Less than 24 h before POTUS touches down on Indian soil & he has already made his presence felt with tweets & re-tweets ( if you haven't seen his "Baahubali" tweet, please don't miss it, I can assure you that it will make your day) about his eagerness to meet up with his Indian counterparts. One such tweet happened to be about Hitesh Kewalya's "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan", when Trump expressed his approval for human rights campaigner and LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell praise for the movie. The Indian legal system took more than a century to decriminalize homosexuality & even Bollywood have struggled to break out of their mindset of stereotyping such individuals in movies. But changes have started to show & seems like "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan" is yet another step in the right direction.
Kartik Singh (Ayushmann Khurana) & Amit Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) are based in Delhi & have been in a relationship for quite a while. On the occasion of Aman's cousin's wedding, they travel to Allahabad to break the news of their relation to his folks. But even before they could do that, Aman's father Shankar (Gajraj Rao) who is a scientist & has created a furore among the farmers in the locality for his invention of the black cauliflower; sees them engrossed in a compassionate kiss. As expected, all hell breaks loose in the orthodox household & the rest of the movie is about as to whether the family accepts the lovers to their fold.
There is a good chance that most of you wouldn't have heard of Hitesh Kewalya prior to this, but in all likelihood he is one to look out for if he creates movies like these. Though he wasnt the director of "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan", he had assisted R S Prasanna in the screenplay & dialogues which showcased his abilities to stitch a scene in an engaging manner. All of those skill sets are put to good use in his debut venture, where he has decided to take up a topic of same sex relationship which is still not adequately explored by our film makers. The biggest positive in the movie is his ability to balance the entertainment quotient without becoming overtly serious or resort to derogatory cliched comedy. Both the halves were entertaining though the latter part felt kinda repetitive & too focused on the family. However, Hitesh's choice of artists were spot on & Tanishk Bagchi's tracks were pretty impressive.
It's not easy to make a mark for yourself in the movie industry but Ayushmann managed to do just thanks to his stars & hard work. What has stood out in his movie career until now is his eye for unique scripts which is mostly about stories based in small towns that connects instantly with the people. As Kartik, he was fantastic as the bindaas lover & he was ably supported by Jitendra. There was more than a good chance that Jitendra would have been overshadowed but Hitesh's smart choice of dialogues & the former's earnest performance ensured that he is on an even keel or maybe even a step ahead. It was heartening to see both Gajraj & Neena Gupta share screen space yet again & as expected, they rocked the scenes along with Maanvi (as Goggle). The same amount of praise also applies to the rest of the cast as well.
Verdict: As per the latest box office reports, it's doing steady business & should turn out to be a profitable venture for the makers. It definitely deserves that as it's both entertaining yet thought provoking that in the sense that it's homophobia that needs treatment rather than homosexuality. In short, do check it out!!!
Rating: 3/5
Regards...Ben
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