When I had first watched Triptii Dimri acting in Bulbbul, I felt it was one of the best female centric characters ever portrayed (after perhaps Kangana Ranaut in ‘Queen’). Dimri’s acting in Bulbbul, most through her expressive eyes as her personality changed into a saviour of women, was captivating. I felt it was at par with Alia Bhatt’s iconic role as Gangubai. Then came her film Qala - and it convinced me that Dimri indeed belonged to a genre of actors who made art of acting look effortless! Very similar to what Vicky Kaushal has proved in most of his roles - whether it was Raazi or Masan or Sam Bahafur or in Uri.
But then come films like Bad Newz - with all the efforts and promising actors - yet fails to live up to its potential!
The story plot is not bad and makes you repeatedly question how a modern woman’s ambition is still treated as ‘small’ - in comparison to her family pressure to marry and have children- in other terms ‘settle’.
But what escapes me is why the desperation to make this film into an unnecessary romantic comedy. The plot is inspired by a true story of a case of heteropaternal superfecundation - where an unknown 19-year old gave birth to twins, and discovered one was fathered by another man, when a DNA test was taken. In 2022, the twins turned 16.
There are scenes in the film which are genuinely funny, but a lot of it is trivialisation of issues or emotions and situations including inconsistency- which is not expected from an amazing and matured film director like Karan Johar.
The music is average too, while acting wise this clearly has been Dimri’s worst. Kaushal’s swag remains the only saving grace while even Ammy Virk fails to make a mark. The film is a cringe-fest from the beginning to end, ironically living up to its title - ‘Bad Newz’.
