One of the most talented actress of the present times, Tabu, returns on the screen in a family comedy, which sadly falls flat and fails to impress. As a matter of fact, director Kedarh Shinde’s “Toh Baat Pakki” seems to be a miniature attempt in front of the gigantic acting talent of the veteran as he simply couldn’t take advantage of her gracious presence on the screen due to his ineffective and lifeless execution of the subject. The potential comedy plot which could have been an enjoyable family drama on the lines of Hrishikesh Mukherjee kind of cinema gets wasted because of a spineless script and mediocre direction.
Revolving around the story of an ambitious lady, who wants to get her sister married to the world’s best bachelor, the movie starts off well with an enjoyable wedding sequence. In fact the opening scenes clearly give you an idea that it’s going to be a Tabu movie all the way, which in turn raises the expectation level to another height. But the subsequent scenes after the fine start, move at an extremely slow speed and that too without any good comic punches to make you feel better. The sluggish development of the actual plot, takes away all the joyful spirit of a supposedly comedy movie and creates friction. The director unexpectedly reveals the main twist of the story just close to the intermission and then shows all the real action between his different characters in the second half.
Before that the movie manages to impress the viewer partly with its simple and easy going narration. It even gives you few glimpses of the famous and impactful family comedies of the 70s. But after the initial one hour both the writer and the director realize that they still haven’t revealed the real plot and then go on to move the story at a contrasting speed. And that gives rise to a silly kind of a second half with many hurriedly added developments into the storyline. The script tries to incorporate a number of happenings post interval, which seems to be quite unrealistic and hard to believe for the viewer. Truly speaking, after the intermission you remain seated in the theater only because of Tabu and to some extent Sharman Joshi, still visible on the screen. Otherwise there is no worth mentioning name, scene or sequence in the movie to write praises about in its concluding hour.
Apart from these flaws, the movie is too lengthy and loaded with many uninspiring and un-required songs to put you off. As per its plot, a sweet 90 min movie should have been perfect. But the director goes on deliberately stretching it to an intolerable level which becomes the main drawback of the movie and will be the foremost reason of its failure. Only one song “Jis Din Mera Byaah” and its repetitive use, both in the movie and in its promotional campaign could have done the trick. All the other songs from “Pritam” are just the routine ones.
Performance wise, Tabu once again proves her versatility and is a real treat to watch. She simply steals the limelight from every actor on the screen with a natural ease. Sharman Joshi impresses in his boy next door act and makes his presence felt even in the scenes along with Tabu. Yuvika Chaudhary as the girl to be married has a lovable smile but she seriously has to look after her styling, especially her hair styles. At times she looks gorgeous, but in few scenes she seems to be just an above average face due to her improper appearance. Despite of the fact that the story moves around her character alone, Yuvika doesn’t get enough scenes or dialogues to prove herself. Vatsal Sheth as the second boy in the lead is strictly ok. Ayub Khan, Himani Shivpuri and Suhasini Mulay are just there performing another routine kind of act in their careers. Upasana Singh is shouting as always and Sharat Saxena’s tries his best to generate some laughter. However, his pehalwan and kidnapping angle towards the climax could have been used in a more amusing manner.In the end, I would like to say that like director Kedarh Shinde, there are numerous other film-makers in Bollywood who are more or less highly inspired from the family comedy movies of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee. They all keep on trying to bring back those fond memories of the past with projects such as “Toh Baat Paaki”. Hence, even if the movie is not that impressive in its content and execution, it still is a good attempt if compared to all those silly, childish but Hit comedies seen in the recent years.
Rating : 1.5 / 5
