Dharma Productions and Leo Media Collective’s Bad Newz (UA) is an unusual story of a lady who gets impregnated by two men at the same time.
Akhil Chadha (Vicky Kaushal) and Saloni Bagga (Tripti Dimri) get married and their lives seem to be sorted as they love one another very much. Akhil runs a snacks shop while Saloni wants to be a chef with a Meraki title. Soon after their marriage, differences develop between them and they decide on a divorce. Saloni moves to another city where she works in the kitchen of a hotel owned by Gurbir Singh Pannu (Ammy Virk). In a moment of passion, Saloni and Gurbir have physical relations one night. As luck would have it, Akhil lands in Saloni’s hotel room that very day and apologises to her, asking her to return in his life. Again, in a moment of passion, Akhil and Saloni get physical.
Some time later, it turns out that Saloni is pregnant with the babies of both, Akhil and Gurbir. What happens thereafter? How is this one-in-a-million problem resolved?
Ishita Moitra has written a very unusual story. It does have novelty value but it is also a fact that the moral aspect of the problem can pose a problem for the more orthodox audience. The screenplay, penned by Ishita Moitra and Tarun Dudeja, with additional screenplay by Sumeet Vyas, has its share of fun and frolic but there are two major concerns here: for one, the comedy is not of the kind which makes the drama a laugh riot; secondly, the writers have tried to completely gloss over the moral aspect of Saloni having had sex with two guys. No doubt, she makes it clear to Akhil that technically, she was single when she decided to go to bed with Gurbir, but the family members of all the three parties seem to be so accepting of the situation that one wonders how all of them could be so progressive in their outlook. All this may not have been an issue had the drama made the viewers laugh a lot but the problem arises because the proceedings don’t result in a laugh riot. The emotional angle to the fun drama towards the end is a good and intelligent part and, in fact, stands the drama in good stead. Tarun Dudeja’s dialogues are excellent and very entertaining, but, again, they are more class-appealing, like the screenplay. In fact, the audience in smaller places would neither understand many parts of the humour nor appreciate whatever little they understand.
Vicky Kaushal does an extraordinary job as Akhil Chadha. He plays to the gallery and comes out a big winner with his free and uninhibited acting. His stardom will go some notches higher after this performance. His dances are superb. Tripti Dimri looks sexy and glamorous and also acts very well in a role that’s slightly unusual and difficult too. Ammy Virk is truly endearing in the role of Gurbir Singh Pannu. Like Vicky, his sense of timing is also admirable. Neha Dhupia has nothing substantive to do as Maa Corona. Ananya Panday plays herself in a special appearance and adds star value. Neha Sharma looks glamorous and is appealing in a friendly appearance as Sejal. Sheeba Chadha stands her own as Akhil’s mother. Faisal Rashid is fair as Dr. Baweja. Khayali Ram is ordinary as Sukhi mama. Guneet Singh Sodhi is cute as Harman Sathija. His patent dialogue is funny. Harnek Aulak (as Amardeep) stands his own. Vijaylaxmi Singh makes her mark as Sunita. Kamlesh Kumari lends good support as Teji. Mahabir Singh Bhullar is natural as Darji. Navin Kaushik makes a fine impression in the role of the manager of Panama Cafe. Karan Aujla makes a mark in a song-dance. Tarun Dudeja and the others are adequate.
Anand Tiwari’s direction is mature. Given the limitations in the script, Tiwari has handled the subject with conviction. Music (Anu Malik, Vishal Mishra, Rochak Kohli, Karan Aujla, Prem-Hardeep, Lijo George-DJ Chetas and Abhijeet Srivastava) is excellent. All the songs are wonderfully tuned so that the music becomes one of the biggest assets of the film. The mixed versions of old Bollywood hits have also been intelligently used. Lyrics (Javed Akhtar, Karan Aujla, Vishal Mishra, Gurpreet Saini, Davvy Singh, Lijo George and Shayra Apoorva) are perfectly in synch with the mood of the film. Song picturisations (by Bosco-Caesar, Remo D’Souza, Farah Khan, Ganesh Acharya and Tushar Kalia) are extraordinary. All the dances have phenomenal picturisations. Amar Mohile’s background music is nice but should’ve been better. Debojeet Ray’s cinematography, with additional camerawork by N. Nataraja Subramanian, Manu Anand, Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran and Anubhav Bansal, is top class. Paramjeet Pamma’s action and stunt scenes are alright. Manini Mishra does an excellent job of the production designing. Shan Mohammed’s editing is super-sharp.
On the whole, Bad Newz is far from being great news at the ticket windows as it is not a patch on the first (Good Newwz) in the series. It doesn’t have a great comedy drama but what will see the film do average business are Vicky Kaushal’s acting, ‘hot’ Tripti Dimri’s appeal, music, dances and novelty of subject. It will fare fairly well mainly in the big cities and in the better multiplexes but business in smaller cities and in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres will be below the mark.
Released on 19-7-’24 at Inox (daily 11 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: very good. Opening: average to good. …….Also released all over. Opening ranged from the ordinary to good.