Yaaaaay! A good happy movie! If you want a film that is satisfyingly well-made, and has a nice happy love and kindness message, you should watch this! I was very worried, because it is the kind of film that can suddenly turn dark and angry without warning (like, Super Deluxe). But no! I can report that it stays in the zone of “the world is ultimately just and people care for each other”.

This is a 5 story film. We follow 5 male protagonists, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Bachchan, and Rohit Suresh Suraf. The nice thing is, although it is 5 male protagonists, the message isn’t patriarchal, if that makes sense. There is loads of sympathy and understanding for female characters, in fact that is the journey most of these men go on, from a starting point of “I like women” to a point of “I will set aside any small pride and male ego because I understand that this situation is so much worse for the woman”. I really REALLY did not think it was gonna end up that way. I thought it was gonna start with them all being kind of sad sack and under the thumb of women, and then fight and stand up for themselves, and finally “win” the girl. But instead, it doubles down! They start sad sack and under the thumb, and end up completely converted to “whatever it takes, ego and pride are weaknesses, love is a virtue”.

The performances of each of the male protagonists are so GOOD!!! Every time we switch to one of them I think “okay, THIS is my favorite character/performance”. And then it switches to another one and I think “no, wait, THIS is my favorite character/performance”. Oh, except for Rohit Suresh Suraf. He’s okay, but there is just no comparison with the rest of the cast. His story is also just okay. Really, when he shows up, take a bathroom break and come back for the rest of them.

Each male protagonist is paired with a woman. I mean, that’s the point, about reaching outside of your male zone and connection to someone else. ARK and Sanya Malhotra are super cute and sexy together, despite ARK playing a ventriloquist. Fatima Sana Sheikh plays a character who should be unlikable, but somehow she charms you and makes you understand her and understand why Rajkummar is so in love with her. Pearle Maaney with Rohit Suresh Suraf is…fine. Slightly better than him, but it’s still the weakest storyline. Inayat Verma with Abhishek is totally unfairly charming, because she’s a tiny little girl and tiny little girls are irresistible. And I won’t tell you who ends up with Pankaj, because you deserve to be surprised like I was.

That’s another thing about this movie! It is both surprising and unsurprising. You sort of generally can see the journey the characters will go on, there is an inevitable ending set up. But the way you get there is not at ALL what you would think! All the little characters around the central characters keep doing things you don’t think they are going to do. So you can relax and know that the ending you want will generally be what happens. But you can also sit on the edge of your seat and have no idea how we will get there.

Really, I cannot recommend it enough! Just, such an enjoyable experience watching this film!