Gulabo Sitabo deconstructed

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Farrukh Jaffar, Vijay Raaz, Brijendra Kala, Srishti Shrivastava

Writer/Screenplay: Juhi Chaturvedi

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Deconstruct meter: 5/10

Here we go again. Another movie from the talented team that gave us lovely motion pictures in the past such as Vicky Donor and Piku. Only this time around, it is an aberration; far from lovely. Gulabo Sitabo comes across as a movie stuck somewhere in a genre which I would term as limbo. It is part drama, part comedy but doesn’t do justice to either.

At the outset, the milieu is authentic. Nawaabon ka Lucknow providing a perfect backdrop for a movie which has a star-studded ensemble of Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Brijendra Kala, Vijay Raaz, Farrukh Jaffar and Srishti Shrivastava. Being experienced actors, they give out nuanced and balanced performances. The character arcs being very shallow, it does not leave an impact as such on the audience. There isn’t anything worthwhile to take away apart from the wonderful Farrukh Jaffar as Begum.

Gulabo Sitabo is a story about a dilapidated mansion in the heart of Lucknow and an ensuing cat-fight of sorts for the ownership of the property. The subject is very fresh and novel with the fun legal angles and the Dept. of Archaeology shenanigans. However, it becomes frustratingly drab and boring to go about the same frames one after the other.

Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann give out earnest performances but the chemistry fizzles out and the camaraderie is never quite developed turning the comic moments into boring moments. They fail to deliver the laughs and the goods.

Amitabh Bachchan’s Mirza is a stingy old man who is on a mission to get the mansion all to himself and his act becomes borderline irritating after a while, unlike Piku. This in no way means that he has done a bad job. He kills it. Nevertheless, the character is written in such a way that it gets staid and irritating. Ditto for Ayushmann. His Baankey is a tenant to Mirza’s owner. After a string of similar performances, Gulabo is more of the same. A carefree North Indian commoner; becomes repetitive and doesn’t excite. The screenplay includes characters performing mundane tasks which could be easily left out but then they add an element of detailing. Nonetheless, it spoils the fun. Gulabo Sitabo, the title; emanates from a roadside puppeteer who has two puppets by the same name. And they are constantly fighting with each other. I did not see any direct correlation for naming the movie so except maybe it all happens in Lucknow. Like I mentioned earlier, the chemistry is missing and there are very few fun moments of friction.

What works for the film are a few moments of unforced comedy amidst the protagonists and the other actors in the ensemble. As usual, Brijendra Kala and Vijay Raaz are a delight to watch with Brijendra playing Christopher, a lawyer; and Vijay Raaz playing Shukla, a clerk in the Dept. of Archaeology. Farrukh Jaffar is brilliant as Begum getting all the nuances of the Lucknowi Hindi dialect spot on. The awkward conversations between Begum and Mirza make for a great experience. Srishti Shrivastava puts in an earnest performance as Baankey’s carefree troubleshooting sister. Juhi Chaturvedi’s dialogue is spontaneously funny ala Piku and Vicky Donor. But the screenplay is boring to say the least. The rest of the team is the same as all their earlier films with Shoojit Sircar doing direction duties.

In hindsight, it is a blessing in disguise that this movie made it to an OTT platform rather than the big screen. I am not sure about it’s fate had it released in theaters.

All in all, watch Gulabo Sitabo if you are a die hard Ayushmann and/or Amitabh fan and also for a few laughs. Be ready to be very patient though as you’ll need a lot of it. Either that or be ready with an extra large bowl of popcorn before you hit the play button on the screen.

Gulabo Sitabo. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.