Bala Movie Review: The Ayushmann Khuranna- Bhumi Pednekar Starrer Hits The Right Note, With A Generous Dose Of Humour!

Looks like 2019 belongs to Ayushmann Khurrana . The actor began the year with the nuanced performance in Article 15 , a hit with Dream Girl (even though I had my own reservations about the film, there is no denial that it became a major money churner of the year) and is now hitting the ball off the park, once again with Bala . Ayushmann Khurrana has earned a credibility for himself, as has Bhumi Pednekar and looks like the two have created magic once again. Forgive me for focusing just on this man, but after a not quite good experience with Dream Girl, I had very minimum expectations from Bala; but this one surprised me and how.

From the trailer, it might look like Bala tries to bring into focus two problems- that of premature balding and of darker skin colour. But all in all, it merges into how we look differently at people who do not conform to the society’s idea of beauty and how those who conform (or even those who don’t) leave no stones unturned to mock others and laugh at them. But what if you suddenly fall on the other side?

Director Amar Kaushik, who had earlier wowed us with Stree , does a brilliant job in Bala. This film is even better and the storytelling is just perfect! He quite swiftly gets the message across through the journey and evolution of the titular character. This film is not preachy, but has tackled a basic yet important issue with nuance and without going all over with it. It was so great to see a film that does to go overtly filmy and looks way too real, and managing to ticckle us all the while as well!

Yes, the film belongs to Ayushmann Khuranna. He is the perfect casting choice and I don’t know who would have pulled the character of Bala better than him. He gets everything right, from accent to dialogue delivery to the angst the character goes through, he gets into the skin of Bala. So does Bhumi Pednekar. She plays a character, Latika, who faces scorn because of her dark skin colour, but comes to term with it and is happy with how she is. She is no ordinary woman, she plays a lawyer and is shown as the most qualified and intelligent person in the whole film. Yes, when she makes her appearance for the first time on screen, it does strike us a little, but she plays the character with such conviction that we can forgive, or at least try to forgive the shortcoming in the casting. Yami Gautam plays a  Tik Tok star, who understands that her power lies in her beauty and gives the utmost importance to that! Right from Seema Pahwa to Saurav Shukla to Abhishek Banerjee to Javed Jaffery, the supporting cast is strong as well. But kudos to Dheerendra Gautam, who plays Bala’s younger brother for stealing the show, even with limited screen time. And just as brilliant is Sachin Chaudhary, who plays the young Bala in the film.

The dialogues are also killer. They evoke laughter or would make you teary-eyed, but the film packs the powerful punch all thanks to the dialogues that support the strong performances and the good direction. This is overall a very well made film that deserves to be watched, and re-watched on screen! Just go for this one guys!