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‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ movie review: Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan perk up this middling family drama

Writer-director laxman utekar captures the young urban couples’ urge to go nuclear in this comedy of errors that is not entirely logical and original, but still quite watchable.

Published - June 02, 2023 01:07 pm IST

A still from ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’

Riding on the goodwill   generated by  Mimi (2021) , director Laxman Utekar once again showcases his knack for impregnating a social issue with dollops of comedy and drama. Here he explores the desire of young middle-class couples to break away from joint families to have their own home, and how far they could go to have an exclusive roof over their heads in a light-hearted fashion.

Yoga teacher Kapil Dubey ( Vicky Kaushal ) and chemistry professor Saumya Chawla’s ( Sara Ali Khan ) love marriage hits a roadblock when their nosy uncle and aunt shift to Kapil’s family home. As they could smell egg in an anniversary cake and Punjabi flair in Soumya’s demeanour, the young couple starts looking for a space outside the mohalla. With a flat proving out of budget, they decide to apply for a government scheme but to fulfil its conditions, a corrupt official — ingeniously called Bhagwan Das (Inaamulhaq) — advises them to divorce each other. It spirals into a comedy of errors that might not be entirely logical and original, but captures the churn in urban families and society.

Sara and Vicky’s equation has the flavour of middle-class family dramas that once featured Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab, and Farooque Sheikh and Deepti Naval. While Vicky is charming as the boy who believes in cutting corners to fuel the future, Sara is believable as the girl who wants more from her life. As the two inform each other’s behaviour, we see an interesting evolution of their bond over two hours. Perked by plausible writing, Vicky doesn’t mind exposing Kapil minus the charm and Sara shows there is more to Soumya than just chiffon and georgette saris.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke

Such films demand a couple of hummable songs but while the score composed by Sachin Jigar is not bad, it is the timeless R.D. Burman number “Dekho Maine Dekha Hai Yeh Ek Sapna” that becomes the leitmotif of the love story.

Much like the title, this cut-paste approach that is made to sound like an inspiration reflects in the storyline as well, and reminds one of Irrfan-starrer  Hindi Medium  where the urge of fitting into a government scheme turns awry. In fact, Sharib Hashmi’s character of a guard and its role in driving the screenplay is distinctly similar to that of Deepak Dobriyal in the Saket Chaudhary film where, interestingly, Utekar was the cinematographer.

The support cast is impressive. It is good to see Akash Khurana playing a middle-class father after being typecast as a political bigwig and business honcho, but the one who steals the show is Kanupriya Pandit as the conniving yet cute Deepa Mami, ever ready to bring in caste and social status in a family conversation. Not to forget good old Rakesh Bedi as the father-in-law who imparts crucial life lessons after a few pegs.

Yes, there are passages where the lead players overdo their organic and inorganic chemistry. Sara is improving with each outing but she needs to channelise her nervous energy in a way that doesn’t feel theatrical, particularly when you have a natural performer like Vicky or Dhanush ( Atrangi Re ) in the same frame. After a point situations and props start becoming repetitive, but like Kapil would tell his yoga students, the film rediscovers its “Chi” before it’s too late.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is currently running in theatres

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke

Critics reviews, audience reviews, cast & crew.

Laxman Utekar

Sara Ali Khan

Somya Chawla Dubey

Vicky Kaushal

Kapil "Kappu" Dubey

Bhagwan Das

Meghna Agarwal

Rashmi yadav

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• Record at THE STUDIO by Rolling Stone India at Creatorland Mumbai

‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ Review: It’s Time Sara Ali Khan Learnt a Bit of Acting

Starring Vicky Kaushal and directed by Laxman Utekar (‘Mimi’), the Bollywood film is a bore that leaves you feeling cheated and irritated

Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan in a still from 'Zara Hatke Zara Bachke.' Photo: Maddock Films

• Zara Hatke Zara Bachke

Cast : Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan, Inaamulhaq, Rakesh Bedi, Sharib Hashmi, Srishti Rindani, Neeraj Sood, 

Direction : Laxman Utekar

Rating : *1/2

Playing in theaters

Different films evoke different reactions and feelings. But only some very special ones elicit deeply depressing, existential questions about why Bollywood exists and why it keeps wasting everyone’s time, effort, money as well as precious  bijli  and  paani  by making films that serve no purpose other than to keep some stars employed.

Writer-director Laxman Utekar’s  Zara Hatke Zara Bachke  (ZHZB) is that sort of film — the kind that thinks it’s a comedy, but is really a  bhayankar  bore that leaves you feeling cheated and irritated.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’s  story is directly inspired by director Bhim Sain’s 1977 film,  Gharonda . Except that in ZHZB , it’s a young, newly-married couple trying to buy a house in Indore.

Kapil Dubey ( Vicky Kaushal ) and Somya Chawla Dubey (Sara Ali Khan) are much in love, but after their marriage they feel cramped in his parents’ house, where Kapil’s Mama and Mami also live. They have no privacy to make out. So, on her goading, they decide to book a fancy flat. But he’s a yoga teacher, she teaches at a coaching center and they can’t afford to pay for a flat plus the attached extra cost for parking, gym, club etc. 

Naturally, they stumble upon another plan — a  sarkari  Awas Yojna scheme. But to be eligible for that, Kapil can’t have any  pucca  house that he is to inherit. Somya can be eligible, provided she is single and has no house. 

