Spitefully smitten
Ideally a film so weak like ‘Bala’ should have gone deep down the dumps but it resurrects itself beautifully through masterful making which doesn’t bore us for most part. Add to it we have a good cast who don’t overdo stuff, may be except for the make up which looks overdone for both the ladies. But above all, why the movie works is because of the humor factor. Which is a fool proof method to woo any audience. Here the movie doesn’t get serious at any point of time. There isn’t a single place where it goes teary eyed. Even the most serious scenes are dealt with a tinge of humor. May be that’s to escape the risk of becoming melodramatic. But whatever, it majorly works.
It’s yet another Ayushmann Khurrana message movie where he takes a subject which everyone can relate to and presents it with humor. He has now mastered the art. The film works because of him, may be if it had been anyone else, it wouldn’t have been this good. But on the other side, it’s not as glorious as how he was in the movies where he was in full form, like a ‘Badhaai Ho’ or ‘Vicky Donor’. The law of averages has finally caught up with him, in this segment. But thankfully his not outs have been more so he still has a healthy average. I told previously that being the guy who acts only in these type of message films is a risk. He time and again proved me wrong, even with ‘Article 15’, which I throughout wouldn’t be great. But with ‘Bala’ he seemed to have slouched a little bit.
The film opens with a couple of kids in school. One a hero and another an object of ridicule. The hero guy woos all the kids around by fluffing his hair and calls the dusky girl, a blackie. But she’s not the one to deter. The scenes even though a normal happening in school shows what impact these things would have on a kid. It’s good that the girl had a strong heart, otherwise she’d have easily been broken off. Young Latika (Saniya Touqeer) if much more fabulous than the elder version (Bhumi Pednekar) Thanks to the shoddy makeup. Young Bala (Sachin Choudhary) too does a decent job whereas with respect to the apt look, the elder version looks were done really well, given that Ayushmann Khurrana has slimmed down for the role, which in a way it looks realistic for the titular role.
For a script like this, there is nothing much you can do differently with respect to the story. So, the entire first half talks about how Bala deals with the bald image and his various antics. Most of the jokes where he tries to grow up the hair, even though silly, gives us laughs. In the second half he gets married to a beautiful girl who thinks he has real hair. Quite obviously he wants to tell the truth but couldn’t, which leads to comedy of errors. There is a phase where it should have got a little serious. Especially the day after the marriage but that’s dealt comically too. May be the makers took a cue from ‘Vicky Donor’ where the only part which looked weak was the phase where Yami Gautam rejects him. I found it to be too silly a twist. But unlike ‘Vicky Donor’, ‘Bala’ is a film which rides more on comedy than on emotional quotient so it was okay for the twist, which I’m sure everyone would have guessed.
It’s a good ploy to employ Yami Gautam as a fairness model, which she is in her real life. Bhumi Pednekar on the other hand acts as the more evolved person out the two leading ladies and does a fair job in spite of the de-glam make up. Generally, in an Ayushmann Khurrana movie, which in itself has become a brand, it’s the side kicks and environment which works big time. Here too it’s the same. His house, street, family members, everyone look so apt and natural. That’s why it’s a film which has more hits than misses.
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