Movie Review: Badhai Ho
What happens when a couple discovers that they are expecting a third child when their eldest son is about to get married. Badhai Ho is a brilliant take on that.
Ayushmann Khurana is on a roll. His recent film Andhadhun has been getting rave reviews. And now he pulls off Badhai Ho with the skill of a seasoned actor. He first made the audience take note with Vicky Donor. He moves between three different dialects (Punjabi, Haryanvi and UP) for his role in Badhaai Ho as do so many people in NCR.Kaushik (played by Gajraj Rao) is a TTE in the Railways. He lives with his wife Priyamvada (played by Neena Gupta), his sharp tongued mother (played by Surekha Sikri). His elder son Nakul (Ayushmann Khurana) is working and is dating a colleague Renee (played by Sania Malhotra). Their younger son is a distracted adolescent preparing for college. Disaster strikes when Gajraj discovers that his wife is pregnant.This middle class couple is not really thinking of how the new arrival will impact the economics of the family budget. Far from it. Their main anxiety is how to break the news to the family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives ... Each encounter is a potential bundle of embarrassment for different reasons. No one believes for a minute what the couple wants. Everyone is looking at it from their own point of view. That is the nuanced message this film brings.
Badhai Ho - not really
Their embarrassment in breaking this news to the family is where the story gets the audience to start engaging with the plot. The father is walking on egg-shells as he breaks the news to his sons. Everyone only thinks of how they will deal with this embarrassment when their peers find out about this. Ayushmann Khurana nails it in that scene as his face reflects embarrassment, bewilderment, anger and disappointment as Gajraj breaks the news.To parents-to-be (Kaushik and Priyamvada) briefly discuss the possibilities of abandoning the pregnancy, but the mother decides firmly to carry the baby to its full term despite all social and financial pressures. That is the scene that Neena Gupta earns her entry back to films and makes the audience realise what a fine actor she is.The sharp tongued geriatric played by Surekha Sikri plays the proverbial mother-in-law who leaves no opportunity to taunt the daughter-in-law. Even the pregnancy is seen to be the result of her daughter-in-law applying lipstick to tempt her hubby. Is there really an age where it is just wrong for a couple to have another child? Why is that so very embarrassing for everyone around? The neighbor's comment is telling when he mumbles that he had always thought of Kaushik as "sharif". Sharif is a culturally loaded term which describes someone who is beyond carnal desires.
Badhai Ho questions the new norm
Even a generation or two back when child mortality was high, couples would have several children. The fertility rate on an average was about six children to a couple. It was not unusual for the eldest child to bring up a new born sibling along with their own first born. In Mahabhrata, Gandhari had a hundred sons. Kunti had five sons. But now having a third child after a certain age seems to challenge the new norms.Did Gandhari feel embarrassed when she had to announce her 100th son or the 101st? Did they wonder about people in the kingdom sniggering at the announcement?The story is pithy and off-beat. The dialog is crisp and the use of three dialects gives the story a punch. My verdict on Twitter as I watched the film was:
Of course @ayushmannk is terrific. But @raogajraj & @Neenagupta001 put in a power packed performance. Surekha Sikri is terrific. Superb screenplay. #BadhaiHo is a must watch. https://t.co/LDZYYObIP2
— Abhijit Bhaduri (@AbhijitBhaduri) October 20, 2018
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