This afternoon I watched "Vicky Donor" and was unexpectedly enchanted by it. The title and the recent spate of unfunny sex "comedies" had made me apprehensive, but this sweet film disarmed me completely. Of course, it is about a sperm donor, but it so cleverly involves the viewer in the lives of said donor and the people in his world, that one gets emotionally invested in their destinies instead of staying a Peeping Tom voyeur. Rather than titillating and going for cheap laughs, the tale of the donor and his circumstances is unspooled deftly to the point that he emerges as a kind of selfless do-gooder. The laughs that arise are from situational humor rather than the tacky nudge-nudge-wink-wink variety. Although not totally new, the dialogue is laugh-out loud funny. We've already been introduced to the outlandish vernacular in "Band Baaja Baaraat", "Do Dooni Chaar" "Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl" and other films set in that peculiar Punjabi Delhi milieu. In fact, a new film genre was spawned in the past few years: the middle class Delhi family comedy.
The cast is first rate, and again a director shrewdly deploys the best of Delhi's theatre talents in the service of an off-beat film. Most of these actors would be unknown to Hindi filmgoers who would think them to be overnight sensations; the fact is most of them paid their dues and honed their craft on the stages of Delhi and Calcutta for decades. Kamlesh Gill, as the titular donor's grandmother is a scene stealer with her progressive views, uncharacteristic knowledge of electronic gadgets and nightly peg or two. At one point, her movie grandson remarks admiringly that Delhi has only two truly modern things: the newly-built Metro and his grandmother. Ms. Gill has been active in theatre since 1957! In the film, her drinking partner is her widowed daughter-in-law, Vicky's mother, played with feisty brio by another theatre professional and National Award-winning costume designer Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari.
Spectacularly beautiful and talented TV actress Yami Gautam is Vicky's love interest Ashima Roy, while her widower father and spinster aunt are played appealingly, once again, by longtime theatre veterans: Jayant Das and Swaroopa Ghosh. With this wealth of combined acting expertise, it's no surprise that they succeed brilliantly in creating the compellingly real world of Vicky, Ashima, their families, and the man who upends their happy, orderly lives: the infertility expert Dr. Baldev Chaddha, played to perfection by Annu Kapoor. Dr. Chaddha has long been on a quest for the ideal sperm donor, and when he comes across carefree cricket-mad Vicky, he sizes him up and then pretty much stalks him until the young man becomes his star performer.
The title role is played by a TV anchor/VJ Ayushmaan Khurana, who understands that Vicky has to be an everyday schmo with nothing heroic to distinguish him from the hordes of similar unemployed slacker youths that populate present-day Delhi. Only Dr. Chaddha spots his potential, such as it is, and launches Vicky's fruitful if, um, single-handed success. These two and their humorous bickering mutual need-and-greed relationship are at the centre of the film. Chaddha is a cunning combination of fast-talking hustler, shameless (hence, very funny) mercenary, and ultimately, unlikely altruist, and the gifted Annu Kapoor makes him amusingly disreputable, but never sleazy. Chaddha genuinely sees Vicky as a walking-talking, revenue generating sperm bank, and after each encounter with the young man muses to himself "Confused sperm!", "Unpredictable sperm!" or "Pain in the sperm!" depending on the outcome of each exchange. It is excellent that Annu Kapoor has returned to Hindi cinema after a long self-imposed exile. He was a hoot in last year's "7 Khoon Maaf", and pulls off a funny yet heart-warming turn in this film.
When Vicky and Ashima decide to make a life together, it brings into hilarious play a Punjabi-Bengali culture clash. In the initial meetings, each side has catty put downs of the other, yet when all is said and done, they are so large-hearted and accepting that they promptly settle into an amiable harmony, complete with affectionate leg-pulling. The wedding with mix-and-match Punjabi and Bengali rituals and customs is an inspired piece of business: the Punjabis are spooked by a posse of loudly ululating Bengali matrons, but only for an instant. They give the well-behaved ladies an impromptu Bhangra lesson and have them all balle-balle-ing with new-found abandon. Vicky's grandma and mom get Ashima's teetotal dad drunk, but the real intoxication is from pure joy.
Alas, the truth will and does out, and Ashima goes ballistic when she discovers Vicky's donor past. Will they be able to settle differences and overcome what Ashima perceives as a colossal breach of trust? I am going to stay mum on this - for you really should find out for yourselves.
