‘ITTU SI BAAT’ REVIEW | 17 June, 2022

NH Studioz and Kathputli Creations’ Ittu Si Baat is a love story set in a small town. Bittu (Bhupendra Jadawat) loves Sapna (Gayatri Bharadwaj) but is unable to express his love. One day, he learns that Sapna wants an iPhone and would do anything for the one who gifts her the phone. He makes it his mission to buy an iPhone for her but in the meantime, Vicky (Priyansh Jora) woos her. What happens thereafter?

Adnan Ali has written a story which offers no novelty and is, in fact, so thin that it would be better suited for a 25-minute episode of a TV serial. In today’s age and time, a guy going round and round to buy his girlfriend an iPhone looks ridiculous, to say the least, never mind if he has no resources for the same. Kamal Shukla’s screenplay beats the treaden path and turns out to be very predictable, especially after interval. The mandatory villain, the misunderstandings, the hardships which Bittu has to undergo, etc., they all look like what one has seen in many earlier films. Even that may have been acceptable if only the ups and downs had been laced with original humour and emotions. But that is not so in the film. The element of excitement is, therefore, conspicuous by its absence. Even a fresh comic track may have done the trick but the comedy is hardly appealing. Kamal Shukla’s dialogues are good at places.

Bhupendra Jadawat is not at all hero material and is one of the biggest minus points of the love story, after the script. Gayatri Bharadwaj looks quite good and acts in an easy-going and natural style. She does a fairly nice job as Sapna. Priyansh Jora is handsome and reasonably impressive as Vicky. Dheerendra Gautam (as Cheeku) and Ravi Chauhan (as Salman) lend decent support and are both spontaneous. Atul Shrivastava has his moments as Bittu’s father. Farida Jalal makes her presence felt in the role of Bittu’s grandmother. Sonali Sachdev is effective as Sapna’s mother. Neeraj Sood does quite well as Sapna’s father. Sapna Sand gets very little scope as Bittu’s mother; she is good. Tiku Talsania impresses in a brief role as the moneylender. Brijendra Kala (in a special appearance) leaves a mark as the bank manager. Durgesh Kumar evokes laughter with his mannerism as a TV news reporter. Ayushi Lahiri is okay as Bittu’s sister. Anil Rastogi (as Sapna’s paternal uncle) lends good support. Sushma Arora (as Sapna’s paternal aunt), Sanket Agarwal (as Sapna’s brother), Veronika Arora (as young Sapna), Harminder Singh (as young Bittu), Sai Tamhankar (in a special appearance as Sapna’s sister-in-law), Atul Kale (as the doctor) and the rest provide fair support.

Adnan Ali’s direction is ordinary. Vishal Mishra’s music is one of the biggest plus points of the film. ‘Gulabi gulabi’, ‘Sun bhi le’ and ‘Darbadar’ are very well-tuned numbers and are potential hits. Lyrics (Raj Shekhar) are inspired. Song picturisations (by Vijay Ganguly, Vivek Dadich and Akanksha Tripathi) are average. Vishal Mishra’s background music is functional. Rajan Sohani’s cinematography is okay. Raj Shinde’s action and stunts are so-so. Ram More’s production designing and Steven Quadras’ art direction are ordinary. Manish Pradhan’s editing leaves something to be desired.

On the whole, Ittu Si Baat is too dull to make any mark whatsoever. With a new star cast in the lead, it will turn out to be a non-starter everywhere, with no chances of a pick-up.

Released on 17-6-’22 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by NH Studioz. Publicity: poor. Opening: terribly weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was very poor everywhere.