Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay Review: Fun & Feminism Messed Up By Antique Thinking

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay Star Cast/ Actors: Guru Randhawa as Heer, Saiee Manjrekar as Iraa, Anupam Kher as Heer`s grandfather, Ila Arun, Atul Srivastava, Paresh Ganatra

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay Director: G. Ashok

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay  Release Date: February 16, 2024

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay  Available On: Theatrical Release

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay  Runtime: 125 Minutes

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay  Critic Review:

Way back in 1967, there was a Meena Kumari film in which the barren wife sacrifices her happiness to make way for her loving husband (played by Dharmendra) to wed again. All for a santan (a child).

More than half a century later, in an era of IVF, surrogacy and adoption, director Ashok G takes that museum piece and recycles it as a modern film with Iraa Mishra (Saiee Manjrekar) and Heer Chawla (Guru Randhawa).

Introducing Iraa as a young woman passionate about becoming an IAS officer and Heer as the besotted boyfriend who’ll do anything to help her achieve her dream, is not enough to pass off as progressive.  

Writers Raj Saluja, Niket Pandey, Vijay Pal Singh and Shobhit Sinha lure you with a seemingly modern story peppered with light commentary and quick comebacks as Iraa is introduced as a serious student and Heer, a lovelorn Romeo in the same class only to be with her. He quips lines like, he’s not good at Maths because, “Pyaar ka koyi hisaab nahi”and the professor is snarky enough to call him, “Collector saab”. Hmm, not a bad start.

It’s a love story (released around Valentine’s Day, don’t miss the timing) that an RJ is narrating over the radio, with listeners all ears over Iraa and Heer and wet-eyed when they mess up.

Iraa’s ambition is speed-broken by her mother and younger sister who want her to get married quickly so that her pregnant sibling can go through her saat pheras before her condition becomes apparent.

In the rich Chawla household, patriarch Brij Bhushan alias Baoji (Anupam Kher) who’s proud of the expanding family business of Chawla Sweets, has only one desire: his grandson Heer must gift him a great grandchild. A dining table conversation briefly mentions why the assortment of chachas can’t produce a kid. There’s light heartedness in Baoji’s silly attempts to announce Heer’s marriage and “heir apparent” which keeps it going until Iraa and Heer solve the problems of their respective families by getting married.

Here’s where last millennium thinking sneaks into the Chawla bungalow, on the first night itself when Iraa won’t let Heer touch her until she’s passed her IAS exams. Never heard of birth control measures, guys?

Considering the Chawlas are treacly sweet and understanding, why is Iraa’s ambition such a secret from them? Only because of Baoji’s desperation for a kid in the family? Where one sensible conversation with Baoji would’ve solved it all, the charade of a fake pregnancy to keep the family exuberant irritates. Most of all, unlike the Meena Kumari-Dharmendra film, there is no loving chemistry built between Iraa and Heer for you to empathise with them. It’s all about her IAS with Heer like an eager puppy dog. Even the two of them on a motorbike is antiseptic with no attempt at getting cosy.

Like Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, the super-rich household of mithai makers has zero staffersat home with the IAS aspirant having to rush around making tea and serving it while the men sit around. And Iraa’s given a long list of chores that includes running Chawla Sweets – a portfolio that should’ve gone to Heer.

Baoji’s dialogue against surrogacy (someone’s zameen, somebody’s beej and somebody else’s fasal) is forced in to explain why that’s not an option for Iraa-Heer. There’s so much that’s illogical, implausible and out of sync with current times that the Chandan ka palna moment is the last straw. Inexplicably, for a man getting married again, Iraa hangs around, all the time, watching expressionless. 

Enforced simplistic scenes between a barren chachi and Iraa that question why only a woman has to bear the burden the infertility, is a weak attempt to inject feminism into an outdated screenplay. With the introduction of a gun-wielding bride’s father and the dialogues slipping into ‘moongphali baahubali’, ‘jab dono baap hai raaji toh kaun karega naa jee’, ‘collector not calculator’, the initial promise of a happy comedy vanishes. A gay shot in the washroom and some toilet humour further flush the entertainment down the pot.

Unnecessary songs and background numbers prolong the tedious wait for the end, although it’s only a little over two hours long.

Anupam Kher brings life into an awkwardly written role. Guru Randhawa who is not exactly hero material has the energy of Ranveer Singh. Devoid of any animation, Saiee Manjrekar is dead expressionless most of the time.

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay – Watch Or Not?: Help yourself to mithai from the nearest shop. That will perk you up more than this khatta experience. 

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay  Review Score Rating: 1.5 Out of 5

Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay  Official Trailer:

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