Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan
Ratings: 2/5
Duration: 1 Hrs 57 Mins
Director: Hitesh Kewalya
Genre: Comedy. Romance
Release Date: 21st February 2020 (India)
Star Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Jitendra Kumar, Gajraj Rao, Neena Gupta, Manu Rishi Chadha, Sunita Rajwar, Maanvi Gagroo, Pankhuri Awasthy, Neeraj Singh
Plot: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan focuses on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The story is about Kartik Singh (Ayushmann Khurrana), Aman Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) who finds love in the capital city of Delhi, and their relationship grows and blossoms – the film narrates their journey into convincing their parents, the society and themselves to stay together. As even after the decriminalization by the supreme court this, continues to remain a taboo in Indian society.
Review: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan is no straight talker. With such a subject as the biggest plus point, Director Hitesh Kewalya could have done a better job. But neither the film entertains nor emotionally connects.
When it comes to performances both the main leads hardly looked gay! Jitendra Kumar as Ayushman’s gay partner is average. Their speech, mannerism & appearance do not reflect their gay personality at all.
The two-minute special appearance of Bhumi Pednekar was not needed, whereas it has become monotonous to see Gajraj Rao and Neena Gupta in these kinds of roles. While the performances by Maanvi Gagroo and Pankhuri Awasthi were strictly average.
Moreover, Ayushmann being the only face value goes missing from the second half, which would make it difficult for the audience to watch all the supporting actors most of the time. Hence, the first half is light and bearable, while the second half is tedious to watch.
As far as the technical aspects of the film are concerned, the screenplay and editing were poor (the film needed to be trimmed at many places). The location (Varanasi) is in sync with the subject and looked beautiful. Even the cinematography is good.
When it comes to music, except the song ‘Arey Pyaar Kar Le’, which is a remake version of Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re' from the 1985 film ‘Saaheb’, the music is below average.
Overall, the film which is a light-hearted comedy can be seen as a progressive attempt towards the acceptance of same-sex couple story but is loosely written with no efforts taken to showcase the real problems of the gay community. Also, it fails to create laughter though being promoted as a rom-com comedy.
