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Bollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Film: Good Newwz



Cast:Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh, Kiara Advani, Anjana Sukhani, Tisca Chopra, adil Hussain Yukta Mookhey, Auritra Ghosh, Gulshan Grover

Director: Raj Mehta

Rating: * * 1/2

Runtime: 132 mins



After the debacle that was ‘Kalank,’ Karan Johar’s Dharma productions attempt a comedy hoping to stave the blues cause by lowly Box-office collections of the former. ‘Good Newwz’ is not all good news though. Like it is obvious from the trailer, the film is about an unforgivable error that has caught two different couples in its cross-hairs. Film journalist Deepti and Varun Batra ( Kareena and Akshay Kumar) from Mumbai, are undergoing IVF implants in order have a baby.But the Joshi’s, Doctors both (Adil Hussain and Tisca Chopra) explain to them that there’s been a mix-up in the implants. Honey and Monika Batra( Diljit and Kiara) are the loud mouth, brash, stereotypical punjabi couple from Chandigarh who have received Deepti & Varun’s implant instead. So how to sort out this mess-hap begs the question?



Looks like Karan got the genesis for this idea from his own experiences with IVF and surrogacy. So most of the technicalities are presented in detailed fashion. A lot of it feels like an informatial where the ABC of IVF is explained. Varun and Deepti’s programmed attempts to get pregnant is at least humorous in bits and pieces. Otherwise, its all too loud and unappealing. Raj Mehta, the director fails to make this an endearing or memorable comedy. The over-the-top performances( largely buffoonery) make the film seem closer to slapstick, meant-for-TV comedy rather than cinema.



The sequence at the IVF centre where the harried couples react to the unwelcome discovery is smart but beyond that there’s little in terms of intelligence here. The contrast between couples sets up for a dramatic confrontation but the treatment and the acting is such that it all seems like a big bad joke. The central idea is contrived and the sequences developed to present it are rather unconvincing. The sense of unreality is pretty much galling here. Akshay Kumar gives the impression that he has become much more comfortable in his comedy actor skin. While Akshay performs more fluidly in such sitcoms, Kareena is the only one who does well to stay within the bounds of her character. She underplays her part while the others overdo theirs. While the resultant may not be becoming for want of balance, her consanguinity and sense of character is unquestionable. Diljit and Kiara make the bad look worse with their over-the-top rambunctiousness. Like Deepti says in one of the sequences here, 'Kya Jokergiri hai yeh?'

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