Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan- An Unconventional Love Story
A message for the society wrapped with a whole lot of humour, starring Ayushmann Khuranna and Jitender Kumar is one of the most epic movies I’ve seen of late and it’s going to be the best Hindi movie of the year 2020. If you haven’t watched it yet, rush to the theatres now and come back to read this review (Seriously though)
The scene opens and we see Ayushmann and Jitender running to board a train which is cleverly numbered 0377. It’s a typical love story where the guy meets a girl. Okay, scratch that! Here’s a twist - Where guy meets guy, falls in love and tries to convince their parents to approve of their love. It’s like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, but with a twist. And to be honest, I like the twisted version better.
The duo is running from the goons who are chasing them, as they helped their friend (Bhumi Pednekar) run away from her home. They decide to go attend Aman’s (Jitender) cousin’s wedding in Allahabad. They are caught kissing in the train by Aman’s father (Gajraj Rao) who is both stunned and disgusted at the time. He is not able to fathom what he just saw and is in denial. Eventually, the entire family gets to know at Goggle’s wedding. (Nope, it’s not a typo. It’s Aman’s cousin’s nickname) who’s played a supporting role, but also, has a very important message about self-love. Ek teer se do nishaane beautifully done by Hitesh Kewaliya.
Throughout the movie, you see the leads fighting for love and the family members trying to comprehend the rainbow spectrum. The characters in this movie are so well developed that you’ll fall in love with each and every character. Be it the nagging mom played by Neena Gupta, the desi dad (Gajraj Rao), the unintentionally funny uncle and aunt (Chaman and Champa) played by Manu Rishi and Sunita Rajwar are characters who are just beyond epic. Seriously, I couldn’t stop laughing even though my jaw was hurting.
Every time I feel like I’ve covered everything that I need to tell you, something else that is brilliant about the movie pops in my head. In the movie, we see, Gajraj Rao who’s a scientist who invented a new cauliflower which was black in colour. At the beginning of the movie, he claims that these were the healthiest, worm-free cauliflowers that he has invented. But in the end, he does find worms in them. They stick to their true nature, they were cauliflowers after all.
Here, the writer tries to explain to the audience that getting attracted to the same gender is normal and natural. Unfortunately, we’ve never learned this bit, because the society we live in, never taught us. There’s a dialogue in the movie which goes like “Jack and Jill hamesha hill pe kyun jaate hai? Jack aur Johnny kyun nahi?” which made me realise that we’re conditioned in a certain way and now it’s time to question these things.
Critics have been finding loopholes in Hitesh Kewalya’s Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, but I don’t see how you can make this movie better. For me, it was the epic comic timing, brilliant writing, perfect cast and a story that gives a whole lot of hope and courage to people to embrace love beyond gender. Especially, to a lot of Adam and Steves belonging to 2- 3 tier cities. According to me, it is difficult to capture the attention of these cities without being massy.
I love that Hindi cinema is evolving with movies like these and I recommend everyone to go and watch this one with your yaars. Until then, turn up the volume and dance already!
