Trial Period review: Genelia Deshmukh and Manav Kaul's slice-of-life relies only on predictability and offers nothing new

2/5

Anamaya (Genelia Deshmukh) feels empathetic towards Romi and realises how much he misses his father. On the other hand, she is taken aback when Romi (Zidane Braz) requests to try out a new father for one month. Will Anamaya be able to comply with his son's peculiar request?

It's been almost 25 years since Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was released. The film shows young Anjali (Sana Saeed) crying while delivering a speech about Maa and her father (Shah Rukh Khan) giving a heartbreaking extempore speech, which brings depth to the film at the beginning itself. After 25 years, we are stuck in the 1990s to show the loss of parents via a school speech.

Trial Period begins with the exact same trope, but it's the bullies who put Romi (Zidane Braz) in a spot by asking him to talk about his father (his parents are divorced), leaving him teary-eyed. This leads to him seeking a father, but on a trial basis. Why a trial period? The reason is that Shakti Kapoor has an obsession with buying stuff from telemarketing ads, whether he needs it or not. This ingrains in Romi's mind that even fathers can be bought on a trial basis.

Amid all this chaos is a single mother, Ana, played by Genelia Deshmukh, who has to give in after a no-no on hearing her son's demand. After reluctance, Ana starts meeting guys on a Tinder or Shaadi.com setup and leaves them shocked with her demand of only finding a father for her son and not a partner for herself.

Then enters a simpleton named PD, played by Manav Kaul, who wants to make it big in Delhi, coming from a small town. He seeks a job from his uncle, who owns a hiring agency but fails to get one immediately. However, he ends up being the father for a trial period, and the predictability of the film continues.

Trial Period has nothing new to offer, yet the light narrative might keep you engaged despite knowing how it's all going to end. The film talks about a child's desire to have a father, but eventually, it ends up being a story about two couples with different schools of thought. I put a pause on the film towards the last 10 minutes and hoped that it would not have the ending I knew it would, and yes, I was disappointed.

But there are some endearing moments that are well captured, explaining how a father figure is equally important in a child's life. There's also a scene where Ana tells PD how it's so hard for her to keep up as a single mother, and she cannot shed a tear while maintaining a work-life balance.

In one of the scenes, Ana gives an earful to her son Romi for hitting his classmate and saying, "Har Har Mahadev." The scene has been put in place to show that a simpleton might not have a "good" effect on a kid while being in a civilised society. However, the next sequence brings up redemption, and, oh, we are good.

The film's director, Aleya Sen, has borrowed from Shiv Singh's screenplay. The film brings borderline sexual energy between the leads but still maintains that this film is not about the adults but their story about a child. The climax scene is about a typical ending involving a school and children.

All this predictability brings a slight sense of boredom to the story, which otherwise doesn't have a wow factor anyway.

In her performances, Genelia Deshmukh has brought a slight maturity to her acting, which is delightful to watch. I have not seen Ved, so this is the first time I have watched her in something new in many years.

We have seen better of Manav Kaul, and maybe this was like in-between any new and better projects coming up. The actor nails it as a simpleton, but it's not good enough.

Trial Period is a breezy watch, and you cannot expect anything more from this predictable narrative.

Aleya Sen directs a smooth and easygoing viewing experience, sticking to a familiar narrative that keeps things uncomplicated.