Vicky Donor trailers are far more promising

A spirited Punjabi boy, who otherwise breathes fire during his every waking hour, much like his Bollywood contemporary Shruti Kakkar of “Band Baaja Baraat”, is suddenly quieted and fidgety when he agrees to step into an infertility clinic’s closed room to donate his sperm.

Those few minutes of muted screenplay is what essentially captures the awkwardness surrounding sperm donation, but barring those few minutes of natural unease, “Vicky Donor” attempts to block out realism, and instead, relies heavily on puns and PJs (poor jokes, for the uninitiated).

And, that would’ve worked perfectly, if the comical intention remained consistent throughout the film. But, when writer Juhi Chaturvedi’s screenplay loses comic steam in the second half, for a preachier, emotional drama, we are, in turn, left uncomfortable and confused.

Comedies shouldn’t attempt to turn into tear-jerkers, period.

Director Shoojit Sarcar follows the vibrant, free-spirited Vicky (Ayushmann Khurrana) through the quirky and bustling by-lanes of Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, as he lives a carefree existence, protected by his “modern” grandma (Kamlesh Gill) and boisterous, beauty-parlour owning, mom (Dolly Ahluwalia). And, although he hasn’t worked ever, Vicky blindly refuses to be sucked into his family retail business, only because it lacks respect.

Enter fertility specialist Baldev Chadda (Annu Kapoor), who chases Vicky persistently through the first half, only because he’s the illustrious, pure-blooded Aryan, and eventually bags and substantially remunerates him for helping the doc out of a financial crisis.

And in the next four years, Vicky turns from being penny-less to being affluent, with flat-screen TV and bags full of cash reaching his house.

Strangely, his sudden monetary make-over doesn’t prompt anyone to probe his means, not even his “educated Bengali” lover, Ashima (TV actor Yami Gautam), who later turns his bride. She prefers to blindly accept Vicky’s claims of being an export businessman, until one fateful event uncovers the truth.

And marriage, like what the doc rightly predicts in the film not only plays spoilsport with Vicky’s flourishing sperm donation career, but also with the film’s fun ride, shifting into a high-pitched melodrama.

While the first-half concentrates solely on sperm donation, post interval, Shoojit works hard at introducing as many issues surrounding it as he possibly could, breezing through adoption and infertility without giving us time to apply enough thought on it.

The director remains true to the Bollywood comic staple of stereotyping Bengalis as the more refined intellectuals and Punjabis as a raucous bunch of dancers and drinkers. In fact, we suspect that the jokes on “Bongs” are producer John Abraham’s indirect jab at ex-lover Bipasha Basu. 

But unlike Shoojit’s flair for comedy, his handling of romance is rather inelegant, with Yami and Ayushmann not showcasing any real on-screen chemistry, apart from a few intimate musical moments.

Ayushmann is a great find, and displays notable maturity and restraint while handling a character that could’ve turned caricaturish. However, veteran Annu Kapoor is trapped in the skin of high-pitched Chadda, disallowing him enough screen space to showcase his versatility.

Among the women, Yasmin is pretty harmless, and might I add ineffective, but the more credible performers are the matured Kamlesh and Dolly, whose drinking stupors are genuinely endearing.

The music is far less interfering in the storyline, and apart from Ayushmann’s imposing romantic ballad, it is stuck on repeat button with “Paani da” played first, in his voice, and then, in two female versions.

On the whole, this is a fairly unimposing comedy, one that doesn't tickle us enough to befit a trip to the movie theatre.

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