This is the set-up and what follows is a convoluted plan to own a house. It involves a very loud lawyer, lots of lying, a rented apartment, family drama, a fake affair, a needlessly nosy building guard and a lesson about haves and have-nots.  

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke  has a nice ensemble cast of actors. All except one are quite good. 

The film also looks good because it keeps showing us Indore’s Insta spots and delicious street food. And the issue it takes up is cute and relatable. But the film’s three writers — Maitrey Bajpai, Ramiz Ilham Khan and Laxman Utekar — don’t know where to take their story. So at the end, they settle for a dull, moralistic, melodramatic copout. Without the film’s climax, ZHZB ’s 132 minutes felt like a waste of time, but with it, the film was so enraging that I wanted to go to the ticket counter to demand my money back. 

ZHZB  has several problems, but let’s begin with the film’s title. The film is so tone-deaf to its own stupidity that it doesn’t even try to make its title fit the film’s story.  Zara Hatke Zara Bachke  — stolen from a Johnny Walker song in Raj Khosla’s 1956 hit film,  CID  — is like a cute pigeon head plonked on a donkey’s body. Wholly inappropriate and baffling.

The second problem is the film’s direction. Though Laxman Utekar has directed forgettable films with strong  desi  morals in the past (including Kriti Sanon’s  Mimi ), none was so off-key. 

Here Utekar’s direction is beset with two major blind spots. He can’t see that his comedy has no comic timing, nor does he see that his leading lady can’t act.

ZHZB  seems to think that its comedic quotient is directly linked to how loud its actors can be. So actors are made to shout and overact, at times in unison.

The film has one joke that it repeats over and over despite the fact that the joke fell flat and died the first time it was attempted. 

In fact, the film’s screenplay and direction are so inept that  ZHZB  often doesn’t know what to do at the end of a scene, so it cuts to a glass aquarium and makes us watch a plastic, mechanical fisherman move his fish basket up and down, over and over. Whoever okayed this and thought it was funny should be made to stand in an aquarium and move a fish basket up and down for the rest of their life.

ZHZB  irritated   me immensely because in the film’s initial bits where Kapil is foregrounded, the film does have a decent comic rhythm going. That’s mostly because, a) Vicky Kaushal can act, and b) his character has a personality and a trait that has comic potential. Kapil is a penny-pincher,  maha-kanjoos  who can’t help but save money, including not leaving tips at restaurants.

Sadly, Kapil is madly in love with Somya. And this means that all of Vicky Kaushal’s attempts at making the film entertaining are thwarted by Sara Ali Khan’s terrible attempts at acting.

Sara Ali Khan has glowing skin and is very attractive, but she is unable to keep pace with Kaushal’s comic timing or match his acting. 

Her Somya is just a chatterbox whose one and only personality trait is that she keeps correcting Kapil about her full name — Somya ‘Chawla’ Dubey — as if plating this feminist flag will make up for the absence of acting ability and a properly written character.

Sara’s Somya wears printed georgette-chiffon sarees with mismatched blouses that have round, oblong holes and dangling strings to convey that she is a creature of small town India. But nothing about Sara Ali Khan is a small town. 

The fakery is too obvious and pronounced when she speaks in her terribly accented Punjabi, and even her  nakhras  and  jhatkas  are performed in that carefully choreographed Bollywood-diva-in-the-making style. 

There really was no reason for  Zara Hatke Zara Bachke  to exist except, perhaps, to give Sara Ali Khan reason to keep arriving at and departing from Mumbai airport. The Insta reels that those momentous occasions yield are way more entertaining than this annoying film.

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• Vicky Kaushal

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie review: Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan film fails to build on its comic potential

Zara hatke zara bachke movie review: the film is a tonal switch in its second-half, introducing a plot twist doused in mothballed sentimentality, and adding a dreary sanskari layer to the whole thing..

How far will you go for a house of your own? And at what point will you draw the line? Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’s central conflict is one that makes it instantly relatable to millions of middle-class Indians. When it comes right down to it, young Indore-based couple Kapil ( Vicky Kaushal ) and Soumya (Sara Ali Khan) have some tough calls to take: will they be able to go through with it?

In the way it gets going, Zara Hatke is pure sitcom territory. Kapil is a yoga instructor, Soumya is a tutor; their two-year-old marriage still has spark. Both are constricted for space in their house, with mummyji, daddyji, mamaji, mamiji, and a too smart for his own good nephew, who is constantly inserting himself in between the young couple when they want to get cosy. The only way out, as Soumya sees it, is an abode in which they can enjoy their privacy, and to which end, the two embark on a path on which there are several roadblocks, including (spoiler alert) a fake divorce.

You’re all set for a light-hearted yarn, as Kapil and Soumya chomp on greasy roadside noodles, split a fizzy soda (she calls him a ‘cheepda’ because he insists on getting only one, never two) and share a five star bar (ooh, more branding) together, while breaking into a couple of forgettable songs. A government housing scheme meant for lower income groups comes up on their radar, and both agree to do questionable things, in the hope of lucking out.

