What could go wrong when there’s Amitabh Bachchan in a movie? Well, the answer is several things. After I saw Thugs of Hindostan, I was convinced that big stars aren’t the breadwinners of a movie, there has to be some essence at least, for it to be a hit.
Anyhow, because of the COVID pandemic, movies took a hit and many of them had to resort to releasing them online. One of them was Shoojit Sircar’s much-awaited Gulabo Sitabo.
The star cast of the legendary Amitabh Bachchan and the dynamic Aayushman Khurana was enough reason for me to watch this movie.
So here it began, the Tale of Gulabo Sitabo. Spoiler Alert!!!
The plot goes like this, a miserly man Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan) is living in his wife’s palace, Fatima Mahal, which basically looked more like an ancient ruin but Mirza had a different fascination towards Fatima Mahal. With the looks of it, it seems like Fatima Begum doesn’t like Mirza much. He steals bulbs and sells them at cheaper rates. In fact, he’s miserly enough to cut the electricity of his tenants.
One of his tenants is Baankey Rastogi who has 3 sisters and a mother to take care of. In the owner, tenant war of theirs, several beneficiaries try to take control of the Haveli but in the end it’s Fatima Begum who runs away with her long lost lover after selling him the property for a rupee. What does she leave her husband? A chair and a 2 bhk in Lucknow.
Talking about acting both Ayushman and Mr. Bachchan have done a tremendous job. Amitabh Bachchan’s portrayal of Mirza, in particular, has been outstanding. Even the other star cast have done well. The problem here is that, despite the good acting, the storyline hasn’t been interesting enough.
Through the movie, I found it to be a little dragged which shouldn’t have been the case. You would want things to be more interesting, I mean the entire hatred towards one another was dragged for too long.
All in all, I’d give it a 3 star, a star less for the plot drag, and a star less for Fatima Begum’s role being cut too short, I would have liked to see more of it.
Star cast: Farrukh Jaffar as Fatima Begum, Amitabh Bachchan as Chunnan Mirza Nawab, Ayushmann Khurrana as Baankey Rastogi, Vijay Raaz as Gyanesh Shukla, Brijendra Kala as Christopher Clark, Srishti Shrivastava as Guddo, Nalneesh Neel as Sheikhu, Tina Bhatia as Dulahin