I'm impressed that John Abraham had the acumen to spot the potential in this unconventional project and made it his first producing effort. Kudos to Juhi Chaturvedi who penned a highly original story, screenplay and dialogue, and got the flavours and nuances of Punjabi-centric Delhi and Anglophile Calcutta just right. Shoojit Sircar directs with a light, but ever observant touch, and makes his large cast people you care about. Ayushmaan Khurana doesn't possess movie-star looks but his delightful, ingratiating personality and confidence should compensate abundantly. Yami Gautam is a classic Indian beauty and manages to takes one's breath away in simple every-day clothing - I can't wait to see the results when Manish Malhotra gets his designing hands on her in the Yash Raj extravaganzas that are bound to follow - and she's a good actress, to boot. This intelligent, generous, warm-hearted take on sperm donation does indeed, as its tagline naughtily promises, make every drop count!
The cast is first rate, and again a director shrewdly deploys the best of Delhi's theatre talents in the service of an off-beat film. Most of these actors would be unknown to Hindi filmgoers who would think them to be overnight sensations; the fact is most of them paid their dues and honed their craft on the stages of Delhi and Calcutta for decades. Kamlesh Gill, as the titular donor's grandmother is a scene stealer with her progressive views, uncharacteristic knowledge of electronic gadgets and nightly peg or two. At one point, her movie grandson remarks admiringly that Delhi has only two truly modern things: the newly-built Metro and his grandmother. Ms. Gill has been active in theatre since 1957! In the film, her drinking partner is her widowed daughter-in-law, Vicky's mother, played with feisty brio by another theatre professional and National Award-winning costume designer Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari.
Spectacularly beautiful and talented TV actress Yami Gautam is Vicky's love interest Ashima Roy, while her widower father and spinster aunt are played appealingly, once again, by longtime theatre veterans: Jayant Das and Swaroopa Ghosh. With this wealth of combined acting expertise, it's no surprise that they succeed brilliantly in creating the compellingly real world of Vicky, Ashima, their families, and the man who upends their happy, orderly lives: the infertility expert Dr. Baldev Chaddha, played to perfection by Annu Kapoor. Dr. Chaddha has long been on a quest for the ideal sperm donor, and when he comes across carefree cricket-mad Vicky, he sizes him up and then pretty much stalks him until the young man becomes his star performer.
The title role is played by a TV anchor/VJ Ayushmaan Khurana, who understands that Vicky has to be an everyday schmo with nothing heroic to distinguish him from the hordes of similar unemployed slacker youths that populate present-day Delhi. Only Dr. Chaddha spots his potential, such as it is, and launches Vicky's fruitful if, um, single-handed success. These two and their humorous bickering mutual need-and-greed relationship are at the centre of the film. Chaddha is a cunning combination of fast-talking hustler, shameless (hence, very funny) mercenary, and ultimately, unlikely altruist, and the gifted Annu Kapoor makes him amusingly disreputable, but never sleazy. Chaddha genuinely sees Vicky as a walking-talking, revenue generating sperm bank, and after each encounter with the young man muses to himself "Confused sperm!", "Unpredictable sperm!" or "Pain in the sperm!" depending on the outcome of each exchange. It is excellent that Annu Kapoor has returned to Hindi cinema after a long self-imposed exile. He was a hoot in last year's "7 Khoon Maaf", and pulls off a funny yet heart-warming turn in this film.
When Vicky and Ashima decide to make a life together, it brings into hilarious play a Punjabi-Bengali culture clash. In the initial meetings, each side has catty put downs of the other, yet when all is said and done, they are so large-hearted and accepting that they promptly settle into an amiable harmony, complete with affectionate leg-pulling. The wedding with mix-and-match Punjabi and Bengali rituals and customs is an inspired piece of business: the Punjabis are spooked by a posse of loudly ululating Bengali matrons, but only for an instant. They give the well-behaved ladies an impromptu Bhangra lesson and have them all balle-balle-ing with new-found abandon. Vicky's grandma and mom get Ashima's teetotal dad drunk, but the real intoxication is from pure joy.
Alas, the truth will and does out, and Ashima goes ballistic when she discovers Vicky's donor past. Will they be able to settle differences and overcome what Ashima perceives as a colossal breach of trust? I am going to stay mum on this - for you really should find out for yourselves.
I'm impressed that John Abraham had the acumen to spot the potential in this unconventional project and made it his first producing effort. Kudos to Juhi Chaturvedi who penned a highly original story, screenplay and dialogue, and got the flavours and nuances of Punjabi-centric Delhi and Anglophile Calcutta just right. Shoojit Sircar directs with a light, but ever observant touch, and makes his large cast people you care about. Ayushmaan Khurana doesn't possess movie-star looks but his delightful, ingratiating personality and confidence should compensate abundantly. Yami Gautam is a classic Indian beauty and manages to takes one's breath away in simple every-day clothing - I can't wait to see the results when Manish Malhotra gets his designing hands on her in the Yash Raj extravaganzas that are bound to follow - and she's a good actress, to boot. This intelligent, generous, warm-hearted take on sperm donation does indeed, as its tagline naughtily promises, make every drop count!