Bad Newz Is  Buoyant Bubbly  Bouncy & Fun While  It Lasts

Katrina  Kaif makes  a guest appearance  in this  crazily  evanescent comedy.But don’t get excited. She is just a poster on the wall , and a dial-a-direct-reference  gimmick  for Vicky Kaushal  who is  clearly the star attraction here. Again,  don’t get excited, unless you relish the  thought  of  Kaushal  doing a Govinda on  speed.

Directed  by Anand Tiwari(who in  the past has done the well-received  series  Bandish Bandits) the ‘romp’-com has those  joyful Karan Johar vibes stamped  in every frame.It is idyllic to the eye and  serves as  fastfood , ingested off paper plates,  digestible for those who are into sprightly  storytelling  about  badly behaved  people who have never been told the difference  being demanding and  annoying.

So we have Saloni Bagga(Tripti Dimri, fresh off the  marquee after her blockbuster cameo  in Animal) making the  best of  her role  as a   chef who vents  her frustrations on  her husband Akhil Chaddha (Vicky Kaushal)  when things don’t  work out  at her work place.She  also has issues  with  her husband’s repressed Oedipal complex(you can look that  up while looking  up heteropaternal superfecundation),  raging hormones and  goofy Punjabi antics.

Vicky Kaushal does a  decent imitation of  Ranveer Singh’s over-the-top Punjabi boy  from Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. But half the time, Kaushal seems  to be rehearsing for Comedy Circus  with his exaggerated expression and dance moves, rather than staying in  character. Nonetheless Vicky Kaushal comes up with a crowdwooing performance . Those who  liked him in last year’s  Zara Hatke Zara Backhe  will  find his antics in this one entertaining.He  even  has a marital moment  with  a Katrina  Kaif poster on the wall. And when someone tells him  not to behave like Vicky Kaushal he  retorts,  “Now   you’re getting  personal.”

As  far as retorts go, Bad Newz is no Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. But it makes you giggle.Half an hour into the  film and Amy Virk shows up  Saloni’s  turbaned suitor. One night Saloni  gets drunk  and  has sex with both the men. She is then pregnant  with  twins ,one each from the two men.Sati Savitri ?

I  kid you not: all this actually happens in Bad Newz. This has got to be  the zaniest anything-goes  comedy  on this side of Jaane  Bhi Do Yaaro. The  actors are fully into  the  feisty mood. Characters pop in and pop out at their will. My favourites are the  wacked out detective Uncle Sukhi and the chap who insists  on  wooing Saloni with Karan Johar’s  music  playing in the  background, even though she treats  him like trash.

Speaking of  music, the background has some  interesting things  happening.Mere Mehboob mere sanam from the  film Duplicate  plays from  first to last. It is  a bit irksome  to begin with, but kind of  grows on us.

Just like the  film. The writers(Ishita Moitra and Tarun Dudeja) seem to have had fun with the characters and their  horse play(speaking  of which, in his introductory song Kaushal  moves  like  a horse) .The mood of  fun is infectious. While  all in the team let their hair down, we the audience never feel let down by the  ongoing mood of  jollification.This  is party you may not  want to attend. But you are certainly  not going to complain about the disturbance of peace.

The good  news is that Bad Newz is  a whole lot of fun, provided  you aren’t into asking too many questions  about what’s happening, or  why . To take one example—I promise after this I won’t ask any more questions—why is Neha  Dhupia hanging around with the rest of the cast like  a lucky charm?

Charm, this  lightweight  romcom with a  heavy  theme– heteropaternal superfecundation, no less—certainly has. It i  hard to not fall for the obvious charms of  Bad Newz.  It is  a goodlooking film  with no  pretensions  of  saying anything serious or important.

As  a  timepass entertainer Bad Newz ticks  all  the  boxes.