To begin with let’s applaud the fact that Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan exists. for too long Bollywood has trapped homosexuality in cruel stereotypes. A mainstream movie with an a-list hero playing a gay man without apology or explanation is cause for celebration. debutant director AKB who’s also written the story tries valiantly to establish that there’s little difference between homosexual love and heterosexual love. A same-sex relationship has the same passion heartache and insecurity. So Karthik complaints that aman isn’t enthusiastic enough when they kiss.
Early in the film we see Karthik and aman on a motorcycle with Karthik leaning into aman exactly like a girl is leaning into a boy on a bike that stops next to them at a traffic signal. Karthik and the girl exchanged glances basking in this public act of intimacy with their partner. Infact hites positions Karthik And Aman as the new Raj and Simran from DDLJ. and just like Raj in India’s favorite love story. Karthik must work on aman family and convince them that it’s perfectly normal for a man to love another man. The leads Ayusman Khurana and Jeetendra Kumar fully commit to their characters. Ayushman with nose ring in place plays the more flamboyant partner. Karthik is aggressive in his pursuit of happiness with Aman. Ayusman gives him flash and swagger but also vulnerability. watches conflicting emotions in a lovely scene in which Karthik explains to Aman that parents instinctively understand the truth about their children. That their parents have known that they were different all along. It’s admirable that Ayushman is willing to go out on a limb and kiss another man on screen. Clearly this is an act of secure in his talent and his masculinity. Jeetendra Kumar popular as jitu bhai from Kota Factory is equally good in contrast to Ayushmann exuberance he exudes and in every man charm. His hapless in love and in war with his parents is relatable and endearing. He instantly makes you root for him these two are propped up by ‘terrific’ kajaj rao and Neena Gupta. Who become this hit senior citizen jury after ‘badhai ho’ play amongst parents who must make peace with their son sexuality. Manhori shri chadha and Sunita Raj where are the concerned aunt and uncle and man my guru is cousin gobble called that because she always wears them. Familial acceptance is the focus of this film you might call that the first criminal Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan also featured the extended Indian family. Hitesh co-write that film with director RS Prasanna skillfully mind these relationships for laughs and drama. Seema PAVA was excellent as the mother as were needed soothe and agenda kala as the constantly bickering brothers.
That film had a lived-in feel and authenticity and the subject of erectile dysfunction was started with wit and warmth. You remember those limp biscuits. But this is a tough balancing act and despite the good intentions Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan doesn’t manage to replicate it. The blend of social issue with emotion and laughter is clunky. The burden of being the first mainstream film to tackle head-on men in love seems to weigh heavily on the makers. They want to make the subject palatable to a larger audience so humor becomes a constant crutch. Hites tries hard to inject laughs into every scene and some of the lines Sparkle. But as a result the emotions and characters don’t get enough room to breathe. Loud jarring background music by Karan Kulkarni underlines every punch almost as though the viewers can’t be trusted to respond. The tonality is purposely frantic in the beginning their scenes would seem incoherent there’s this whole track about among scientists father creating a black cauliflower. That I just didn’t get the frames are crowded and busy and yet long stretches in the film feel flat. Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan wants to be both an impassioned defense of same-sex love as well as a family entertainer. But the writing can’t seamlessly blend these disparate elements. Even the leads don’t have enough depth apart from their sexual preference we understand little about Karthik And aman intriguingly.
The film used them with deep empathy but that doesn’t extend to gobble. Her desperately sad situation is father of comedy these jokes feel shrill and forced also apart from the gay angle show Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan on fields overtly familiar. The small town textures and the eccentricities of the middle-class family are hardly new.
Ayushman’s last two films had similar settings jingle in Matra and bala in Kanpur and Lucknow. As I said in my Bala review the Ayushmann Khurrana sub-genre of social issue in small towns is now an imminent danger of becoming a formula. In an interview ayushman described Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan as an introduction to homosexuality for an average Indian homophobe.
The film Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan might work as that but for those of us who aren’t in this target group it doesn’t connect enough. though it’s heartening that with this film and with ek ladki ko dekha to aesa laga last year mainstream Hindi cinema has at least begun the conversation.
Now to tell you a little bit more about movie it’s a film streaming service that premieres two new films every day showcasing the best of Indian cinema on their movie India Channel and classic international hits on movie world. This week I highly recommend you check out bimmel Roy’s Devdas for the intensity of its love story and for Dilip Kumar in all his glory.
