Shubh Mangal Saavdhan: It’s gent’s problem

Cast : Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Brijendra Kala, Seema Pahwa, Shubhankar Tripathi, Anshul Chauhan, Anmol Bajaj

Rated: 6.5/10

Not all Dilliwali movies high on local ambience, dialect and culture are entirely alluring, or, enduring enough for a two-hour feature film.

Though the subject of Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is new and has been euphemistically referred to as a “gents problem”, and despite the refreshing presence of Bhumi Pednekar and Ayushmann Khurrana, there is a lot of stretching towards the end, and by the time the couple finally does it, and that, mind you, happens just like that making you wonder what the fuss was all about in the first place?

When Khurrana and Bhumi meet online, propose and accept the marriage proposal from each other, little do they know that there is trouble brewing between the sheets. Trying to make out when the parents are away, Khurrana’s performance anxiety gets intensified by the stress oozing out of self-doubt, listening four-walls and the have-to-do-it syndrome. It happens, we are told, to many men and is usually not talked about or sorted out. That’s what the film shows with the added props of engaging humour, pithy sitcom and a whole lot of errant but loving family members on either side of the spectrum.

This RS Prasanna remake of a Tamil film also by the same director is the first one to have got the certification from the new Censor Board headed by lyricist Prasoon Joshi. Though a clean family entertainer, it has been given a U/A certificate but Prasanna is happy that it went through without a single cut. You could attribute this to a cleaver dialogue writing where the “gents problem” is not portrayed as an in-your-face embarrassment.

Indeed, the romantic comedy is a clean entertainer despite being centred around the squeamish and under the rug subject of erectile dysfunction. Pednekar goes places from Toilet… and Khurrana, it seems, has made a virtue out of being the good boy next door.

There is a lot to laugh about in the film which would have been just perfect had it been half hour shorter.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 3 September, 2017