PremiumSukhee review: Shilpa Shetty lives upto the title; leaves a smile on your face with her performance despite the periodic loopholes!
The film serves as a reminder to everyone that every housewife has got a life of her own, which, no one should take for granted!
Last Updated: 10.31 AM, Sep 22, 2023
Story:
The film revolves around Sukhpreet Gill aka Sukhee (Shilpa Shetty) and her family that consists of her extremely super ambitious husband and her ‘care-a-damn’ daughter and her grandfather. Shilpa Shetty is seen playing the role of a character named Sukhee. Hence the film’s title ‘Sukhee’. As the film progresses, it eventually serves as an eye opener to her husband and daughter.
Review:
The film starts off with Shilpa Shetty’s character Sukhee browsing through her mobile to relive the refreshing olden golden memories of her school years till the time she got married. The flashback sees the happy-go-lucky daredevil Sukhee and her three best friends viz., Mansi, Tanvi and Meher (Kusha Kapila, Dilnaz Irani, Pavleen Gujral) whose motto in life are the three ‘Bs’ (Bedhadak, Besharam, Beparwaah). As time passes by, these best friends wither away to far off places, but are connected through social media. During a casual social media browsing, Sukhee comes across an invite from Meher regarding their school reunion. This very thought of having a reunion gives birth to a rather unconventional WhatsApp group called ‘Kuttiyon Ka Reunion’. The condition for the reunion is that Sukhee needs to go to Delhi leaving behind her husband and daughter, whereas she is settled in Anandkhot, Punjab.
Sukhee’s family consists of her extremely over ambitious husband Guru Kalra (Chaitannya Choudhry), her tenth standard studying daughter and also her grandfather (Vinod Nagpal). Life comes to a standstill when the ever-supportive grandfather passes away, leaving behind a train ticket for Sukhee to go to Delhi. Considering the ticket to be grandfather’s blessings, Sukhee packs her bags and sets off for her school reunion in Delhi, much against her husband’s wishes. It is here where she not only meets her three BFFs, but also her batchmate Vikram Varma (Amit Sadh), who happens to be a multimillionaire and also her secret one-sided lover since school days! Will Sukhee be able to live these days to her fullest, will her friendship with Vikram eventually turn out to be a ‘buddy-ing romance’, does Sukhee’s husband and daughter ever realise her importance is what forms the rest of the film.
In a world that is obsessed and flooded with AI and ChatGPT, a simple and sweet film like ‘Sukhee’ definitely serves as a welcome change. Credit goes to the film’s story writer (Radhika Anand) and the screenplay writer (Paulomi Dutta). The first half of ‘Sukhee’ moves at a pace that neither becomes a yawn-fest nor does it bore the audience. It’s only the film’s second half that leaves a big ‘why’ in the minds of the audiences. In simpler words, one is left wondering the reason ‘why’ was the need to add a few situations and scenes when the film was organically going good. While Shilpa Shetty taking out her frustration by taming a wild horse seems justified, it’s the scenes like horse racing, ‘wrestling with boss’ seems thrusted and becomes difficult to swallow. There are a few other scenes which also suffer the same fate, but writing about them will only mean we are giving out the spoilers!
The premise of ‘Sukhee’ has been kept simple and the characters are well woven. In a film with such simplicity, one rarely expects to have punch lines and seeti-maar one liners. But, the one liners used in the film will surely bring a smile on your face! Do not miss the Shilpa Shetty and ‘Baazigar’ connection which will invoke you to clap when it's being played! The film’s dialogue writer Rupinder Inderjit has definitely done a good job at that. The film goes onto a roller-coaster ride of emotions in the second half.
Performances
Now... let’s talk about the film’s performances. No prizes for guessing that the film show-stopper is Shilpa Shetty, who gives an extremely restrained performance in the film. Even though there are a few CG scenes (we are not giving any spoilers here!), she does a damn good job and delivers what was expected of her. The surprise package of the film turns out to be Chaitannya Choudhry, who will shock you with his performance as Shilpa Shetty’s over-ambitious and workaholic husband. He brings in the right amount of emotions that makes you believe that he is just a common man who we see daily amongst us and not someone whose character has been created to suit the taste of cinematic liberties. The girl who plays Shilpa Shetty’s daughter also deserves a pat on her back for her performance.
As for Kusha Kapila, since she is a familiar face and a known name, she garners all the attention whenever she is present on the screen. Ditto for her performance in the film. Dilnaz Irani and Pavleen Gujral also pack in good performances. Amit Sadh does his best to do justice to his character. A special mention to the veteran actor Vinod Nagpal for delivering a performance that definitely connects with you.
Direction
As for the film’s direction, Sonal Joshi makes a promising debut with the film. As the film progresses, she makes you forget that this is her debut film! As a director, one does feel that she should have been a bit ‘strict’ with the film’s second half, which not only drags at places, but also suffers from ‘but-obvious’ scenes. Moving forward, if she continues to make films in the same manner, it won’t be long that she will find herself at par with the likes of established lady directors like Gauri Shinde, Zoya Akhtar and others.
Music:
The film’s music (Badshah, Hiten and Arko) is just about passable. Even though the songs do not have recall value, it just does not look and feel thrusted to suit the film’s narrative. It blends seamlessly with the film’s narrative. As said before, the film should have been trimmed at many places in its second half.
Verdict:
Overall, ‘Sukhee’ can be termed as a must watch for not just every woman, but also her husband, children and the rest of the family (in that order). The film serves as a mirror to the saying, ‘One should not take anyone for granted as the importance of a person is known by the want of that person’.