Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (SMZS) by its name appeared to be a sequel to a 2017 light, nice, breezy, hilarious Ayushmaan Khurana - Bhoomi pednekar flick "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan" (SMS). And one wondered, what more can a story writer stir up in a story of a couple who had a performance anxiety problem. It was clear in the first fifteen minutes of the two hour long movie that - except for a brief scene with bhoomi, probably just to remind one of SMS, there was no connection, thankfully.
Ayushmaan is now firmly established in the public perception as someone who will take a new challenge entering an uncharted territory with each of his movie. Right from the role of a sperm donor in his first movie "vicky donor" to the to the balding young insecure middle class guy in "Bala" - he has executed most offbeat characters with elan and conviction. In SMZS SMZS lives up to that reputation. He plays a gay - with confidence, not entirely convincingly but quite endearingly. A gay relationship will probably be commercially less risky thing to weave around two female characters - but this movie goes ahead and tells you a tale of two male characters madly in love with each other.
The unique thing is, there is hardly any parallel in the history to compare this movie with and so you sit through an original trying hard to see the inspiration in some old classic, all time hit and finding none. The only other recent effort towards making gays more acceptable to the society was the Sonam Kapoor effort in "ek ladki ko dekha" - however this movie does not even touch that one from a distance. So you are promised to keep guessing what comes next and I promise you most of your guesses will fail. You are kept surprised in almost every sequence (and the "almost" is a conscious insertion to ensure that I am not trolled if you are able to guess one odd sequence).
What is the easiest way to make something awkward almost taboo - acceptable to the audience !? Answer is comedy. SMZS uses incessant comedy to treat a sensitive, almost untouchable subject in a lower middle class society. In fact the movie is nonchalant about the gayness of its protagonists - to the extent that at times it turns that feature into a caricature, sometimes even mocking it. To that extent, it does some disservice to the cause of making gay relationships acceptable - but then compensates it with being equally derisive of the orthodox father, cynical society and the illogical social norms that treats the subject with unnecessary embarrassment.
So the movie starts with two gay colleagues struggling in their jobs - happy loving & living with each other - the middle class family of one of whom has planned a nuptial match for him (for want of a better pronoun). He wasn't planning to go and attend his cousin's marriage but for his partner's insistence, joined the "baarat" of the lady (yes the logic in the movie is quite much turned upside down), gets caught by his father in the act on the moving train and then gradually the entire family and society gets involved. So starts a sinusoidal wave of confusions, insecurities, anger, frustration, and fights creating a fumny, laugh riot that makes you giggle through out and you are surprised at why you are laughing at so much stupidity. The only other parallels I can draw with are the 90's govinda flicks.
So did I like the movie? in most parts yes !! - Its a laugh a minute non-stop nonsense. If comedy is about timing - most sequences get it right. Crisp dialogues make even cheesy lines acceptable even while watching it in a family setup. I really liked the bluntness and clear matter of fact way of having said some quite scandalous almost blasphemous statements. The pace is fast - before you recover from one sequence other pops up and so audience is kept on the run always. Casting seems perfect - most characters are played as if were naturally made for them. The best thing was, movie did not stereotype the gays by making them pronounce the female behaviours with male structure of the protagonists. The movie consciously keeps away from sermonizing or preaching on the subject of how society treats the gays. Which by the way also happens to its weakness - most powerful messages have been reduced to a crisp line in order to avoid the preachy tone - thus the messages fail to either sting or to stick with the audience. Still a few that I wish people remember - "आपने कब decide किया की आप gay नहीं बनोगे" or "किसी ने कभी पूछा है जैक से की वो किस के साथ जाना चाहता है जिल के साथ या जॉनी के साथ" or "आपका oxytocin प्यार और मेरा oxytocin बीमारी"|
And now because I talk of weaknesses - the flow isn't smooth. The film bumps from one sequence to the other. Most Ayushman films suffer from one common problem - they do not have a powerful story - they are just based on an offbeat theme. That is why most of them fail to become a milestone movie despite having a different theme. Despite having a potential theme SMZS is neither a "Lamhe" nor an "Angoor" (which for the younger crowd, is neither "milestone path breaking" nor "all time classic comedy"). The movie has a commercial Happy Ending - all was well thereafter kind and hence fails to live an imprint of message that it tried to convey - Pyaar to Pyaar hota hai. One does not even understand why the long introductory sequence featuring Bhoomi was even required.
Both leads - Ayushmaan and Jitendra are just OK. I feel Ayushmaan is unable to bring the variety in his acting that should live up to the variety that he gets in his roles. For the kind of dynamic roles he has got - he should have been the "Sanjeev Kumar" of his generation of actors which he certainly is not by a huge distance. I am told that Jitendra - an IIT grad is quite an internet sensation with his "Kota Factory" videos. If so, as an actor, he disappoints. He fails to convey either the gay love for his partner or the bottled up frustration of a gay who gives into the societal pressures to accept a "normal" marriage. That is probably why the movie is so weak on messaging.
The real soul of the movie are Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao. They are just so natural as the Elder brother and Bhabhi of the quintessential middle class Indian family in the UP that you fall in love with them specially if you have also seen them in "Badhai Ho". Three other actors deserve a rich mention - Manvi Gagroo who has featured in a web series on OTT platforms was in good form in the movie - she is able to make completely stupid statements appea natural and funny at the same time. In the role of half wit obedient and respectful younger brother manu rishi chaddha was
flawless - I was reminded of Manoj Pahwa in Mulk. He was ably supported by sunita rajwar as his wife. All in all the group created a delectably funny and cute joint family.