But the film never quite builds on its comic potential, by throwing a tonal switch somewhere down in its second-half, introducing a plot twist doused in mothballed sentimentality, and adding a dreary sanskari layer to the whole thing. That, and by consistently flat writing, which overcomes the efforts of the actors, especially Himanshu Kohli’s paan-chewing lawyer (the funniest part of the film) who tries his best to help the hapless couple, Inaamulhaq as the charlatan-liar who gobbles money from the innocent public, and Sharib Hashmi as the good-natured chowkidar who, we all know, will be granted his biggest wish; no prizes for guessing what that is.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie trailer:

As for Kaushal and Khan, the former does better at his ‘kanjoos’ self (representing people who deduct portions from their ‘aaj’ to save for their ‘kal’); the latter needs to build in significantly more variation in delivery. And while the two are made to say sorry to each other for having nearly ruined their relationship over this obsession for a house, the film makes it very clear that it is the woman who is more to blame than the poor man, who keeps trying to keep peace between his ‘selfish’ wife, and his affectionate family for whom blood will always be thicker than Thums Up.

What else can you say for a film which revolves around keeping both a marriage, and morals, intact?

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie cast: Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan, Himanshu Kohli, Neeraj Sood, Inamamulhaq, Sharib Hashmi, Rakesh Bedi, Sushmita Mukherjee Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie director: Laxman Utekar Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie rating: 2 star

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Movie Review: Sara Ali Khan, Vicky Kaushal's chemistry is the USP of the film

Zara hatke zara bachke is definitely a must-watch for its funny punchlines and comic timings. vicky kaushal and sara ali khan's chemistry is off the charts in the film. here's our review.

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• Sara Ali Khan and Vicky Kaushal star together in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke.
• The film released in theatres on June 2.
• It is directed by Laxman Utekar.

Release Date: 2 Jun, 2023

After Mimi and Luka Chuppi, director Laxman Utekar seems to have continued his entertainment streak with Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. Starring Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan, the film is about a couple who want a house of their own to stay away from their family. They get a divorce to use the Indian Government's flagship program Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to get a flat. The film releases in theatres today, June 2.

ZHZB is a complete family entertainer that will leave you with bouts of laughter in almost every scene. The film portrays the most ordinary aspects of life in an extraordinary manner. However, it stretches towards the end that could be deemed boring.

Set in the small town of Indore, the storyline of Zara Hatke Zara Bachke follows two college lovers, Kapil (played by Vicky Kaushal) and Saumya (played by Sara Ali Khan) who are madly in love with each other. After marriage, they stay with Kapil's family and are often interrupted by relatives whilst they struggle to romance or even have a privacy of their own. His mama's son sleeps in between the two. The mami is your typical villain of the family who nags Saumya every chance she gets, and they have no space to themselves in the small house. To get away from their family, Kapil and Saumya try to get a flat through the Indian government's flagship program, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). However, in order to be eligible for that, they have to get a divorce. What follows later is a comedy of errors.

Sounds like old wine in a new bottle, doesn't it? However, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is an honest effort, beautifully executed. It explores family values and relationships as Kapil and Saumya realise what they have lost while trying to break free from their families. (Minor spoiler alert ahead) While the film drags in the latter half, the climax is heartwarming that will change the whole storyline this film was based on.

ZHZB brings out the complexities of a middle-class family with grace and elegance. Kapil bargains with vendors and buys just one Thumbs Up for him and Saumya to share to save money. He gives Rs 1 tip and loads of free soft drinks. In the latter half, he says that he buys vegetables for Rs 17 instead of Rs 20, and bargains a lot because he has been saving money to spend on his wife. He wishes to treat her to a 5-star restaurant and even agrees to get a divorce for her happiness. Quite a few parts of this simple story convey relationships and their dynamics. ZHZB is a regular middle-class story that feels all too relatable.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is littered with comic moments that will crack you up. Things take a bizarre turn every moment. Kapil’s mami (Kanupriya Pandit) takes a jab at her Punjabi daughter-in-law for feeding them cake which had eggs. Kapil is a happy-go-lucky man who wears a fake tooth to secretly meet his wife. Saumya fake fights with him to convince the family they are divorced. In a scene after their divorce, the two are almost caught when a government official comes to inspect Saumya's home and makes sure she is indeed separated from her husband. Interestingly, Kapil is with her at the time and has to act like a plumber, which is hilarious. There is also a love triangle shown that makes it an even more crazy ride.

While the first half is rib-tickling, the film dips after the interval. The entertainment quotient feels exhausting and leaves us bored at times. The storyline also seems dragged in the latter half. It adds unnecessary drama when Kapil and Saumya have to act like brother and sister or when Deepa mami suffers from a deadly disease. This just seemed forced in the storyline because the writers had nothing else to add. The ending doesn't impress us like we had expected.

Director Laxman Utekar has worked as a cinematographer in hit films like English Vinglish, Dear Zindagi, Hindi Medium, and 102 Not Out. Evidently, his work is reflected well in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke too. He has perfectly captured the small-town vibe. Laxman has also mixed the traditional template of a joint family living together along with a love marriage that is inter-caste. Three cheers to Raghav Ramadoss’s cinematography as well.

The USP of the film is the performances by Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan. Vicky is your perfect middle-class guy who emotes every scene perfectly. Sara Ali Khan is the perfect middle-class bahu as well as a fiery Punjabi girl. Every newly married couple will resonate with the two. Vicky and Sara's chemistry is off the charts too!

