Badhaai Ho

About the film

Badhaai Ho (transl. Congratulations; Hindi pronunciation: [bədʱaːi ɦoː]) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Sharma, Aleya Sen and Hemant Bhandari under Chrome Pictures and Vineet Jain under Junglee Pictures. It stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Neena Gupta with Gajraj Rao, Surekha Sikri, Shardul Rana and Sanya Malhotra in supporting roles. The film tells the story of a middle-aged couple who get pregnant, much to the disappointment of their sons. Based on a script written by Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial and a story conceived by Jyoti Kapoor.

Badhaai Ho received positive reviews and was a commercial success. With earnings of over ₹221.44 crore (US$23 million) against a budget of ₹29 crore (US$3.0 million), it emerged as the ninth-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2018. The film won four awards at the 64th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actress (Critics) for Gupta, Best Supporting Actress for Sikri, and Best Supporting Actor for Rao. It also won two National Film Awards: Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, the first time where two films featuring the same lead actor (Khurrana) has won both Best Film awards at the National Awards as Andhadhun won Best Film, and Best Supporting Actress for Sikri.

Plot

Nakul Kaushik is a youngster and is in a stable relationship with his colleague, Renee. Her mother Sangeeta likes him and approves of their relationship. His father Jeetender 'Jeetu' Kaushik, is a middle-aged man working in the Railways. His mother Priyamvada is a typical housewife. His younger brother Gullar is a high school student. His grandmother Durga always quarrels with Priyamvada and dominates over her son Jeetu. One day, she taunts Priyamvada, who gets upset. Jeetu consoles his wife and they get intimate.

19 weeks later, Priyamvada realizes she is pregnant. She finds it sinful to abort the child. Jeetu announces Priyamvada's third pregnancy to the family. The two sons are embarrassed and start to avoid their parents, friends, and society. Durga is shocked and upset as well.

The news becomes viral and they are made fun of by family, friends, relatives, and society. Nakul begins to avoid Renee. Embarrassed, Nakul and Gullar refuse to attend their cousin's wedding in Meerut. This angers Jeetu and upsets Priyamvada. They leave for the wedding with Durga. Meanwhile, Nakul is unable to get intimate with Renee as Priyamvada's pregnancy plays on his mind. Renee tries to help him deal with this. After a party at Renee's residence, her mom Sangeeta learns of Priyamvada's pregnancy and speaks ill of the Kaushik family. Nakul overhears this, and responds curtly, defending his mother and family. This leads to a rift in his relationship but makes him realize that he has mistreated his parents.

Production

The film was shot in two schedules. Principal photography began on 29 January 2018 and the first schedule, in Mumbai, wrapped on 11 February. The second schedule began on 16 February 2018 in Delhi around Street No1, Darya Ganj Ansari Road and ended on 21 March 2018.

Reception

Badhaai Ho had a positive first day, earning ₹7.35 crore at the box office, as reported by Boxofficeindia.com. The movie collected ₹56.85 crore in 6 days and went on to collect ₹135.95 crore at the Indian Box Office by the 7th week of its release. Its eventual worldwide gross was ₹221.48 crore.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.

Remakes

The film is set to be remade in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam by Boney Kapoor. The Tamil remake was titled Veetla Vishesham. The film is set to be remade in Indonesian by Falcon Pictures titled Keluarga Slamet with Dessy Ratnasari, Indro Warkop and Widyawati in important roles.

Soundtrack

The songs are composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Rochak Kohli, JAM8 and Sunny Bawra-Inder Bawra. The lyrics are written by Vayu, Kumaar and MellowD. The song ''Morni Banke'' was originally composed by Punjabi MC.

Sequel

Junglee Pictures announced in March 2020 that Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar will star in the official spiritual sequel of Badhaai Ho, titled Badhaai Do. Initially set to go on floors in June 2020, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Principal photography finally commenced on 5 January 2021 in Dehradun, as announced by Rao & Pednekar on their social media accounts.

Key details