The movie is great funny watch - just don't take your brains with you in the hall and don't go expecting a sensitively or finely crafted piece on a contemporary subject.
Ayushmaan is now firmly established in the public perception as someone who will take a new challenge entering an uncharted territory with each of his movie. Right from the role of a sperm donor in his first movie "vicky donor" to the to the balding young insecure middle class guy in "Bala" - he has executed most offbeat characters with elan and conviction. In SMZS SMZS lives up to that reputation. He plays a gay - with confidence, not entirely convincingly but quite endearingly. A gay relationship will probably be commercially less risky thing to weave around two female characters - but this movie goes ahead and tells you a tale of two male characters madly in love with each other.
The unique thing is, there is hardly any parallel in the history to compare this movie with and so you sit through an original trying hard to see the inspiration in some old classic, all time hit and finding none. The only other recent effort towards making gays more acceptable to the society was the Sonam Kapoor effort in "ek ladki ko dekha" - however this movie does not even touch that one from a distance. So you are promised to keep guessing what comes next and I promise you most of your guesses will fail. You are kept surprised in almost every sequence (and the "almost" is a conscious insertion to ensure that I am not trolled if you are able to guess one odd sequence).
What is the easiest way to make something awkward almost taboo - acceptable to the audience !? Answer is comedy. SMZS uses incessant comedy to treat a sensitive, almost untouchable subject in a lower middle class society. In fact the movie is nonchalant about the gayness of its protagonists - to the extent that at times it turns that feature into a caricature, sometimes even mocking it. To that extent, it does some disservice to the cause of making gay relationships acceptable - but then compensates it with being equally derisive of the orthodox father, cynical society and the illogical social norms that treats the subject with unnecessary embarrassment.
So the movie starts with two gay colleagues struggling in their jobs - happy loving & living with each other - the middle class family of one of whom has planned a nuptial match for him (for want of a better pronoun). He wasn't planning to go and attend his cousin's marriage but for his partner's insistence, joined the "baarat" of the lady (yes the logic in the movie is quite much turned upside down), gets caught by his father in the act on the moving train and then gradually the entire family and society gets involved. So starts a sinusoidal wave of confusions, insecurities, anger, frustration, and fights creating a fumny, laugh riot that makes you giggle through out and you are surprised at why you are laughing at so much stupidity. The only other parallels I can draw with are the 90's govinda flicks.
So did I like the movie? in most parts yes !! - Its a laugh a minute non-stop nonsense. If comedy is about timing - most sequences get it right. Crisp dialogues make even cheesy lines acceptable even while watching it in a family setup. I really liked the bluntness and clear matter of fact way of having said some quite scandalous almost blasphemous statements. The pace is fast - before you recover from one sequence other pops up and so audience is kept on the run always. Casting seems perfect - most characters are played as if were naturally made for them. The best thing was, movie did not stereotype the gays by making them pronounce the female behaviours with male structure of the protagonists. The movie consciously keeps away from sermonizing or preaching on the subject of how society treats the gays. Which by the way also happens to its weakness - most powerful messages have been reduced to a crisp line in order to avoid the preachy tone - thus the messages fail to either sting or to stick with the audience. Still a few that I wish people remember - "आपने कब decide किया की आप gay नहीं बनोगे" or "किसी ने कभी पूछा है जैक से की वो किस के साथ जाना चाहता है जिल के साथ या जॉनी के साथ" or "आपका oxytocin प्यार और मेरा oxytocin बीमारी"|
And now because I talk of weaknesses - the flow isn't smooth. The film bumps from one sequence to the other. Most Ayushman films suffer from one common problem - they do not have a powerful story - they are just based on an offbeat theme. That is why most of them fail to become a milestone movie despite having a different theme. Despite having a potential theme SMZS is neither a "Lamhe" nor an "Angoor" (which for the younger crowd, is neither "milestone path breaking" nor "all time classic comedy"). The movie has a commercial Happy Ending - all was well thereafter kind and hence fails to live an imprint of message that it tried to convey - Pyaar to Pyaar hota hai. One does not even understand why the long introductory sequence featuring Bhoomi was even required.
Both leads - Ayushmaan and Jitendra are just OK. I feel Ayushmaan is unable to bring the variety in his acting that should live up to the variety that he gets in his roles. For the kind of dynamic roles he has got - he should have been the "Sanjeev Kumar" of his generation of actors which he certainly is not by a huge distance. I am told that Jitendra - an IIT grad is quite an internet sensation with his "Kota Factory" videos. If so, as an actor, he disappoints. He fails to convey either the gay love for his partner or the bottled up frustration of a gay who gives into the societal pressures to accept a "normal" marriage. That is probably why the movie is so weak on messaging.
The real soul of the movie are Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao. They are just so natural as the Elder brother and Bhabhi of the quintessential middle class Indian family in the UP that you fall in love with them specially if you have also seen them in "Badhai Ho". Three other actors deserve a rich mention - Manvi Gagroo who has featured in a web series on OTT platforms was in good form in the movie - she is able to make completely stupid statements appea natural and funny at the same time. In the role of half wit obedient and respectful younger brother manu rishi chaddha was flawless - I was reminded of Manoj Pahwa in Mulk. He was ably supported by sunita rajwar as his wife. All in all the group created a delectably funny and cute joint family.
The movie is great funny watch - just don't take your brains with you in the hall and don't go expecting a sensitively or finely crafted piece on a contemporary subject.
