heyy babyy

I pretty much detest Sajid Khan. He's very irritating, thinks he's very funny and goes on and on talking utter rubbish. I had to interview him in Mumbai, thankfully over the phone, to get him to write a one-off column for Simply Mumbai. First he went on the personal question train such as 'are you married?' Then, he insisted that when I said my name it sounded like Deepika and not Geetika, which convinced him that I had a lisp (yeah right don't ask). 'Doesn't your husband tell you that you have a lisp?'
By now I could have slapped him.
Yet, keeping all prejudice aside, I went to see his film Heyy Babyy and I have to say that despite all the cliches, he has done a good job. I think what he got right immediately was the casting. Akshay Kumar is on a roll and humour is now his cultivated forte. Riteish and Fardeen (back with a bang on screen after Just Married which I have not and don't want to see) were both strong second actors and Fardeen's take on Chupke Chupke's Parimal Tripathi (I know some of the dialogues of the original movie by heart) was hilarious.
I think I identified very strongly with the first half of the movie and all the diaper and Cerelac and baby powder scenes, having had a baby just last year. We weren't that bad but I have to admit that my husband and I didn't know how to fasten the diaper the first time we tried (it just seemed so complicated) and we landed up trashing the diaper into the bin and putting her back into a nappy. So those of you who haven't had first hand expereince with a new born and think those scenes were exaggerated, please do a rethink.
The scene with the baby drowning in water, ensconced in its bassinet, was heart wrenching, and gave the movie its emotional thread. The songs were good, the movie was fast paced and there was no dhishoom dhishoom villain (what a welcome relief). 'Circumstances' were the evil doers here. Boman Irani was brilliant as usual, and while this mean streak doesn't quite become Vidya Balan, she glittered in her chiffons and diamonds in the flashback scenes, enough to absolve her of the sullen look she sports in the rest of the movie.
But Akshay stole the scenes. Like good wine, he's getting better with age. Maybe Sajid is too.