Zara Hatke Zara Bachke review: Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan's film is unnecessarily dramatic

She is ambitious and aspirational and he just wants her dreams to come true. A simple story indeed, but Laxman Utekar's latest film Zara Hatke Zara Bachke unnecessarily complicates a simple love story of a married couple wanting some privacy. It tries to explore the problems of modern marriages in India, where couples try to strike a balance between attending to familial duties and maintaining their privacy in marriage - but the execution of the plot is so over the top that the result is a mediocre affair.

Kapil (Vicky Kaushal) and Saumya (Sara Ali Khan) have been married for two years. In an inter-caste marriage, they and their families are poles apart. She is a teacher, earns more than her husband and is aspirational. He is a yoga instructor, calculative and puts his wife's happiness first. The couple desire privacy, which is hard to get in an overcrowded small flat filled with nosy relatives and irrational parents. And so they decide to buy their own home - a space that they can call their own.

With limited money, they are unable to afford a luxury flat in an upcoming swanky society. While Kapil is okay to wait it out, Saumya grows impatient and wants to apply under a government scheme that enables the less fortunate to own flats at affordable rates. The catch is that the scheme is applicable to those who cannot afford to own a house due to hefty loans.

On the advice of anagent Bhagwaan Das (Inaamulhaq), Kapil and Saumya stage a divorce in order for Saumya to apply and get a flat of their dreams under the scheme as a single woman with limited income.

While the two desire to be together and own a space of their own, their fake divorce creates problems in their marriage, thereby jeopardising their future together.

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Written by Utekar, Maitrey Bajpai and Ramiz Ilham Khan, the dramedy uses the usual trope of situational comedy to narrate the trials of modern-day marriages. Some scenes stand out, some lines make you laugh even but the overall narrative is sluggish and you often wonder while watching why the protagonists are so over the top with their emotions all the time.

Over the last few years, small-town stories have become a genre in itself. You will have the leads playing flawed characters who want to strive for a better life but are crippled by conventions and stereotypes. Thesefilms try to address a pertinent issue plaguing society- mostly with the help of humour. Most of these films have quirky supporting characters who stand out in some scenes with their buffoonery. Zara Hatke Zara Bachke uses the same tropes- its like watching an Ayushmann Khurrana film but without him in it.

There is a nosy aunt, who minds other's business more than her own. There is a 'cool' father-in-law who overshares too much about his life whenever he is drunk, a loser best friend who always has the couple's back, a comical conman - characters who have become staples of such films over the years. Zara Hatke Zara Bachke in that sense does not offer anything new.

The film however tries to talk of how the Indian middle class works supremely hard all their lives to build a home. From budget eating-outs to saving on petrol whenever possible, an average middle-class family has to compromise all their lives to afford a space of their own and sometimes, despite the hustle, fail to find their desired home as real estate prices across tier-two cities too shoot up each year.

The premise is well-intended, but it fails at the execution level. When you have a credible actor like Vicky Kaushal leading the show, you can be rest assured that he would do a good job. Kaushal delivers to even a half-baked story, but there are moments where the actor really can't salvage a poorly written script. A man who made a splendid debut with Masaan, and proved his mettle in films like Uri and Raazi, is wasted in a role that could have easily been played by any other actor. The script does not justify Kaushal's talent as an actor.

Sara Ali Khan, on the other hand, struggles in certain scenes. Khan plays a feisty, ambitious woman who knows how to have her way. It is an inconsistent performance by the young star. She shows spark in certain scenes but her interpretation of the character seems slightly skewed. She has played a far more complex character in Atrangi Re better than how she plays Saumya in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke.

The confrontation scenes between Kaushal and Khan are not balanced. Khan overacts in those portions while Kaushal holds his own and appears far more natural. His reactions look more organic to the situation and Khan's, very rehearsed. Quite an eyesore!

Actors like Inaamulhaq, Sushmita Mukherjee, Neeraj Sood, Rakesh Bedi, and Sharib Hashmi deliver to their parts well, but have limited screen time and are marred by a poorly written script.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke suffers due to an overtly dramatic plot- a story that would have been befitting for a good Saas-Bahu drama on the small screen. Romance, comedy, marital problems, pesky relatives, illicit affairs and a health scare that ultimately leads to redemption- it's all there with dollops of melodrama thrown in. And so, much like its title it only entertains zara zara sa, not wholly.