The supporting cast, including Neeraj Sood and Kanupirya Pandit as mama and mami, Inaamulhaq, Rakesh Bedi as Saumya’s father, Harcharan Chawla, and Akash Khurana have also given wonderful performances.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is definitely a must-watch for its funny punchlines and coming timings. It is a pure family entertainer that could act as a stress buster in the current hustle and bustle of life. But, it had the potential to do more.

2.5 stars out 5 for Zara Hatke Zara Bachke but .5 extra for those rib-tickling moments. Published By: Grace Cyril Published On: Jun 2, 2023 --- ENDS --- ALSO READ | Sara Ali Khan, Vicky Kaushal enjoy kulhad pizza, aalu twister in Indore while promoting Zara Hatke Zara Bachke

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Review: Vicky Kaushal Steals The Show In This Endearing Rom-Com, Sara Does Well

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Movie Review: Finally, my efforts paid off! I'm saying so because I literally snatched the opportunity to review Zara Hatke Zara Bachke from my teammates as I love the genre of rom-com based in small towns.

I watched the first-day first show of Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan starrer produced by Maddock Films and had a good time. Directed by Laxman Utekar, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke marks Vicky and Sara's big screen comebacks after a long time and the film totally makes up for it.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Story Review:

The film revolves around a much-in-love couple, Saumya, a Punjabi girl who marries Kapil Dubey, played by Sara and Vicky respectively. The duo lives in a joint family and has to even share the living room with Kapil's cousin-brother at night.

Irked with the same, Saumya wants her own house where they can get quality time with each other without any chaos. Well, to make it possible, they churn out an intriguing plan (don't worry, no spoilers ahead) and decide to divorce each other.

To be honest, the story is a little mediocre and some of you might even predict the climax, however, the dialogues and punches make it an entertaining watch.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Acting Review:

Everyone knows that Vicky Kaushal is among the most talented stars of his generation and it won't be wrong to say that he's the best part of Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. He's done a great job in every single scene and steals the show from his co-stars.

Sara Ali Khan too is looking endearing as Saumya and does well. Both of them look perfect in their respective parts and their onscreen chemistry is a major highlight of the film.

Both, Vicky and Sara suit their parts. They make for a good-looking pair and their onscreen chemistry is endearing. The supporting cast also plays a pivotal role in the whole narrative and everyone has their moments. However, Kanupriya Pandit as Kapil's Mami and Rakesh Bedi as Saumya's father make their presence felt.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Overall Verdict:

The film seems a little dragged in the second half, however, overall, it is a decent watch. Zara Hatke Zara Bachke has its share of comedy, romance, drama, and emotions, and can be enjoyed with the family.

Have you wached Zara Hatke Zara Bachke yet? If yes, share your review in the comment section below.

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie review: Vicky Kaushal-Sara Ali Khan's love saga meanders between funny and boring

Zara hatke zara bachke movie review: vicky kaushal and sara ali khan’s new rom com delivers more misses than hits..

We enter the world of Chawlas and Dubeys thinking it's going to be a laughter riot with some fresh humour, edgy characters and a storyline that doesn't rely on usual, tried and tested tropes that Bollywood films are used to. And Zara Hatke Zara Bachke makes us believe as it takes off that everything is quite normal and relatable. But, it all soon turns into a loud cringefest with actors overacting beyond our imagination, dramatic dialogues being said one after the other, a joint middle-class Pandit family living in a small house and Punjabi stereotypes served to us on a platter because there is a 'chant' bahu who they believe has lured their son and accidentally made them all have a cake that contained 'egg'. Also read: Sara Ali Khan and Vicky Kaushal reach Lucknow for Zara Hatke Zara Bachke promotions, offer prayers in temple

I never could wrap my head around movie trailers that give out the entire plot. Makers of Zara Hatke Zara Bachke made it worse with two trailers that revealed more than they should have and left very little for us to watch and find out on our own. Directed by Laxman Utekar , the romantic comedy has a lot going on at the same time and it does leave you with many questions at many places.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke's premise

Set in a small town of Indore, we are introduced to college sweethearts Kapil Dubey ( Vicky Kaushal ) and Somya Chawla ( Sara Ali Khan ), who are happily married and living in a small house alongwith Kapil's vegetarian and religious family – his parents, maternal uncle and aunt and their young son. While Kapil is a yoga instructor, kanjoos and with a middle-class mentality, Somya comes from a modern Punjabi family, is quite outgoing, makes more money giving coaching classes and dreams big in life. The two are the happiest with each other but Somya does feel the pinch of not having any privacy in the house and is desperate to get her own dream house soon.

Since they can't afford heavy EMIs, they fall for a government scheme and end up faking a divorce to be eligible for a lottery allotment. Pretending to hate each other, they separate and start to live separately. How far this drama goes and what's the fate it eventually meets forms the plot.

What works, what doesn't

At 132 minutes, the film doesn't look dragged or needlessly stretched, but definitely has its high and low moments. While the high never gets to a point that it makes you go wow, the lows are definitely loaded with flaws and loopholes.

The story that Utekar has co-written with Maitrey Bajpai and Ramiz Ilham Khan, starts of on a very funny note and keeps the momentum going with harmless jokes, natural light-hearted humour and some comic punches. But post interval, it just meanders without any direction and goes off track.

