Vicky Donor

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 20th April, 2012
Time : 122 minutes
Director : Shoojit Sircar; Writer : Juhi Chaturvedi; Music : Abhishek - Akshay
Starring : Ayushmann Khurrana, Yami Gautam, Annu Kapoor, Dolly Ahluwalia, Kamlesh Gill

A laugh a minute first half and a good, pacy, though slightly senti second, work well and ensure mobile phones & side chit chat are forgotten while watching the film.

The true beauty, though, lies in the unusual vocation of its hero, Ayushmann Khurrana, who is a sperm donor and the excellent characters & locations etched around him including,

Dolly : his widowed mother who runs a beauty parlour to support her good for nothing son and sarcastic mother-in-law
Kamlesh : the whiskey swilling grandmom, who dotes on her grandson and is amazingly progressive in her outlook and intake
Yami : yummy bank manager who ends up falling for our hero and the subsequent sparks, inevitable in a union between a Punjabi boy and Bong girl.
Annu Kapoor : the infertility clinic specialist who needs some high quality sperm donors to save himself from bankruptcy and has his heart set on our hero.

The best jokes come from the mother and the grandmom, none more so than during their bonding sessions over drinks late at night. The reaction to the union & the nupitals of our unlikely lead pair also provide great moments of hilarity. And our sperm obsessed doctor, who as it turns out, has a heart of gold, is integral through our film.

The fresh faces really work for the film, make it interesting and engaging, with none of the actors coming with any baggage or preconceived stereotypes. Yami is great in the first half, alluring, mysterious, playing the part of the enigmatic Bengali brilliantly. Annu gives his role a real jolly crack. Ayushmann is very good as the no-nonsense Punjabi boy. And no praise can be high enough for Dolly and Kamlesh.

The soundtrack, thankfully all in the background, lends zip to the film. The ethos of Delhi, its innate crudeness, language, show-off nature and locales are well captured. Whether its by showing the good doctor constantly eating at a chat wallah or Ayushman’s relationship with his terrace neighbor or the private detective handing over his food bills prior to sharing any information or even the assistant doctor at the clinic, who seems to be a fertility specialist on his own…its all excellently done

I like the courage shown by the makers in going for an unusual topic, fresh faces. I like that the marketing of the film stayed focused on its core topic and didn’t deviate too much. I love that the film also stays more or less on course in its entirety on its theme, deviating just slightly in the second half to other topics. It’s a refreshing film, funny, engaging and enjoyable.

PS : liberally laced with Punjabi dialogue, if you’re not comfortable with the language, better to take a translator along…