The Great Indian Wedding

Vicky Kaushal's energy is infectious, and he has a very pleasant screen presence. So regardless of the character he plays onscreen, he somehow makes it believable. In The Great Indian Family, he plays yet another boy-next door (I was still trying to get over his Govinda Naam Mera and Zara Hatke Zara Bachke image), and he does it without any constraints. He's loud yet subtle, funny yet sensible. And he's the one who is doing most of the things in the film that is trying to say a lot, but ends up saying nothing substantial. Vicky's performance still gets the highest points. Set in a small town called Balrampur, TGIF is about Ved Vyas Tripathi aka Billu aka Bhajan Kumar (Kaushal), who is bought up in a staunch religious and conservative family of pandits. One day he gets to know that he's actually a Muslim by birth. Everything changes, or at least we are made to think so, as the family is going through this crisis. Tripathi's father Kumud Mishra (who was out for teerath darshan at the time this news is revealed to his son), chacha Manoj Pahwa, chahi Alka Amin, bua Sadiya Siddiqui and sister Srishti Dixit, have their own ways to come to terms with this revelation.

There's also a corrupt pandit in Yashpal Sharma with his son Aasif Khan, who tries to exploit the situation and bag a contract for a big-fat wedding. And how do we expect a Bollywood film to be complete without a love angle. So makers bring Jasmeet (Manushi Chillar), as Vicky's love interest. Sadly, her character arc never goes beyond being a prop, and she ends up being used as just another reference, being a Sikh, to show inclusivity among religions. With such mediocre act, Chillar brings nothing to the table, and don't even get me started on her dull chemistry with Kaushal.

Vicky Kaushal's energy is infectious, and he has a very pleasant screen presence. So regardless of the character he plays onscreen, he somehow makes it believable. In The Great Indian Family, he plays yet another boy-next door (I was still trying to get over his Govinda Naam Mera and Zara Hatke Zara Bachke image), and he does it without any constraints. He's loud yet subtle, funny yet sensible. And he's the one who is doing most of the things in the film that is trying to say a lot, but ends up saying nothing substantial. Vicky's performance still gets the highest points.

Overall, The Great Indian Family is nothing more than an average slice-of-life that can be a one-time-watch solely because of Vicky Kaushal's sincere act. Or maybe the fact that it tries to touch upon an important message, but too much is lost in translation.