At this stage, I really wish it stuck to being a romantic comedy and not get so melodramatic at places it didn't require to. The script has nothing that you haven't already seen or something that will leave you in splits. If anything, it only gets a bit predictable in the second half and comedy of errors is only left with errors. The flaws in writing and direction are tough to overlook.

Performances somewhat try to salvage the situation but not for too long! Sara shows some restraint in her acting and it's visible in her actions or reactions. There are some scenes where she goes overboard but never to the extent that it annoys you. Vicky showcases a myriad of emotions and like a smitten lover, he keeps that romance quotient alive onscreen. He portrays the small-town guy pretty convincingly and does keep that raw demeanour intact. I quite liked Vicky and Sara's onscreen chemistry. I won't say it's extraordinary but definitely better than what we've seen in frivolous guy-meets-girl kind of rom-coms.

Supporting cast impresses

Among supporting cast, Rakesh Bedi and Sushmita Mukherjee as Somya's parents are funny and true to their characters. There's a sequence between Kapil and Somya's father having drinks in the car where the father is trying to figure the reason behind their divorce. It's not only well-written but also well performed without looking awkward.

At some point, a nosy colony guard Daroga (Sharib Hashmi) is also thrown in to make things look funnier. While the actor doesn't disappoint with this performance and screen presence, I have a bone to pick with makers here for wasting an artiste of his calibre and reduce it to a cameo. You wish his role was more fleshed out.

In fact, the man who plays Kapil's lawyer friend helping him in the divorce case is a masterclass in overacting and didn't really merit the screen time he has been given. Amid all this, the crooked and dubious agent Baghwandas (Inaamulhaq) delivers his part pretty well and brings a comic relief in the whole story.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke's music

What truly stands out in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is the music. After a very long time, I've thoroughly enjoyed all the songs in a film. Sachin-Jigar's music and Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics create a whole vibe. Tere Vaaste plays in your mind for long and Phir Aur Kya Chahiye has already topped the charts while Sanjha touches you emotionally. Baby Tujhe Paap Lagega isn't there in the film but it's already a peppy party number.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is an easy-going family entertainer that won't bore you. But, it won't leave a lasting impact either. A few laughs here and there and some loud characters make it watchable, however the story needed way more depth and definitely a better screenplay would have helped.

Film: Zara Hatke Zara Bachke

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan, Inaamulhaq, Sushmita Mukherjee, Neeraj Sood, Rakesh Bedi, Sharib Hashmi

Director: Laxman Utekar

• Vicky Kaushal
• Sara Ali Khan

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke resonates with its story, but over-does the filmy drama

A love-struck couple’s decision to go beyond legal means to buy a home of their own makes for a relevant middle-class struggle, but zara hatke zara bachke could have benefitted from less melodrama..

Friday June 02, 2023 , 4 min Read

Starring : Sara Ali Khan, Vicky Kaushal, Sharib Hashmi, Sushmita Mukherjee, Akarsh Khurana 

The dream of owning a home has eluded countless Indians for generations. It has also created space for good, engaging films that people can relate with. In one of his early films, Love Per Square Foot (2018), Vicky Kaushal had tackled the subject of the crisis of owning a home in Mumbai. In Zara Hatke Zara Bachke , his latest drama to hit theatres, this struggle morphs into deliberate fraud by a lovestruck married couple— Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan—who want to find an affordable home of their own.

Is this film in the league of say, Gharonda (1977) or Saath Saath (1982)? Not quite. But it has its relevance and resonance at a time when affordability is becoming a tough and illegal nexus and manipulation mar India’s home buying market. 

Source: Twitter

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Soumya Chawla (Khan) and Kapil Dubey (Kaushal) are a happily married, lovestruck middle-class couple living in a joint family . She works at a coaching centre with the owner having a soft spot for her, and Kapil works as a yoga instructor. 

With a nagging relative and her family piling on to their small home, Soumya acutely feels the need for a home of their own. Buying an apartment of their choice in Indore is beyond their budget. When she discovers a government scheme to give out homes at a low cost, especially to women, she pushes her husband to find out more. They find out that they are ineligible for these flats. Unwilling to give up, Soumya hits upon a scheme to manipulate her way into this eligibility criteria, but this would need Kapil to sign up for a weird decision.

Convincing him to go along with her plan, much to the chagrin of both their parents, the couple borrow all they can to get this home. Eventually, their wish comes true, but it costs them their peace of mind. An unexpected incident makes them realise that some things are more important than a brick and mortar house. 

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is Laxman Utekar’s second outing as director, after the successful Mimi (2021). Co-written with Maitrey Bajpai and Ramiz Ilham Khan, it uses the standard set up of a cantankerous family where everyone mouths a random opinion, thereby complicating the lives of a young couple. 

While most actors do justice to their parts, a touch of melodrama marks their performances. The context and tone of this story will fit in with mass audiences, for both the hero and heroine underdress and show up on screen like regular folk. It resonates because of its strong subject--buying a home is such a distant dream for so many. But the execution of this story is uneven, with ebbs and flows marking the entire narrative.

Soumya and Kapil are both likeable, especially their dynamic of Kapil’s tendency to save money while his wife likes to project that they have enough. There is little time or effort given to make their love story evolve and solidify during the story, which makes the audience care a little less for their characters. While the dialogues are accurate with the regional intonation and dialect of Indore, some of it feels a little dense.

