‘Ujda Chaman’ Movie Review: Sunny Singh’s best efforts go to vain in a film badgering constantly on the perils of premature balding

Directed By
Abhishek Pathak

Produced By
Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak, Panorama Studios

Cast
Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Saurabh Shukla, Atul Kumar, Grusha Kapoor, Gagan Arora, Karishma Sharma, Abhilash Chaudhary, Aishwarya Sakhuja, Sharib Hashmi

Bollywood Bubble Rating
2/5

What’s It About:
‘Ujda Chaman’ brings to screen the story of a balding 30-year-old man. Sunny Singh, as Chaman Kohli, a Delhi man is looking out for a bride, pretty much every Sunday. But, there are two major catches in this. Firstly, he is suffering from premature balding. Secondly, as per an astrologer’s prediction, he needs to get hitched after finding a suitable match for him within a year, otherwise, he would have to be celibate. Will Chaman finally find the love that he is searching for? Will he be saved from celibacy? Will he get hair back on the mane ever? Will he get married ever? Will he ever be happy? Well, that is for you to find after watching the film.

What’s Hot:
Sunny Singh has done justice to the character. The prosthetics and makeup make him look very believable. The actor has played the character of Chaman Kohli with his subtle quirks very intricately and you find a connection with his helplessness at certain points. As a bachelor on weekends and a college professor on weekdays, Sunny Singh gives a truthful performance with right notes for both the different aspects of his life. It is because of his performance that you end up feeling the agony of a man who’s balding at a young age. Sunny Singh leaves you chuckling, smiling and laughing at some moments.

Atul Kumar, who plays Sunny Singh’s father, bought forth an equal zest to the movie with his urgency to get his son married or else he will die ‘pure’ as a celibate.

The one thing the makers of the film have got perfectly is the correct understanding of why the audiences need to be told stories which are relatable to their everyday lives. Taking characters from our day-to-day lives makes us applaud the thought as every one of us has seen characters like Chaman Kohli and his father. Due credit needs to be given to the apt characterisation.

Moving on from the acting, the music of the movie, given by Gourov – Roshin, and the lyrics penned by Devshi Khanduri, are not something to be going gaga about. Baring aside ‘Outfit’ by Guru Randhawa none of the songs sticks to your head after you walk out of the theatre.

What’s Not:
Well, let’s begin that the mockery in the movie of Chaman’s baldness was exceeding a little too much. We understand that we do crack jokes and make fun of the people who’re facing premature balding in real life. But movies out to be better, ain’t that the point? They ‘re supposed to show onscreen the right side of every ill in real-life. However, this film doesn’t go subtle at that at any point. Chaman is being made fun of at every given opportunity, and he is helplessly trying to make amends. Despite Sunny Singh’s brilliant efforts, the movie lacks the pace it should have got considering it was the ‘first and actual story of the balding man aka takla’.

The ladies in the movie (Maanvi Gagroo, Karishma Sharma, Aishwarya Sakhuja) don’t have enough screen time to prove their worth. Could have given some more screenspace to them.

The storyline felt a little bland. Even though you’ve seen such characters in real life and relate to them, you don’t end up being wanting to be them. You are being hammered the same thing over and over to incite a burst of small laughter. However, after an initial couple of times, you end up wanting more. You want the script and the screenplay to deliver, however, it never does.

Talking about the humour, all the good humourous parts one-liners have been shown off in the trailers. So when you enter the theatre, you are expecting the fun quotient to be a notch higher. Sadly, it leaves you high and dry. Even Chaman’s father’ one-liners were barely making up for the humour.

Overall, the premise of the movie is interesting. However, the film badgers on the same tone throughout, which gets monotonous after the initial two reels.

Verdict:
ONE-TIME WATCH. You will manage to sit through the whole movie due to the sheer curiosity of something good coming up, but sadly till the end, you’re left waiting. It could’ve been a great light-hearted comedy to watch out for but alas! There’s nothing groundbreaking about ‘Ujda Chaman’. I am going with two stars, one solely for the brilliant performance of Sunny Singh.

Box-Office:
The movie comes to theatres a week after the festivities of Diwali, which usually is a dull time at the theatres. The promotions of the film have been good, which surely will invite people to walk into the theatres, however, I doubt if that will be enough. I will be surprised if this film ends up being a huge money-spinner at the box-office. People would much rather go in and watch ‘Housefull 4’.

Watch Trailer:

Also Read:  ‘Housefull 4’ Movie Review: Akshay ‘Bala’ Kumar is in top-form in this brainless comedy; the rest is just trash!

Prateek Sur

Born a Movie Buff, working as a Film Critique and enjoying life as a Bollywood Reporter.

Email: editor@bollywoodbubble.com Phone: +91 8355910465