T-Series and Abundantia Entertainment’s Sukhee (UA) is the story of a middle-class housewife, Sukhee (Shilpa Shetty), who lives in Punjab with her husband, Guru (Chaitanya Choudhry), and daughter, Jassi (Maahi Raj Jain). One day, Sukhee decides to take a break from her daily routine for years, for a school reunion in Delhi. Her male chauvinist husband doesn’t approve of her break but she, nevertheless, decides to disobey him this one time. Once she meets her friends, they make her realise that she has made herself a doormat whom everybody tramples upon. This, coupled with the fact that Guru has stopped treating her with respect, makes Sukhee take a life-changing decision. What is that decision?
Radhika Anand’s story is so-so as the novelty factor is missing. One has seen many films about a docile wife taking her life in her own hands rather than continuing to remain subservient to her husband. Therefore, the story is quite predictable in that sense although, it must be added, the suspense about which course her life will take does make it a bit interesting. Paulomi Dutta’s screenplay takes too long to come to the point as it concentrates too much on things which can be established in a few shots. For instance, the point of binging food on the streets of Delhi has been stretched so much that it ceases to be funny. The toilet humour thereafter is even worse. The track of Vikram Varma (Amit Sadh), whom the ladies used to call Chamgadad when in school, is quite interesting. The weakest part of the screenplay is that it absolutely fails to evoke emotions among the audience. Even Jassi’s speech in her school doesn’t draw tears from the eyes of the viewers. While Sukhee cries a lot after interval, the scenes simply don’t move the audience to tears. Rupinder Inderjit’s dialogues are good but they are far from being excellent.
Shilpa Shetty does justice to the character of Sukhee. It is interesting to see her transform from being a docile housewife to a lady with her own identity. Chaitanya Choudhry is effective as Guru. Maahi Raj Jain gives a good account of herself as Jassi. Kusha Kapila leaves a fantastic mark as Sukhee’s friend, Meher Chhibber. Pavleen Gujral is marvellous as Sukhee’s friend, Tanvi Gaikwad. Dilnaz Irani makes her presence amply felt in the role of Sukhee’s friend, Mansi Parekh. Amit Sadh is very natural in a special appearance as Vikram Varma. Vinod Nagpal has his moments as Sukhee’s father-in-law. Jyoti Kapoor (as Ranjita), Kiran Kumar (in a special appearance as Sukhee’s father), Purnima Rathod (in a special appearance as Sukhee’s mother), Sandeep Kapoor (as Jogi) and the others lend the desired support.
Sonal Joshi’s direction is alright but she gives too much importance to things which need to be mentioned in the passing. Badshah-Hiten and Arko’s music is fair. Lyrics (Raja Dilwala and Rashmi Virag) are okay. Ganesh Acharya’s choreography is alright. Karan Kulkarni’s background music is quite good. R. Dee’s cinematography is reasonably nice. Riyaz-Habib and Manohar Verma’s action and stunt scenes are functional. Udai Prakash Singh’s production designing is okay. Vini N. Raj’s editing ought to have been tighter.
On the whole, Sukhee will turn out to be a non-starter. Frankly, it is too ordinary to make any mark whatsoever at the ticket windows.
Released on 22-9-’23 at Inox (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: below average. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.