Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana struck the right chord in Gulabo Sitabo. Image Courtesy – The Indian Express
Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ has its world digital premiere on OTT platform from Amazon Prime Video. The film is almost in line with Kundan Shah’s ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’, Sai Paranjpe’s ‘Katha’ and the tradition of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee, where the characters keep getting kicked in spite of all the hard work.
Director Shujit Sarkar has tried his hand at the social stage this time. In the backdrop of Lucknow, he has shown some such characters, whose feelings of laughing and crying over problems come together. The story is set in the part of Lucknow where Nawabi style of living once used to be in the part and parcel in life. There are ruins now, which are being monitored by the government; tenants living there and the vulture sights of the society people are sticky on them.
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One such ruin is Fatima Mahal, whose mistress is Begum (Farrukh Jafar). She is 17 years younger than her husband Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan). Baankey Rastogi (Ayushman Khurana) is her tenant, who lives with his sister Guddu and his mother. He also has difficulty in paying the rent of 30 rupees a month. Due to this reason, Mirza and his Begum do not get along at all.
Later, the situation becomes such that Shukla, an officer of the archaeology department, threatens to capture the palace. Mirja himself is waiting for Begum’s death so that the Fatima Mahal can be named after him. A lawyer is also there to help him.
Seeing the opportunity, Baankey Rastogi also creates an alliance with Shukla and a local property dealer. All the characters clash between themselves. Everybody tries to be smarter than each other, but in the end, everyone’s cleverness is defeated. The bet is taken away by someone else.
The entire film revolves around Mirza and Baankey’s clashes. Amitabh and Ayushmann have performed their role very well. Mirza and Baankey’s bustling situation has been effectively portrayed by costume designer and prosthetic makeup artist. While the storyline of the writer Juhi Chaturvedi is strong, and the direction of Shujit Sarkar is also very good. There is also a surprise element for the audience at the end of the film.
