Aankh Micholi (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – A family of misfits is trying to hide some secrets from the NRI suitor and his family as they want their daughter to get married to a well-to-do NRI guy. Then a series of comical twists and turns.

My Take – It’s been a while since a comedy of errors graced the screens. Even the dreadful Hungama 2 (2021) skipped theaters to release directly on Disney+ Hotstar.

To fill this void, director Umesh Shukla, known for OMG – Oh My God! (2012) and 102 Not Out (2018), and writer Jitendra Parmar have turned up with a plot that involves people uttering absurd lies, then giving absurd explanations to cover up for those lies, leading to absolute chaos, all done obviously to incite laughter from the cinema going audience.

And with an ensemble cast that includes the likes of Paresh Rawal, Sharman Joshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Divya Dutta, and Vijay Raaz, it seemed impossible to not to do so. But while the over-the-top situations and the performances from the cast does manage to raise an ample amount of chuckles, particularly in the first half, its overall execution causes it to be fall short from being a memorable entertainer.

Of course, the plot is completely absurd, which should come as no surprise as the objective here is for the audience to take pleasure in the absurd story-line, which is essentially a no brainer with all heart. Yet though, the narrative does seem to suit its set pattern well, however, considering the talents involved, one can’t deny the fact that the results should have been better and bigger.

The story follows the Singh family, from Hoshiyarpur, Punjab, which comprises of a forgetful Ayurvedic doctor Navjot Singh (Paresh Rawal), his hard-of-hearing older son Yuvraj (Sharman Joshi), a stuttering younger son Harbhajan (Abhishek Banerjee), and a daughter, Paro (Mrunal Thakur), who suffers from night blindness. Keeping them all tied together is Yuvraj’s wife Billo (Divya Dutta), who too has a habitual problem of using the wrong proverbs.

Desperate to get Paro settled down via marriage, the family uses an online matrimonial service to connect with a Gujarati family (Darshan Jariwala, Grusha Kapoor) from Australia, who arrive with their nephew, Rohit Patel (Abhimanyu Dasani). But while the would-be-groom instantly likes Paro, unknown to the Singh family, he too has a secret.

The film takes a while to bring forth the main plot, and until then, it’s mostly the family’s shenanigans that the viewers are served. With Jitendra Parmar’s screenplay keeping the audience hooked with some one-liners and scenes that elicit laughs, particularly those that involve seasoned actors like Paresh Rawal and Vijay Raaz who are masterful in their delivery.

Instead of just telling the prospective groom about Paro’s disability and those of the others, they pretend all is normal. So every ordinary interaction or conversation is like jumping through hoops, with the actors hamming away full blast. With their antics being funny and cringe inducing at the same time. The material they’re given to work with never uses their potential fully.

The brothers also have to prevent Bhatti from finding out that they hijacked the eligible groom from under his nose, and this track only works because of Vijay Raaz‘s performance.

Performances wise, Paresh Rawal performs well selling his memory loss scenes convincingly. Sharman Joshi makes a welcome comeback. Divya Dutta seems to be enjoying herself as a strong-willed Punjabi woman. Abhishek Banerjee is mostly the butt of the jokes, but seems well settled in his conundrum. Vijay Raaz is hilarious as always.

Mrunal Thakur and Abhimanyu Dasani are decent but their characters could have been developed better. Darshan Jariwala and Grusha Kapoor are effective enough. On the whole, ‘Aankh Micholi’ falls short on being a memorable entertainer but will appeal to fans of slapstick comedies.