It’s Vicky Kaushal vs Bollywood Nostalgia

The Easy Charm of Vicky Kaushal At some point, this tone collapses into that of a live-action cartoon. The second half is a glorified Tom & Jerry episode, where Akhil and Gurbir keep one-upping each other like animated buffoons to win Saloni’s hand. Imagine an adult story trying to appeal to a five-year-old (Good Newwz, its spiritual prequel, was guilty of this too, but at least it had two W’s in its title). Ironically, while the two men duke it out to win full custody of ‘her’ twins, Saloni’s screen-time goes for a toss. If the intent is to prove that men have a way of making it all about themselves, this method-storytelling does not land. The film gets consumed by its own progressive pose. The preachy moments – like the doctor being asked to refer to the embryos as Baby Bagga(s) rather than Baby Chaddha and Baby Pannu – overcompensate for Saloni’s fate. Kaushal is so easy on the ears and eyes that he makes his surroundings – including the rest of the cast, film, popcorn, samosa – look inferior in comparison. Dimri and Virk have nowhere to hide in scenes that involve all three. Any other actor might have been accused of aping Ranveer Singh or Govinda’s energy, but Kaushal’s joy is original. His “Tauba Tauba” dance is all the rage right now, and for good reason. It’s also a neat marketing tool, forcing the audience to stay past the end credits of a film whose 140-odd minutes do less than the song. Which reminds me, I cannot end this review without mentioning the background score, the real third wheel of this story. Let’s just say that if Bad Newz were a person, it’d be the first to be mauled and swallowed by the sound-hating creatures of A Quiet Place. This score is a relentless assault of comic effects, the kind that musically spell out the action of a scene: “Come follow meeee” is the cue when one character stalks another. If I had walked out of the hall, it’d have been “Goooood-bye” with a pow-wow and whimper. Or if I took a sip of water, it’d be “H2O baby-yeahhh”. I don’t know why I’m so triggered by this – it’s common in Rohit Shetty comedies and even Dharma romcoms: Kal Ho Naa Ho’s Kantaben and Rocky Aur Rani’s Rani Chatterjee had their own intro themes. But the soundscape of Bad Newz just doesn’t know when to quit. It drove me nuts (“chakhna o makhna”).