In the last few weeks, we have been catered to movies primarily revolving around small town characters whether it is Toilet: Ek Prem Katha or Bareilley Ki Barfi or even Babumoshai Bandookbaaz. This week comes another small budget movie with a small town flavor starring Ayushman Khurana and Bhumi Pednekar – Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. Directed by debutant R S Prasanna, this is a remake of Prasanna’s 2013 Tamil sleeper hit movie Kalyana Samyal Sadham.

Mudit (Ayushman) and Sugandha (Bhumi) are all set to marry, however, two days prior to their wedding, Mudit realizes he suffers from an erectile dysfunction, which almost sabotages their wedding after both the families get involved. Leading to a comical mess, Mudit attempts to treat his medical condition, using all the possible quacks.

Here again, the story is the main hero of the movie talking about a taboo subject – erectile dysfunction. Writer Hitesh Kewaly has done a great job of translating and remolding a regional movie for the North Indian movie goers. The dialogues and situations are quite situational and funny eg: Seema Pahwa explaining sexual act via Alibaba and Gufa, the soggy biscuit falling scene explaining gent’s problem etc.

Performances are awesome and actors are well-cast based on the characters. Leading the pack is Ayushman Khurana who is becoming better with every movie. He plays the character of Mudit with a lot of conviction and we can aptly call him the ‘Amol Palekar’ of this generation. Bhumi Pednekar is first rate. There is a scene where Bhumi tries to seduce Ayushman in a park which starts off as a funny scene ending into an emotional one – here you can see how well she like a chameleon shifts from one mood to another. Seema Pahwa is hilarious and has done a wonderful job. After Bareilley Ki Barfi, this is another performance of Seema that will be remembered for a long time. Among the supporting actors, Brijendra Kala is awesome.

Music is average, however, you might put the Kanha song on a loop to listen. The cinematography is good. Editing is crisp (the movie is just 105 mins). Background score is nice.

On the whole, this is one movie one should not miss!

My Verdict: ****/5