Badhaai Ho
- Director
- Amit Ravindrenath Sharma
- Studio
- Junglee Pictures
- Release Date
- 17 October 2018
- Running Time
- 123 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹29.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹221.44 Cr
Review
Harshavardhan Kulkarno's debut feature tackles a genuinely bold subject—parental sexuality and late-life pregnancy—with surprising sensitivity and humor. Rather than treating the premise as mere fodder for crude comedy, the film earns its laughs from the authentic awkwardness of the situation, rooted firmly in how conservative Indian families grapple with the unconventional. Ayushmann Khurrana and Neena Gupta are the film's backbone; their chemistry feels lived-in and tender, while Khurrana's younger self gradually peels back layers of misplaced shame to reveal genuine character growth. The supporting cast, particularly Gajraj Rao as the pragmatic father, grounds the narrative in realism rather than caricature.
What makes Badhaai Ho work is its refusal to punch down at its characters or their social circumstances. The film acknowledges societal judgment without endorsing it, and more importantly, it trusts its audience to laugh with the family rather than at them. The writing avoids easy sentimentality in the third act—Nakul's arc toward acceptance feels earned because the film has taken time to show his genuine internal conflict. If there's a weakness, it's that the Renee subplot occasionally feels tangential, and some supporting characters remain underdeveloped, but these are minor quibbles in a film that succeeds in being both commercially entertaining and thematically substantive.
Rating: 7/10
Storyline
So basically, this guy Nakul has a pretty solid life going on with his girlfriend Renee, whose mom actually likes him. His parents seem like your typical middle-aged couple, his dad works for the railways and his mom's a homemaker, plus there's his younger brother and his grandmother who's kind of a troublemaker. One day his parents get a bit too close after his grandma says something mean, and boom—his mom ends up pregnant. Yeah, at their age! She decides to have the baby, but when the family finds out, it becomes this whole dramatic thing where everyone's gossiping about them.
The embarrassment spreads like wildfire through their neighborhood and social circle, and honestly, his two sons lose it. Nakul starts acting weird around Renee and both brothers are so ashamed they don't even want to show their faces at family events. The parents end up going to a wedding without them, which obviously causes some serious tension. Meanwhile, Nakul's having his own issues—he can't even be intimate with Renee because his mind keeps going back to the situation at home, and she's trying her best to support him through it.
Things come to a head when Renee's mom starts bad-mouthing his entire family at a party, not even knowing the full story. Nakul overhears it and stands up for his parents and family, which kind of causes problems between him and Renee. But it's like a wake-up call for him—he realizes he's been a total jerk to the people who actually matter most and how much he's let them down.
