Toh Baat Pakki marks the return of National Award winning actress Tabassum Hashmi, popularly known as Tabu, who was last seen opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Cheeni Kum. The film also stars Sharman Joshi, fresh from the record breaking success of 3 Idiots. Apart from the talented star-cast there really wasn’t much in the trailers, to evoke any kind of interest to watch the film. Does the movie work? Read on to find out.
Toh Baat Pakki is about Rajeshwari (Tabu) who plays the role of an over-protective elder sister to Nisha (Urvika Chowdhary). Rajeshwari is on look-out for some of the most eligible bachelor’s in town, who also needs to be a Saxena (same caste). Enter Rahul (Sharman Joshi) an engineering student with a seemingly bright future and Rajeshwari tries to set him up with Nisha. Soon, the two fall in love and decide to get married.
Enter eligible bachelor No 2, Yuvraj Saxena (Vatsal Seth), with a high-salaried job and a car of his own. Rajeshwari is tempted and hatches a plan to now get Nisha married to Yuvraj. Who gets Nisha forms the rest of the tale.
What works for Toh Baat Pakki:
* The interactions between Tabu and Sharman in the first half to make ‘Baat Pakki’ is quiet hilarious.
* To watch Tabu on the big screen after 3 long years, is a treat. Her high spirited performance as the house wife, loving sister et al is just terrific.
* Sharman Joshi in a lively role is excellent. Especially when he shares screen space with Tabu.
* Toh Baat Pakki is a family entertainer and the treatment is simple and devoid of candy floss – a welcome change in the era of glitz and glamor.
What does not work for Toh Baat Pakki:
* Everything apart from the performances – the story makes no sense, the screenplay is flawed, direction is amateurish. Clearly inspired by Hrishikesh Mukherjee classics, Kedarh Shinde on debut ends up presenting a convoluted tale that is lame in its comedy.
* The pace is slow and the film is unnecessarily stretched in the second half, especially when the climax is evident 20 mins into the film. When a film is so predictable, its only the direction and those moments of brilliance that can save it – Toh Baat lacks both.
* The DDLJ inspired scenes, with the over-smart Rahul playing silly tricks to break off the wedding, doesn’t work either.
* The surplus music is a pain to sit through.
* Dialogues are lame and have no spark nor wit to extract any laughter.
Overall, with a scene or two that evokes a couple of laughs, its hard to actually figure out why Tabu decided to make her much-awaited comeback with a film like Toh Baat Pakki. Madhuri Dixit disappointed one and all with Aaja Nachle, its Tabu’s turn now.