Mach Films’ Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay (UA) is a family drama. Heer Chawla (Guru Randhawa) lives with his grandfather, Bauji (Anupam Kher), two paternal uncles and a paternal aunt. The older uncle (Atul Srivastava) is married (to Ila Arun) while the younger uncle (Paresh Ganatra) is single. Chaman (Paritosh Tripathi) is an orphan who lives with the family. Bauji is very keen that grandson Heer get married and give him a great-grandchild. Heer loves Irra (Saiee M. Manjrekar) who wants to become an IAS officer. Circumstances force Irra to marry Heer but since she is keen to pass her IAS examinations, she tells Heer that they would not dream of making love till she clears the exams. As luck would have it, some days after the marriage, Heer’s aunt assumes that Irra is pregnant. One thing leads to another and so Irra and Heer pretend that Irra is in a family way. The couple is caught in a tight situation when the aunt sees Irra without her artificial baby bump. To save their skin, Irra lies that she has had a miscarriage.
Soon, the gynaecologist, who is a friend of Irra, informs that Irra can’t conceive. A crestfallen Irra asks Heer to marry another girl because Bauji was so keen on having a great-grandchild. Does Heer agree? Does the family get to know that Irra and Heer had bluffed about Irra’s pregnancy? What happens finally?
Vijay Pal Singh’s story is good in parts only. It loses steam post-interval. The screenplay, penned by Raj Saluja, Niket Pandey, Vijay Pal Singh and Shobhit Sinha, has some entertaining moments but they are few and far between. There are several defects in the screenplay. The reason for Irra and Heer to fool their family about her pregnancy is so half-baked that it just doesn’t make sense. Bauji wouldn’t have died of a heart attack if the newly-weds had confided in him and told him that they would plan their child after her IAS examinations, because Bauji and the other in-laws were not at all against her completing her IAS. Instead of adopting the easy and obvious way out, why did they opt for the ridiculous and difficult way? This is not even sought to be explained! The drama of the second half is so silly that it fails to have the desired effect. The reactions of the family members to situations are so weird that the audience wonder whether they have their brains in the right place. The shock about Irra not being able to conceive is so big that the shocks about her having fooled the family with her false pregnancy or about her having cleared her IAS examinations without their knowledge are inconsequential. Therefore, the family feeling miserable about having been cheated — after the news that she cannot conceive — looks stupid. And why would the family disapprove of her having passed her exams — albeit without their knowledge — when, all along, they had wanted her to clear the exams? All in all, the entire drama about the family being cross with Irra looks unfounded. Bauji’s change of heart in the climax has no emotional appeal whatsoever. Even the drama preceding the climax is devoid of emotions. In short, the entire second half is so weak that the impact of the better pre-interval portion gets diluted. While some comic scenes are funny, the romantic track is rather dull. Frankly, Heer and Irra hardly behave like a couple, making one wonder whether they were in love at all. To not consummate their marriage is one thing and to not even behave like a married couple is quite another thing. The track of the older paternal uncle and his wife not having had a child is stretched so hopelessly that it irritates after a point of time. As if that were not bad enough, the uncle asking for his wife’s forgiveness looks out of place if only because he behaves as if he has just realised that he has wronged her. Didn’t he have the common sense to notice all these years that she had silently borne the ignominy of being barren just so that her husband shouldn’t have to face the embarrassment? Did it need him to overhear her conversation with Irra to wake up to this fact? Niket Pandey and Shobhit Sinha’s dialogues are the best part of the script as they are truly entertaining but, it must be added, they are not consistently good. At places, the dialogues look forced, especially when they appear designed to evoke laughter — and that’s not a good feeling.
Guru Randhawa looks very endearing and makes a fair debut as an actor. He needs to concentrate on his dialogue delivery and utter his dialogues with far more force. Saiee M. Manjrekar is so-so as Irra. Her expressions are found lacking. Anupam Kher gives a good account of himself but fails to evoke the required sentiments in the climax (more due to poor scripting). Ila Arun does well but she overacts in some scenes. Her characterisation is a bit childish. Atul Srivastava is average. Paresh Ganatra makes his presence felt as the younger paternal uncle of Heer. Paritosh Tripathi is lovely as Chaman. Brahmanandam evokes laughter as the bride’s father. Abhinandan Jindal lends fair support as Dr. Arun. Gunjan Gowda is adequate as the bride, Preeti. Harmisha Mahesh Mistry is okay as Irra’s sister. Sneha Gupta lends average support in a guest appearance.
G. Ashok’s direction is so-so. While some scenes have been handled well, there are others which look kiddish. Music (Guru Randhawa, Meet Bros., Sadhu Tiwari and Nilesh Ahuja) is good. Ishaare tere and Raja rani are the best numbers. Lyrics (Guru Randhawa, Zahrah Khan, Niket Pandey, Star Boy Loc and Kumaar) are fair. Song picturisations (by Vishwa Raghu and Duesh Mehra) are alright. Background music (by Vijay Verma, Anamik Chauhan and Lyton) ought to have been better. R.M. Swamy’s cinematography is quite nice. Rahul Sharma’s production designing and Rajesh Bahanwal’s art direction are ordinary. Dheeraj Kumar Wadhwa’s editing is loose.
On the whole, Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay is entertaining in parts only. Overall, it lacks conviction and will, therefore, prove to be a losing fare. Due to lack of face value, it will be a non-starter.
Released on 16-2-’24 at Inox (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: dull. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.