CHENNAI : In 2019’s laugh-riot Good Newwz, an IVF mix-up leads to Akshay Kumar and Diljit Dosanjh impregnating each other’s wives (played by Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kiara Advani, respectively). A novel, truly hilarious logline. Five years later, with Bad Newz, Dharma Productions is on the way to establishing a strange franchise, maybe a pregnancy-verse. One where a Punjabi munda and a turbaned Sikh will try to one-up each other, only to realise by the climax that a woman’s body is not a contest to be won in their sperm-wars. I can imagine the third segment. An overworked newscaster gets into a relationship with two men at work: a fellow narcissistic anchor and a mousy producer (with the turban). Both are unfit for the job. Dejected in love, she seeks a long leave to go on a solo trip, but the boss is a meany. On the advice of a chatty friend (played by Kusha Kapila), she lies about being pregnant to avail maternity leave. But the boys tag along, both thinking they are the father. Title: Fake News.
Not digressing further and coming back to Part 2, Bad Newz begins on a forced note. We open with an unnecessary Ananya Panday cameo, where she is playing an actor meeting her subject—Triptii Dimri’s Saloni Bagga—to play her in her biopic. The film’s story is told in a flashback. At a glitzy Punjabi mixers party, Saloni falls for the buttery dance moves of West Delhi munda Akhil Chadha, played by Vicky Kaushal. They eye each other as she refills pani-puris for him. But Saloni isn’t just about falling in love. When she is not explaining to customers the difference between a Mexican burrito bowl and rajma chawal, she is a motivated chef who is vying for a Meraki star (Dharma’s version of a Michelin star). She rejects Akhil’s advances in the beginning. ‘Focus on career’ and all that. But rather quickly gives in to his boisterous charm. They get married, and we get an answer to how Rocky Randhawa would be as a husband. Vicky’s Akhil doesn’t really get the concept of personal space. For him, love is not felt until it is spelt on a big, fluffy red pillow.
It doesn’t work out. Saloni and Akhil file for divorce, and after labouring through the first half, we finally get to the central conflict. In a fit of drunken courage, Saloni sleeps with the sweet, sensitive sardar Gurbirsingh Pannu (Ammy Virk). The same night, Akhil sneaks into her room, armed with a cake and an apology. Six weeks later, she is pregnant. A one-in-a-billion case of the unpronounceable heteropaternal superfecundation. That is to say, Akhil and Gurbir are fathers to Saloni’s unborn twins. May the best dad win.
Bad Newz becomes tiresome because of a stretched, wobbly screenplay. The whole plotline of Saloni marrying and divorcing and then sleeping with another man seems to be crafted to avoid judgement from a conservative audience, who would probably scoff if she were just a liberated girl with more than one partner. The film is a bunch of gags joined together by a thin thread. In one of the gags, Vicky gets off on the unboxing of a new phone (he has ‘no-mobile phobia’. Don’t ask). Almost all of them feel strained. Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Ranveerisms’ are entertaining at times, and he tries to pump up a scene with his antics, but the base material is too weak. Triptii Dimri feels ill-fitted and directionless in a comedy set-up, while Ammy Virk as Gurbir brings a certain calmness to an overly-excited film. However, on occasions, he exist only to be subjected to Vicky’s shenanigans. Neha Dhupia comes and goes as Triptii’s liberal aunt, who, for some reason, is always dressed up as a fortune-teller.
The film’s idea of humour is referencing other rom-coms or is a meta-commentary on its actors’ reel and real lives. Triptii Dimri is called ‘national crush’ and ‘Bhabhi 2’. There are jokes on Vicky Kaushal’s Manmarziyaan (2018) and quips about Katrina Kaif. For better or worse, only Ammy Virk completely plays a character, not an off-screen version of himself. Sentimental background music from Dharma Films is put on odd scenarios to invoke laughter. Since we are on the topic, the BGM in Bad Newz doesn’t only introduce the character (‘Mama, Sukkhi, Mama’ (read in the tune of ‘Kallu Mama’ from Satya (1998)), it also informs you about the activities of the characters. So, if Sukhi mama does detective work, the BGM goes ‘Jaasoos’ (detective) and if a person is being followed, we hear ‘Come follow me’. You get the gist.
Before the release, the songs of Bad Newz were being marketed as its USP. I expected them to be a relief from all the ludicrousness that was unfolding on screen. They were mostly hiccups in an already patchy screenplay. The seductive ‘Jaanam’, featuring Vicky and Triptii, has the aesthetics of a condom ad. As for the earworm, the viral sensation, and the party anthem ‘Tauba Tauba’, I was excited to watch Vicky’s smooth moves on the big screen. But after everything, I was too exhausted. I slipped out.
Film: Bad Newz
Director: Anand Tiwari
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri, Ammy Virk and Neha Dhupia
Rating: 2/5