Bad Newz Review: A Leave-Your-Brains-Aside Entertainer

Ammy and Triptii have the chemistry of a door-to-door salesman and disinterested customer.
On the other hand, she and Vicky burn down the house with their scorching sensuality, observes Sukanya Verma.

In the second comedy from the fertilization franchise since Good Newwz, a woman's back-to-back boom-boom results in a twin pregnancy and dual paternity.

Except this 'whoops' moment is mostly a ploy to revert back to the days of two dummies fighting over a dame in the classic tradition of a leave-your-brains-aside entertainer.

Bad Newz is as much about heteropaternal superfecundation as Chhoti Si Baat was about Chicken Ala Poos. If anything, chicken plays a bigger role than any gynaecological rarity in providing the tale its twists.

What Director Anand Tiwari (Love Per Square Feet, Maja Ma, Bandish Bandits) is really out to achieve is make a strong case for Vicky Kaushal's dazzling dancer and beach body, Triptii Dimri's leading lady prowess and Ammy Kirk's poker-faced presence over the course of Ishita Moitra's loony plot and Tarun Dudeja's comic punches.

Add to the mix some '90s music like Duplicate's Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam for nostalgia and echoes of Govinda and Anil Kapoor's outwitting game in pursuit of Juhi Chawla's heart in Deewana Mastana and you have a fitfully funny farce that's bungled its proportions of romance and comedy.

Straight off, Bad Newz smacks a pinch of salt in our direction when a familiar face from the Dharma stable (take a guess: A star kid who made her debut in the second film of yet another Karan Johar franchise) arrives on the scene and announces her intention to play India's national crush aka Bhabhi No 2 aka Saloni Bagga (Dimri) in a biopic.

Animal references are randomly doled out to reinforce its heroine's buzzing status as if not lines from a movie but captions read out from social media posts of a paparazzi doubling up as PR.

Saloni is a Delhi-based chef hailing from a Punjabi family, happier to stay glued to the idiot box trolling KJo's judging skills in reality TV shows or see herself settled than fulfil her Meraki star (think Michelin) dreams while she whips up bowl after bowl of deconstructed Mexican burrito demonstrating her versatility.

Goodness of gourmet is lost on desi tongues that wag more than wow and it's not long before the focus shifts on chaap pe charcha once Chaddha Chaap Corner's head honcho Akhil (Vicky Kaushal) bumps into Saloni at a wedding.

Drawn to the fellow Punjabi's goofy charms and groovy moves, she agrees to get hitched in haste despite his acute case of mamma's boy (Bollywood's go-to mum Sheeba Chaddha doing her best in a flimsy bit) plagued by nomophobia (can't live without mobile phone) spurred by the guilt over his dead dad (Gajraj Rao in a photograph-sized cameo).

Too selfish to see beyond his own goal of one hot wife and two kids, Akhil turns into that episode of Friends where Ross distracts Rachel at work by constantly demanding her attention or demeaning her dreams.

It didn't end well for Ross. It certainly is no better for Akhil.

Cut to Mussoorie where Saloni finds a job and a friend in hotelier Gurbir Pannu (Ammy Virk) and his posh property.

Bad Newz has getting on and not getting over on its mind, transpiring into a night full of rebound and reunion sex.

Saloni learns she's pregnant with twins and each one of them has a different dad: Akhil and Gurbir.

Abortion, of course, continues to be a taboo option despite a fiery advocate for it in Saloni's funky aunt with a penchant for dressing up in African boubous (not enough Neha Dhupia in a feisty avatar).

Gurbir's gracious, gentlemanly ways are in perfect contrast to Akhil's juvenile antics, a difference Bad Newz puts forth and pits against as part of Saloni's spoilt for choice imagery only to put the lady at the centre of it all on the back burner.

Whatever little amusement the premise promised fizzles out as soon as the twain engage in a dreary battle of wits based on their food and phobias.

Ammy Virk's vanilla appeal feels pale next to Vicky Kaushal's vibrant persona.

His full throttle energy and Triptii's superiority in a slight role elevate the rom-com's favour, which loses all steam when it becomes a one-way contest between its two heroes and forgets about the heroine and her wants.

It's not an equal contest by any measure.

Vicky has all the advantages -- the songs, the swagger, the script and the enthusiasm designed to play to the gallery. And he works every inch of it.

What doesn't help is Ammy and Triptii have the chemistry of a door-to-door salesman and disinterested customer.

On the other hand, she and Vicky burn down the house with their scorching sensuality.

Bad Newz is abundantly clear on who it sees as the prize and who is the consolation.

Yet another special appearance at the end only confirms this stance.

Pretty frames, gorgeously styled actors, easily resolved complex issues, Bad Newz has no wish to rise above its fluff objectives.

It casually reinforces traditional mindsets within an unconventional setup wherein a woman must feel apologetic about her dreams and a man's puppy-faced remorse will get him exactly what he dreamed of: One hot wife and two kids.