There’s so much repartee and talking happening on screen that there’s little room to contemplate or invest in the leading pair’s emotions. For instance, a courtroom scene with a screaming, fist-banging lawyer and a jumpy judge simply doesn’t work. It could well have been made wittier with finessed writing and dialogues. 

Having said that, the film has built upon a common Indian problem with an almost realistic setting, where struggles of income, cost of living, and familial strife all come together to pressurise the young married couple. Kaushal does a brilliant job of playing the husband desperately in love, but also aware of his financial limits. Khan has worked very hard, evidently, on this part, cutting down on the glamour quotient; in fact, she has tried a little too hard at some points. 

The ensemble cast that includes Soumya’s loud Punjabi parents and Kapil’s Brahmin parents (including Akarsh Khurana, Sushmita Mukherjee, and Anubha Fatehpuria) deliver on their roles, but these characters pander to cliches. In achieving a mass appeal movie with laugh a minute tropes, this film compromises on emotional depth. It also has a rather unconvincing ending involving Sharib Hashmi as a watchman (Daroga Raghuvanshi) in a stand out example of convenient writing. 

Some films have to be viewed from the lens of larger audience appeal. With spirited performances and a relevant issue at its heart, this film entertains for the most part. It is recommended to anyone that enjoys mainstream Hindi films. 

Rating : 3/5 

(The feature image has been sourced from IMDB)

Edited by Megha Reddy

• movie review
• Vicky Kaushal
• Sara Ali Khan

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Review: ‘zara hatke zara bachke’ would’ve benefited from being more ‘hatke', 'zara hatke zara bachke' hit theatres on 2 june..

If there is a champion for a fake dating/fake marriage AU in Bollywood, it would perhaps be director Laxman Utekar. His previous films like Luka Chuppi and Mimi both deal with people who had to, in one way or another, lie about their marital status.

In his latest Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, there exists a married couple who must once again lie to the law but in their own different way. 

A still from  Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. 

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

College sweethearts Kapil Dubey (Vicky Kaushal) and Somya Chawla (Sara Ali Khan) live in Kapil’s house with his religious, Brahmin family which soon comes to include his maternal uncle and aunt as well. Kapil works as a yoga instructor and Somya is a Chemistry teacher in a coaching institute. At Somya’s insistence, the duo decide to buy a separate house that they can move into but that is easier said than done. 

As a premise, I must admit, the film is rather interesting. There’s an interesting thread about how Kapil who cites his middle-class upbringing for his money-saving habits is exploiting a government scheme that is designed to help low-income families. Then there’s the fact that Kapil’s family believes that a ‘Punjabi bahu’ has trapped their son in an unhappy marriage (it is not) and is slowly attacking their family’s values (she is not). 

How does Somya navigate living in a patriarchal family that holds their outdated values above all else?

The intricacies of such a social setting are rarely explored even though there are nods towards it.

However, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke picks a page from the Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar playbook and almost blames the woman for wanting a nuclear family by equating that desire with a hatred for her husband’s family members (some of whom , if you remember, don’t see her in the best light either). 

The film uses its minority characters as tokens towards the end: for instance, an earnest Sharib Hashmi as the society security guard Daroga who becomes the catalyst and recipient of the couple’s good deeds. The film does, however, smartly contrast Daroga’s living situation with that of the Chawla-Dubeys.

Utekar’s cinema aims to highlight the social ills surrounding patriarchy and stoic beliefs in his films but it remains superficial in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. In that aspect, Mimi was a better offering. 

As Kapil, Vicky Kaushal is delightful as ever to watch but it feels like we’ve seen this before (most recently in Govinda Naam Mera ). This goofy man who loves and supports his wife seems like a character Kaushal could enact in his sleep. Sara Ali Khan’s performance seems to have improved over the past few years; she’s funny when she needs to be and endearing otherwise. Barring a few scenes and slight accent faux pas, she’s immensely watchable as Somya. 

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke would have benefited from trying to be a bit more hatke because we’ve seen the setting before, we’ve seen a similar conflict before (in Vicky Kaushal’s Love Per Square Foot no less), so what would make this film stand out? 

Perhaps the fact that the two actors are adorable to watch together on screen, which is a plus since they play college sweethearts whose spark hasn’t fallen victim to routine and monotony. Watching their relationship play out over a marriage and a divorce and separation is the most fascinating part of the film. 

The film does boast of a strong supporting cast: Neeraj Sood, Inaamulhaq, and Sushmita Mukherjee to name a few. Additionally, the film uses its runtime to the fullest. It doesn’t feel draggy at any point even when the screenplay fails to make a mark. The dialogues by Maitrey Bajpai and Ramil Ilham Khan, however, are smart in some places; at one point a love triangle is called a ‘love trikon ’. So, there are little joys. 

At the end of the day, the comedy in the film has a lot to match up to. Is it funny that Kapil’s family is so comfortable chastising their daughter-in-law and then gets to have a redemption arc without having changed anything about themselves? Not really. I was also left wondering if Kapil’s flippant usage of a casteist slur was an indictment of his upbringing and circumstances.

As an audience, it’s okay to expect from a filmmaker who clearly wants to make astute cinema. Perhaps that is why one might step out of the theatre wanting more. 

( At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a membe r . Because the truth is worth it. )

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Topics:    vicky kaushal      sara ali khan  .

