STARRING: Vicky Kaushal, Ammy Virk, Tripti Dimri
DIRECTED BY: Anand Tiwari
RATING: 2 stars
Here’s an inside scoop on how Bad Newz, this week’s release produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, was greenlit.
Writer: Let’s make an out-and-out comedy. After a violent gory film like Kill, we should surprise the audience with a family-friendly film.
Dharma Productions: Yes, great idea! Is there any South Indian movie we can buy the rights of?
Writer: Nah, they are too busy making realistic award-winners or fantasy blockbusters. How about something original for a change?
DP: Great idea again! What do we make?
Writer: How about spiritual sequel to our 2019 film Good Newz? A mainstream Bollywood film with the naach–gaana, good-looking hero and heroine, songs, item song with a hook step and remake song – set in a Punjabi household.
DP: Love it, but isn’t Punjabi overdone? Sprinkle a bit of Gujarati flavour, it’s in vogue. Just a couple of Gujarati words or the heroine in a Navratri outfit will suffice.
Writer: Ok done. But let’s not give up Punjabi, only then we can add all stereotypes to make it funny. We will sign a Punjabi superstar – opening in North India guaranteed. Didn’t Diljeet work wonders for us in Good Newz? We can approach Ammy Virk this time.
DP: Brilliant. But wait, we need a story. Any ideas?
Writer: Not really, but we came across a term heteropaternal superfecundation….
DP: Fabulous, love the words. Go ahead and cook up something around it.
The result? Bad Newz, now playing at a theatre near you.
Of course, the above is a figment of my imagination but you get the drift.
Over the last few weeks, your Instagram would have been bombarded with Vicky Kaushal’s hook step for the earworm chartbuster Tauba Tauba, copied by influencers and reel-makers galore. How I wish the makers had invested at least half the energy in writing a decent script!
Bad Newz, just like the misspelling, is a misstep. You see, just having a great concept isn’t enough. You need to have the smarts to pull it off too to make it enjoyable.
The plot is exactly what you see in the trailer. Saloni (Tripti Dimri) is a pretty Punjabi girl who dreams of becoming a Meraki chef (whatever that means). A loud brash Punjabi boy Akhil (is there any other type in our movies?), played by Vicky Kaushal, enters her life, a whirlwind courtship ensues, the duo gets married but circumstances and an overbearing mother (Sheeba Chadha) lead them to the divorce courts. Enter man no. 2, Gurbir (Ammy Virk) and under the most random sequence, gets intimate with Saloni. Next moment, man no. 1 Akhil appears again, and under the second-most random and silly sequence, gets frisky with Saloni. The confused Saloni becomes pregnant with twins with the afore-mentioned heteropaternal superfecundation…a rare pregnancy where two eggs are fertilised with the sperm of two different men. Simply put, both Gurbir and Akhil lay claim to fatherhood and indulge in a game of one-upmanship to prove who is the better father and partner.
The best part? No judgements are passed on Saloni for her act which is refreshing. The bad part? Everything else.
Outrageous plots can be funny if treated well. The trick lies in making you involved in the madness and have some moments that make you care for the characters. The thought of an independent-minded girl having two lovers on the same night can still shock our conservative audiences but the makers smartly take the comic route, making it a pregnancy-comedy, quite like Good Newz.
The premise could have been a crazy ride but the build-up is so hurried, the tone so loud and the dialogues so flat that none of it registers. There are plenty of references to current and old Hindi films, including a reworked song from the SRK-starrer Duplicate, and while some are organic, others seem forced. There is nothing worse in a comedy than a joke that doesn’t land and here, for the most part, the humour crashlands. The same goes for the background score as well — a garba strain in a dialogue about Gujaratis and a sound about chicken clucking when Ammy speaks about a Gujarati girlfriend who ditched him because he wanted her to eat chicken.
One then turns to the stars to do a rescue act. Tripti Dimri, after her brilliant turns in Bulbbul and Qala and a headline-grabbing act in Animal, is charming but deserved better than just be framed by the male gaze. Ammy Virk is sincere but saddled with very few moments or dialogues that stand out. Finally, there is Vicky Kaushal, a competent actor who has proved himself in varied genres. Though his goofy-Punjabi act grates at times, he does elevate the proceedings with his easygoing, boy-next-door appeal.
For much of the film you keep waiting for that one laugh-out-loud sequence, one crazy moment or that one punchline that actually makes you chuckle. Until then you can only say Tauba Tauba when you hear such Bad Newz.
ALSO READ: