‘Bad Newz’ is a sequel of sorts to Dharma Productions’ 2019 film, ‘Good Newwz’, insofar as the themes of pregnancy, paternity, and patriarchy are concerned.
Both the films do thoo-thoo at all claims of sperm-donating men to my blood, my baby, my wife, and put women in charge of their bodies and babies.
But ‘Good Newwz’ was very funny and great fun. It had a strong script, and excellent actors, and its leading men — Akshay Kumar and Diljit Dosanjh — had superb comic timing.
‘Bad Newz’ wants to be funny, but has a convoluted story and screenplay. Also, its leading lights are not top-notch actors except for Vicky Kaushal who saves the film to the extent possible with his rambunctious energy and cute, endearing silliness.
If it weren’t for him, ‘Bad Newz’ would be really bad news.
The film opens with a movie star (played by Ananya Panday) preening her way past the paparazzi to meet a woman she is set to portray in a film. That woman, Saloni Bagga (Triptii Dimri), is a celebrated chef and India’s first case of ‘heteropaternal superfecundation’, i.e. on one particular night she participated in two back-to-back hookups and then proceeded to have twins, but each one had a different daddy.
This piece of precious information is grist for flashback. So, off we go to a wedding many moons ago, when Saloni’s mummy was looking for a suitable match for her. Suddenly, Akhil Chadha (Vicky Kaushal) popped up on the stage to sing, dance and flirt with Saloni.
He was the owner of the famous Chadha Champ Corner and a true mamma’s boy, while Saloni, an independent career woman, was focused on getting India’s first 'Meraki Star' for her cafe and was not keen on marriage. But he love-bombed her, there was romance, a honeymoon even.
Things, however, didn't go well and Saloni moved to Mussoorie to work at the Savoy Hotel. There she met Gurbir Pannu (Ammy Virk), a sweet man who was single and ready to mingle. Saloni’s past popped up in Mussoorie. Two back-to-back hookups later, Akhil and Gurbir were in the throes of prenatal pangs as Saloni declared that only he who proves his worth will be the daddy of her twins.
The rest of the film is one-upmanship between two men who want to play daddy and one sulking mommy-to-be who must decide their fate.
‘Bad Newz’’s first half is entertaining because everything is centred around Akhil, and Vicky Kaushal just lets it rip. It also has Sheeba Chaddha, a powerful actor who doesn’t lose her bearings in the tornado of Kaushal’s crazy, kinetic energy.
The second half, sadly, is centred around Saloni and her concern for her twins. It also has a different ensemble of actors. They are decent but act like they are from another planet where chill-pill hasn't been discovered yet. Neha Dhupia, for example, is decked up like a Christmas tree for comic effect, but her demeanour and aura are that of a no-nonsense, serious aunty.
The general rule of comedy is that either the situation should be ridiculous and everyone should behave normally, seriously, or the situation should be genuinely serious and everyone does bizarre, inappropriate things.
In ‘Bad Newz’, the situation is nonsensical, and though it has some gags, Saloni's pall of gloom keeps spoiling the fun.
A strong feminist streak runs through ‘Bad Newz’, and the film throws many challenges at desi masculinity. It rejects possessive men, patriarchal rules, and foregrounds women’s dreams, desires and ambitions beyond family, husband, and child.
But the film's script, which draws some inspiration from There’s Something About Mary, is so earnest about reiterating its feminist credentials and so careful not to make a single politically incorrect faux pas that instead of building up the one-upmanship between two silly men into a screwball crescendo, it keeps cutting to Saloni who lectures them and disapproves of their shenanigans.
Triptii Dimri is gorgeous. But there’s a melancholic quality to her ethereal beauty and director Anvita Dutt had cast her perfectly, first in the haunting Bulbbul (2020), and recently in Qala (2022). In ‘Bad Newz’, Dimri looks out of place. Her effort to act shows, but she can’t go beyond emoting. In between flashing toothy grins, pulling sad faces and flaring her nostrils, there’s just one moment of honest acting and it comes right at the beginning when she is with Ananya Panday.
Ammy Virk has Zen-like calm in contrast to Kaushal’s loud flamboyance, and it's this mismatch that makes the war between the two semen donors fun to watch. As their stupidity escalates, Gurbir and Akhil begin to develop fizzy chemistry. But the script fails them with gags that are laboured and repetitive. Despite this, Virk to some extent, and Kaushal wholeheartedly tries his best to keep things funny and light.
Vicky Kaushal is an excellent actor. With the exception of Ranveer Singh, he may well be the best actor amongst all the leading men in Bollywood today, and I am including Ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor in this list. None of them can match his range or body of work.
Most Bollywood stars need big roles, big production budgets, dramatic entries and even more dramatic climaxes to shine. Kaushal is an actor who inhabits characters assigned to him with such humility and lightness that he leaves a mark in whatever he does. Whether it’s in the arty ‘Masaan’ or the action-thriller ‘Uri’, whether he is playing Sam Bahadur or doing small, buddy roles (‘Sanju’ and ‘Dunki’), he makes his characters memorable through his nuanced acting, switching easily from comical to intense, action to motion.
Sometimes it’s easy to gauge the quality of a film by the buzz that surrounds it. Kaushal’s hook-step in the song ‘Husn Tera Tauba Tauba’ has dominated ‘Bad Newz'’s marketing, and for a few weeks now a sizeable portion of the nation's influencers and dance enthusiasts have been busy trying to perfect it. In the film, the song plays as the end credits roll. It is an appropriate finale to a film that Kaushal carries on his shoulders.
Film: Bad Newz
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri, Ammy Virk, Neha Dhupia, Ananya Panday
Direction: Anand Tiwari
Rating: 2/5