Badhaai Do

An amazing fun movie, that despite its entertainment factor, also educates. Gear performances and excellent direction. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and highly recommend that you watch it.

This young cop ( Rajkummar) is gay but keeps it under wraps because he doesn't know how to tell his family. (Under a normal casting this role would have gone to Ayushmann but that is not an issue). The young lady ( Bhumi) is a lesbian and has also kept it a secret from her folks. Both belong to a middle class orthodox family of heartland India and both are under pressure to get married because they are 30 plus years. Both meet and on an impulse they decide to solve their problem by getting married to each other to keep the family off their backs. They don't realise that their problems have just begun. As they settle down he gets his boyfriend home and she gets her girlfriend home and then the quarrels start. Also since Bhumi does not conceive even after an year, Rajkummar's family members start their pressure tactics. This leads to a number of embarrassing situations for the odd couple.

The movie narrative moves on a fairly good pace and does not have many scenes eliciting laughs but the realistic acting of both Rajkummar and Bhumi makes things interesting. Later the story deals with the serious aspects of a lavender marriage and does offer a solution in the end.

Director Harshavardhan Kulkari has made a loveable and convincing movie tackling an unconventional story idea. Both Rajkummar and Bhumi have acted admirably. Worthy of appreciation are the realistic expressions they have given in the scenes. Good support comes from Seema Pahwa and Sheeba Chaddha.

This was a wonderful movie. The trailer made me think that it would be another generic 'small town comedy' with a social message (nothing wrong with it, most of these are enjoyable), but this was so much better. It felt more realistic than the Ayushmaan Khurrana movies.

Rajkummar Rao's acting was top-notch, Bhumi Pednekar is slowly and steadily climbing my list of favorite actors. The support cast did a great job too.

Shoutout to the writers as well, nothing over the top, yet real enough that you get the message but also enjoy the movie at the same time.

It's refreshing to watch an original Bollywood when remakes have been the way to go in the recent past. I was a little hesitant about the storyline because similar movies have been made in the past and in fact, social messages are often used as an excuse to make something totally random to sell tickets these days, but this was totally worth it.

I thought that they revealed a little too much in the trailer. *smh* If you have not seen the trailer, don't. Go watch the movie without expectations and you might enjoy it even more.

This is one of the better groundbreaking LGBTQ movies to come out of India, a country still hobbled by strict cultural mores and taboos. It starts off slowly and with all the hallmarks of a French Farce that discourages the viewer from taking it seriously. However, as it develops, the concept takes shape and the message becomes clearer. Unfortunately, the drama piece becomes overshadowed by weak attempts at comedy which does not translate well, and the overuse of songs and silly noises in the soundtrack proves distracting. The on-screen relationships do not come across as real, but this is to avoid censorship one would imagine. The movie is well acted and for the most part, the characters are believable. Overall, it is entertaining and has just the right amount of pathos towards the end.

BADHAI DO writers Suman Adhikari aur Akshat Ghildial ko

BADHAI DO Screen play writer and Director Harshvardhan Kulkarni ko

BADHAI DO Actors Bhumi Pednekar, Rajkumar Rao and all the cast and crew ko

For making such an entertaining and thought provoking film on a marriage of convenience without falling into trap of stereotypes.

Proud that the story is set and shot mostly in small town Dehradun.

There are so many out there living in closet or in denial. I hope this film encourages them to be themselves.