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Movie Review: This Rom-Com has Neither Romance Nor Comedy

Director : Laxman Utekar Writers : Laxman Utekar, Maitrey Bajpai, Ramiz Ilham Khan Cast : Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan, Inaamulhaq, Sharib Hashmi, Neeraj Sood, Rakesh Bedi

At first, it sounds like a fun idea. (Please remember “At first” for the rest of this review). In theory, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is the exact inverse of Love Per Square Foot (2018), another romcom featuring Vicky Kaushal as a middle-class man aspiring to own a house. If Love Per Square Foot was about two colleagues faking a marriage to secure a flat in a joint-housing scheme, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke has a married couple faking a divorce to secure a flat in a government housing scheme. You know how the trope goes. If two strangers can fall in love by pretending to be married, a couple can fall apart by pretending to be divorced. It’s not the worst take on the Indian link between privacy and companionship. Throw in a noisy family or two, solid supporting actors, a half-decent soundtrack, and the formula is semi-foolproof. I say “semi” because the bar is low and crowded. 

Saumya Chawla Dubey ( Sara Ali Khan ) convinces her cute-but-cheapskate husband, Kapil Dubey (Kaushal), to play along so that they can exploit the scheme aimed at low-income citizens and move out of his tiny family home. All they have to do is simulate a bitter split. Laxman Utekar’s previous film, Mimi (2021), had some pretending too: A righteous driver posed as the partner of the pregnant young protagonist to protect her from social stigma. His Hindi debut, Luka Chuppi (2019) , also revolved around a live-in couple pretending to be newlyweds before feeling guilty for not being newlyweds (marriage propaganda!). So perhaps it’s only fitting to say that Zara Hatke Zara Bachke – like its predecessors – is a bad film pretending to be a good one. It’s also a regressive story posing as a woke one, and a tone-deaf movie pretending to be a funny one. Some of us don’t mind getting fooled. Some of us do. 

For a while, my biggest problem was the annoying background score. You know, the sort that treats us like Cartoon Network enthusiasts from the Nineties. But there are sparks of a potentially cool romcom in the way Kapil and Saumya’s relationship pans out. Even after landing a divorce and qualifying for the scheme, the two initially can’t keep their hands off each other. If anything, the make-believe separation takes them back to their heady honeymoon period; they wait for each other’s calls like a freshly-minted teenage couple, they meet secretly like high-school lovers, and he blushes when he sees her at the window. I found myself updating this concept for an unrelated romcom: What if a husband and wife deliberately divorce as a part of their extreme roleplay sessions to spice up their chemistry? Or even better, what if they go on to marry different partners while having a raging affair with each other for the rest of their life? Or even better, what if they had just gotten his family in on the masterplan and the entire Indore locality had to pretend to hoodwink the government? Or EVEN better, what if the woman finally gets the house, gets pregnant out of wedlock, and the man pretends to be her husband again so that their live-in relationship is legitimate in the eyes of society? Okay, I went too far with the last one. That’s just Utekar’s three films combined into one twisted socio-comedy. 

By the end, however, all hope is extinguished by a very familiar tone. Zara Hatke Zara Bachke ’s emotional manipulation and home-is-where-the-heart-is theme slowly inch into Luv Ranjan territory. Ranjan’s recent Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar thought it was being forward by featuring a career-minded woman who is so reluctant to tear her rich boyfriend away from his home that she chooses to compromise and live with his toxic joint family. This film, too, espouses similar values under the pretext of “living in the moment” and critiquing the save-for-the-future aspirations of middle-class millennials. Worse, a random health scare towards the end jolts our two young lovers into epiphany mode – which is just a sillier version of a parent faking illness when their kids threaten to break the umbilical cord. It plays out so readily with Kapil and Soumya as mute observers that a passing shot of them watching Baghban (2003) for the first time might have been more convincing. 

But let’s imagine for a minute that the moral science lecture is well meaning. After all, it reflects the predicament of most middle-class marriages, where the couple convinces themselves that they’re doing the right thing by sacrificing their dreams at the altar of sanskari gaslighting. Let’s assume that the message isn’t the problem. (It is, but at this point we’re all pretending to be people we’re not). So what? The good – or bad – news is that Utekar’s treatment and retro worldview are bigger problems. His sense of comedy is a bit troubling. For effect, read the following lines in the voice of Hrithik Roshan’s Arjun from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011): Crass cross-cultural humour is not funny. Kapil’s bigoted chaste-Brahmin aunt hurling ‘colourful’ insults at Saumya’s Punjabi roots only to get her own redemption arc is not funny. Having a Muslim childhood friend (like in Mimi ) only to patronize her identity (Saumya exploits the woman’s feelings for Kapil – don’t ask how) is not funny. Having a poor security guard as PSA bait for housing-loan schemes is not funny. 

The film opens with a scene that encapsulates this tone. Kapil and Saumya are celebrating their second anniversary with a cake. His parents, aunt and uncle panic when they discover that the cake is not eggless, after which Saumya is blamed for having a ‘non-veg’ influence on Kapil. All of this is played for laughs. As is the idea of tricking Kapil’s childhood friend into holding him in public so that a photograph can incriminate him in court. (I know I said not to ask, but I’m telling you anyway). As is Kapil’s habit of tipping a child waiter so poorly that the waiter tips him back. The only time I actually chuckled is when Kapil’s friend, a brash divorce lawyer, fights their case with such Bollywood angst that the judge begs him to calm down. And maybe when Rakesh Bedi, as Saumya’s Sikh father, does the whole drinking-and-cussing stereotype with alarming conviction. 

