Shaadi Ke Side Effects Review

Shaadi Ke Side Effects Review: Could’ve been wickedly funny and involving with more improvisational humor less dramatic moments, mostly underwhelming, in the second. Worth a go for the performances though.

Rating: ***

Director: Saket Chaudhary

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Vir Das, Ira Arun, Ram Kapoor, Purab Kohli

You know something’s amiss when all you can recall in a film intending to be therapeutic is the overblown drama and an overkill of in-film product placements. The camera eagerly captures Vidya loading herself with Baskin Robbins ice-cream, Farhan returning his bike to Royal Enfield showroom, Vidya mentioning that a car like Polo would suit families more than an Enfield bike, Vidya talking on her Samsung Phone, Farhan watching sports on Videocon television etc. A happy couple that’s successfully sorted its problems is what it convincingly captures not, although the film insists otherwise.

The husband, Sid, exhibits alarming insecurity and regression immediately after marriage. A competition between siblings is usually the case, but here it’s a full-grown dad competing with his infant daughter. I believe in the title of worst real/foster father, even the trio from Hey Baby and Ben Stiller’s Gaylord Focker from the American film Meet the Fockers would lose to Mr. Sid, musician, wannabe singer and newly crowned Dreadful Parent. At least the others tried before giving up. All Sid can do is moan from night one, after the baby is brought home. And his looks, or rather Farhan’s face belies his character’s insensitive persona.

What should be humorous and delightful as an experience i.e. parenting, is reduced in this couple’s case to peeved bickering, the tension feeling forced. Maybe the co-sponsor is a contraceptive manufacturer, as what I perceived as the lesson here is that child-rearing is hard and not worth the trouble.

My own parents treated me royally as a kid, me being their first child. I remember living the first few weeks at my grandmother’s home (a custom) where my naani would apply coconut oil all over my body so I’d be strong and healthy. Of course, one can say that the world revolved around me but not

to an extent that my parents obsessively talked about nothing but me. Children with rough childhood usually have parents undergoing major financial or family problems. We see neither Sid nor his wife Trisha (played by Vidya Balan) beset with crisis big enough to justify their, especially his paranoia towards parenthood. And the first half smartly does without needless ‘mountain out of molehill’ dramatic moments and stays uncomplicatedly light and breezy. If you’ve seen the promos, you’d realize watching the film that the best parts fly in fast.

She cribs about him not holding the baby properly. She somehow knows when the baby’s hungry or wants to go potty, although the baby gives the same sign for both. I felt that writer-director Saket Chaudhary, who previously made Pyaar Ke Side Effects, could’ve taken more risks with humor. He uses a checklist method to cover almost every common situation involving parenting. There’s the sleeping with the bawling baby scene, then the diaper changing scene, and it continues in a customary fashion. More adept at complicating situations resulting in rib-tickling pay-offs is a director like Karan Johar, who crosscuts between multiple events simultaneously colliding into a big confusing fiasco. There were two such moments from his weepie Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna which had me in tears.

When Shaadi Ke Side Effects gets serious, the characters get crankier. By literally choosing to lead a double life, Sid finds himself chilling and partying hard with failed actor Manav (Vir Das), a goatee sporting casanova living a wasted lifestyle at a rented apartment. The fun ends soon, with accusations from overbearing worldly wise bai/aunty, played convincingly by Ira Arun, finally leading to Sid getting kicked out of his home. This reaction from Trisha is extreme and the writing seems amateurish here. I’ve observed in a number of Hindi films that the conversations between couples fumble attaining maturity, hence appearing less impactful on screen. Although it’s implied that Farhan is partying hard, we never see many changes in the functioning of the house. A homemaker also maintains a record of the daily household income and expense in a little diary, especially if she’s literate and working at certain point of time in her life. Would a situation not arise when he has little money to provide for his wife and daughter and she questions where the money is being squandered?

A lot many Indian filmmakers disturb the flow and pacing by swerving the tone a few degrees more than desirable, with the background music having a major hand in this. Shaadi Ke Side Effects could’ve been wickedly funny and involving had it used more improvisational humor in the first half and avoided excessively emotional and underwhelming dramatic scenes in the second. It’s worth watching once for the performances both by leads Vidya and Farhan, and a competent supporting cast including Das, Arun, Purab Kohli and Ram Kapoor. And what about the baby? Well, she remains neglected for most part of the shaadi as well as the film. I told you it was funded by contraceptive manufacturers…

ourvadodara.in Rating Guide:

* = Avoid!!

** = Rent It / TV Premiere

*** = Book The Cheapest Seats

**** = Book The Best Seats

***** = Book The Best Seats + Buy The DVD!