Vicky (Ayushmann Khurana) is the unemployed happy go lucky son of Dolly – of Dolly Beauty Parlor in middle class neighborhood of Delhi. Dolly’s mother in law “Biji” (played admirably by Kamlesh Gill) dreams of getting a 42″ flat screen TV and iPhone in her cramped room. Dr Baldev Chaddha (Annu Kapoor) runs a clinic where infertile couples come to him to see if they can get the sperm of cricket players and film stars.Dr Chaddha spots the “pure Aryan blood” in Vicky and tries to convince him to be a professional sperm donor. When Vicky marries his love interest, Ashima Roy, a Bengali girl, played by the pretty Yami Gautam, his wife cannot accept that her husband has been doing this for a living.Vicky Donor is not director Shoojit Sircar’s debut film. He made Yahaan in 2005 that sank without a trace probably because the lead roles were played by Jimmy Shergill & Minnisha Lamba. It has taken Shoojit (he spells his name that way, honest) seven years to get over that shock. Vicky Donor will be different. This time he has resonated with the audience.
Ayushmann is a natural. That he is actually a Punjabi speaking guy from Chandigarh in real life helped to build authenticity in the character. But that is also because of Ayushmann’s experience in hosting popular TV shows like MTV Rock On and India’s Got Talent on Colors and of course the dance-based reality show Just Dance. Ayushmann fits the character effortlessly and I would be surprised if he is not the next big thing after Ranbir Kapoor.
For the female lead Yami Gautam, this is her debut film – in Hindi. She played the lead role in the Kannada film Ullasa Utsaha.You will recognize her as the Fair & Lovely gal. She too has faced the camera for the small screen in the serial Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam.This is a film that could have easily slipped into being crude and vulgar given the subject but the screenplay always manages to tread that fine line. The humor is spot on. But after Boman Irani immortalized the property shark character in Khosla Ka Ghosla it is this film the typical Punju character from “The Dalhi” has been done to perfection. This time by Annu Kapoor. But the character who leaves a mark even in a small bit role is Kamlesh Gill as the whisky drinking non traditional granny.The one song that I loved is Paani Da Rang. There are two versions of the song. One of which is sung by Ayushmann – yes he also sings. But the version I like more is the one sung by Sukanya Purkayastha. I love her voice in the title song of the TV serial ‘Kuch Toh Log Kahenge’. The song is Saiyyan Nainon Ki Bhaasha Samjhe Naa. On the odd occasion she does tend to get a bit nasal.Bollywood has not had a long list of humorous films that it can boast of. There is always the slapstick version that border on crude and vulgar. And then you come up with a list of movies like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron or Kamal Haasan’s silent movie Pushpak and in more recent times like Khosla Ka Ghosla that tickled our ribs. This film can certainly be added to the list. Then there is the Bong dad who is horrified at his daughter marrying a “Panjaabi” fellow with a name like “bhicky” (Vicky) who lacks “kaalchaar” and does Balle Balle. The script takes good natured digs at the mutual apprehension of Bongs and Punjus about the other. I suspect some of the humor will be lost if you don’t understand the language.I just liked that one song Pani Da Rang Vekh Ke – a song composed by Ayushmann during his college days. Yeah this guy is talented. He acts, sings and composes. Does all three fairly well. I am hoping he will get more films to showcase his talent. But the heavy use of Punjabi will limit the audience that the film can appeal to. For instance, the lyrics talk of
Ankhaan daa noor vekh keAnkhiyan jo anju rul de
I am not sure how many people would understand what that means. I mean you can always deduce it from the context and all but will people understand it right away? I would say not always. Over the last few years Bollywood is getting increasingly comfortable with a lot of Punjabi words that show up in songs and dialog. It is the same process that has introduced the audience to Urdu. May that’s a good thing to happen.I really wish to rate the two halves of the film to do justice. On a five point scale I would rate the first half of the movie as a 4 out of 5. The second half would be a 3 out of 5. Mathematically speaking the film would end up as a 3.5 on an absolute scale. But when I compare the simplicity of the plot and the narration it feels like a 4. But for that one song the rest of the songs do not register.Go see the movie.
