One of my most anticipated OTT release in this lockdown was Gulabo Sitabo. Obviously, you know why? But, I was sceptical about why they released this film on OTT platforms? The trailer and teaser of the film were not connecting to me despite my trying my level best and the film released on OTT released before it Pon Magal Vandhal disappointed me raising my concerns? So, did this film surprise me or did it prove me right? Let's have a look at my review of Gulabo Sitabo:
Gulabo Sitabo is a 2020 comedy drama directed by Shoojit Sircar starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan in lead roles. The story revolves around Fatima Mahal and how Mirza and Bankay try to own it completely.
This film will be a non-spoiler review and so I will not bring even a single plot point out. But, I should say the screenplay was not the best of Juhi Chaturvedi. Let me start with the positives. The film set in Lucknow uses the dialect and language of Lucknow which gives the movie a fresh feel. The dialogues also are very fresh. Fun Fact, this film uses Shudd Hindi and so I explored some very formal words for scolding somebody. The writing is also very good bringing out some quirky humour to us. They are not laugh-out-loud but are very enjoyable. The tension element of the film is also well established and we try to guess what is happening with the film. Now, here are the problems. First of all, the freshness of the script caught me off-guard and so it took me at least 15-20 minutes to get onboard. There are really tiny plot elements in the film which could have removed entirely and the movie would not have changed. But, the puzzle however for me is the climax. As, I am a big fan of Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan, watching them lose is kind of saddening for me. Not saying it is bad or something, it makes sense considering the characters which are completely obsessed by the mansion. But, for general public like me, it did not register that well. So, this film will take time to digest but I will say this film has a fresh screenplay that has very limited audience reach as said by Komal Nahta.
POSITIVES:
This film will be a non-spoiler review and so I will not bring even a single plot point out. But, I should say the screenplay was not the best of Juhi Chaturvedi. Let me start with the positives. The film set in Lucknow uses the dialect and language of Lucknow which gives the movie a fresh feel. The dialogues also are very fresh. Fun Fact, this film uses Shudd Hindi and so I explored some very formal words for scolding somebody. The writing is also very good bringing out some quirky humour to us. They are not laugh-out-loud but are very enjoyable. The tension element of the film is also well established and we try to guess what is happening with the film. Now, here are the problems. First of all, the freshness of the script caught me off-guard and so it took me at least 15-20 minutes to get onboard. There are really tiny plot elements in the film which could have removed entirely and the movie would not have changed. But, the puzzle however for me is the climax. As, I am a big fan of Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan, watching them lose is kind of saddening for me. Not saying it is bad or something, it makes sense considering the characters which are completely obsessed by the mansion. But, for general public like me, it did not register that well. So, this film will take time to digest but I will say this film has a fresh screenplay that has very limited audience reach as said by Komal Nahta.
POSITIVES:
- The Acting : Top-Notch. Ayushmann Khurrana, Amitabh Bachchan, Vijay Raaz, Brijendra Kala and Srishti Srivastav are my picks for this film. All of them get under the skin of their roles and shine on their own. One of the best ensemble cast performances in a long time. Also, props to Big B for carrying all the prosthetics and maintaining that unique body language.
- The Music : A folk dominated album with all songs playing in the background. Again, the director and screenwriter make use of the Lucknow setting and really give a very fresh sounding lyrics and music.
- The cinematography : It captures the major attractions of Lucknow really well. The film is filmed beautifully. It is visually pleasing and different from other films.
- The Comedy : As said before, it is enjoyable. It is not a in-your-face comedy. It is subtle and satirical. It will take some time to understand but the characters and dialogue make it clear to us.
- The character of Fatima Begum : This lady needs a special mention. Whenever she is on screen, she was lit. The way she spoke or whatever the character does at pivotal stages defines the film and so the director surely made that part entertaining.
NEGATIVES:
- The Expectations : This film has a very limited audience reach. So, whoever expected the film to have awesome confrontation scenes between Big B and Ayushmann will be disappointed because after 30 minutes of the film, they are mostly separated and the moments between them are few and far between. Also, the ones who have no idea about the film will have a hard time getting on board with the film.
- The slow pace : This film is designed to be a slow burn. So, the film gets boring in parts. I had got the big picture of the film almost after 40 minutes of the film and so I was anticipating a twist to come around which made the film even slower. There was no twist but the intensity of what I thought was more than expected.
- The aftermath of the climax : I was depressed after the climax but made sense of it. It can take time for many to settle in with the climax.
The message the film tries to give is unclear to me but I feel it would be about not being materialistic and try to connect with human because the ending of the film tries to show this point. So you feel the same? Comment me down below. This film is available on Amazon Prime Video now. A very subtle comedy that could have been even better.
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