thus he doesn’t get emotionally attached to the baby growing in his wife’s womb. Kareena Kapoor Khan takes her ‘Ki and Ka’ character to a notch higher. In her limited forte, she does well as a career woman, who finds it hard to choose her desire to be a mother, while not being impregnated by her husband’s sperms. Both actors are at the top of their games.

But the real stars of this film are Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh. Playing an over the top Punjabi couple, which’s basically Bollywood’s go-to-idea about Sikhs, together they are a hoot. Diljit goes all guns blazing, as he plays the stereotyped Pubjabi guy, with a penchant for brands and colourful attire. Kiara ably supports her and while her character is introduced a good 45 minutes after the movie begins, she does a fab job as a good-hearted dumb bimbo, again a stereotype championed by Bollywood. In the supporting cast, Adil Hussain as the IVF specialist Doctor Joshi does extremely well. It’s heartening to see him getting into a Masala potboiler, far away from his usual serious acts and having fun. Tisca Chopra, Anjana Sukhani do well, in their respective roles.

Debutant director Raj Mehta crafts his characters etched wonderfully by writer Jyoti Kapoor. Though the characters are way over the top and often indulge in silly banters, obviously written for the slapstick comedy lovers, one doesn’t feel patronized. It’s difficult to make people laugh. Ms Kapoor moulds her characters in a frame that can be called human and not the usual holier-than-thou people that Hindi films often portray their characters to be. Despite the fact that adopting a baby is much easier than creating a life of your own, people still go for bearing babies for the sake of expanding their lineage. It’s a message that’s subtly passed through without being preachy. And that’s what makes this script work.

Dialogues by Rishabh Sharma are bound to make you go LOL. Akshay Kumar and Diljit get the most meat amidst the other actors and they excel in their respective roles. Akshay Kumar’s character smokes joint and gets high in between an important discussion. In a moment of brilliance, he forgets his sophisticated roots or what Diljit labels as ‘Hi-Fi’ and starts howling madly when Kiara’s character calls Gulzar’s novel ‘Raat Pashmine Ki’ as ‘Raat Pasine Ki’. It’s a fabulously written scene, guaranteed to make you go ROFL. So is the scene, where after being forced by his wife to have multiple sexual intercourses as she’s ovulating, Akshay’s confession about faking it. Music is peppy with ‘Sauda Khara Khara’ the eternal chartbuster by Sukhbir and ‘Chandigarh’ ruling the cards. With a run time of approximately two hours and fifteen minutes, editing is crisp. Credit goes to Manish More.

Go for a fun-filled ride people. Desperate time needs desperate measures. The common man needs a good laugh sometimes. So do yourself a favour and chill the hell out at the movie theatre.

The Cinemawala Rating: 3/5