Zara Hatke Zara Bachke (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Follows a couple that wants a house of their own away from their family and use the Indian Government’s flagship program Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to get it.

My Take – With success stories like Luka Chuppi (2019) and Mimi (2021) behind him, director Laxman Utekar well proved he can mesh a blend of humor, drama and romance in a middle-class setup of a small township without any unnecessary layers and moral lessons on political correctness.

With the focus mainly being on delivering a feel-good entertainer. His latest too is no different. With the help of his writers, Maitrey Bajpai and Ramiz Ilham Khan, director Utekar presents a simple and relatable idea, and wraps it up with such fun characters and emotions that the resulting film feels like everyone’s story.

Yes, being a comedy, it doesn’t land all its jokes perfectly, and is a tad too long for its own good, however, the main catch of the film is chemistry between Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan, who look genuine and sweet throughout, making us cheer for them even when their characters get involved illegal activities.

Sure, no effort has been made to add layers to this simple unfolding of a small-town story, but what it does well is provide 132 minutes of light-hearted entertainment, and by looking at its current box office numbers, successfully bringing in audience back to the theaters.

Set in a small town of Indore, the story follows Kapil Dubey (Vicky Kaushal) and Somya Chawla Dubey (Sara Ali Khan), two college sweethearts who are now married and living in a small house along with Kapil’s vegetarian and religious family – his parents, maternal uncle and aunt and their young son.

The two are happy with each other but Somya does feel the pinch of not having any privacy in the house and is desperate to get her own dream house soon. But since Kapil is a small time yoga instructor and Somya teaches at a coaching center, they can’t afford to pay for a flat plus the attached extra cost for parking, gym, club etc.

That is until they stumble upon Bhagwan Das (Inaamulhaq), a dubious agent, who tells the two about a government scheme. A scheme through which Saumya will be eligible, under the women’s quota, only if she temporarily divorces Kapil and remain estranged till the home is allotted. Though the two grudgingly agree to carry out the plan in secret, their lives turns into chaos when their family finds about their decision to separate.

Here, director Utekar has accurately showcased the dilemma of middle-class families, particularly in small cities and towns. It helps that the narrative is laced with a good mix of drama and humor.

The writers even add some slice of the new and modern thinking to the traditional template and mixes the joint family and love marriage model into an acceptable model of consensus narrative through which it also manages to bring forward complex dynamics of inter-caste marriages, love marriages, joint family dynamics, etc.

There are moments that the film makes you believe it’s a lot darker than its display of cheer lets on. Especially when its goes into the veiled insults of a couple’s fake fights and the stinging tone of disappointment in a real one. But director Utekar and his writers are mostly keen on keeping things light, lapping up every chance for a joke or quip.

Yes, the film lags a bit in the second half and unnecessarily stretches its final act while heading towards a predictable positive ending.

Nevertheless, the biggest winner of the feature is Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan‘s electrifying chemistry that is surprisingly grounded at the same time.Kaushal performs ably and gets the small-town penny-pinching guy act well. Sara‘s performance matches the tempo of the film and organically fits into the narrative.

In supporting roles, Inaamulhaq, Sharib Hashmi, Sushmita Mukherjee, Akash Khurana, Kanupirya Pandit, Harcharan Chawla, Neeraj Sood and Rakesh Bedi deliver good performances. On the whole, ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ is an easy-going rom com anchored by Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan‘s electrifying chemistry.