When the melodrama arrives in the second half, the relief is short-lived. In the sad montages, there are two shots that will haunt me for years: A tight low-angle close-up of Kapil’s contorted and red face while he’s doing yoga, and a close-up of Saumya tearfully stuffing her face with a Cadbury 5 Star bar in memory of their love. Vicky Kaushal is typically breezy and watchable, but such movies often feel like a waste of his abilities – the fact is that he could have played someone like Kapil in his sleep. Sara Ali Khan is fine when her character is pretending to resent her husband, because it’s supposed to be a bad performance within a real performance. But when Saumya actually starts hating on him, shades of those infamous Love Aaj Kal (2020) moments emerge – where it’s clear that the over-acting is a consequence of imitating life through the lens of art (or older Hindi movies). 

I’m still wondering how the makers messed up a harmless reverse-marriage story. In a parallel world, I’d have opened this review with “at last” and not “at first”. But now it’s more like “Alas”. As in: Alas, the wait for a sweet and entertaining romcom – one that doesn’t overreach for cheap giggles; one that doesn’t use Hrishikesh Mukherjee as a front to appropriate middle cinema; one that treats audiences as humans and not market demographics – will continue. Until then, I’ll pretend to hope. 

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke movie review: Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan strain a lot to uplift this mediocre melodramedy

Rating: ( 1.5 / 5).

If you are a middle-class character in a small-town comedy and you are not a balding lingerie salesman with erectile dysfunction who feels awkward in buying sanitary pads for his obese wife who is in love with another woman, do you even deserve to be concocted? Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan, thankfully, go for something simpler: a couple seeking divorce. In comedies, Kaushal is either trying to own a piece of real estate ( Love Per Square Foot ) or trying to leave his wife ( Govinda Naam Mera ). In his latest outing  Zara Hatke Zara Bachke , he is trying to do both. Double whammy.

Starring: Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan, Sharib Hashmi, Rakesh Bedi, Inaamulhaq, Neeraj Sood and Akash Khurana

Directed by: Laxman Utekar

The film is set in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore (“Let us do the work till then you eat poha jalebi”). Yoga teacher Kapil Dubey (Kaushal) and tuition tutor Saumya Chawla Dubey (Khan) have completed two years of blissful matrimony. They live with Kapil’s joint family in a small, correction: very small house. So small that they don’t even have a backyard with a tulsi plant in the centre around which the family patriarch can gargle. Anyway, Kapil and Saumya are tired of coochy-cooing in corners and want their own space. They embark upon a government housing scheme but the catch is that applicants can’t be houseowners. Kapil won’t ask his father to banish him from his property. Don’t ask why. Hence, they have to cook up a divorce so that Saumya can be allotted the house. That’s the only way. Is it really?

Conveniently, Kapil has a friend who is a divorce lawyer. The scenes where the betel nut chewing,  Tere Naam  hairdo-ed Advocate Aloud tries to convince a magistrate to grant the couple a divorce deserve a medal in decibel derby. The sequences, intended to be funny, seem to be straight out of a hurriedly written comedy show skit and hurt the head more than the jaw. That can be said about almost all ‘humorous’ scenes in the film. Kaushal, while playing Kapil, switches on his small-town comedy persona which consists of muttering in anger and shivering in glee while Khan’s Somya seems to have come downhill from  Kedarnath  (2018). Their romance consists of making puppy-dog eyes at each other and their tiffs result in Kaushal doing a bakasana with a pall of gloom over his face and Khan crying while choking on a five-star bar (He used to give her one every day).

The clunky screenplay also injects characters at a whim. A case in point is Sharib Hashmi’s nosy watchman Daroga Raghuvanshi. Sharib’s character is introduced only to give an emotional anchor to the film and feels ill-fitted. When conflict is needed, there isn’t enough. Kapil’s family brings down the house after they realise the cake they ate was not eggless but they aren’t that riled up by the divorce. They pester the couple to spell out the reason for going for separation but seem satisfied with unsatisfactory answers.

Touted in the trailer as a family drama which will remind one of Hrishikesh Mukherji’s middle-of-the-road cinema,  ZHZB   turns out to be mostly middling. It reduces residents of Tier-2 towns to loud-mouthed, stingy caricatures seeking a backdoor entry everywhere. It seems a cop-out when the film, in its latter half, takes a sharp turn towards emotional upheaval with a funny character on the death bed. If you are still in the mood of watching a middle-class couple balance ethics and economics in a bid to buy their first home, better to revisit a classic:  Gharaonda  (1981).

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— Nik_Wani_ (@Nik_Wani_)

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Movie Review

Average Ratings: 2.88/5 Score: 80% Positive Reviews Counted:9 Positive:5 Neutral:3 Negative:1

Ratings: 3.5/5 Review By: Taran Adarsh Site:Twitter

This one is desi at heart, could spring a surprise at the BO€¦ Could be lapped up by families due to its strong message towards the final moments. ZHZB brings back memories of Rajshris PiyaKaGhar. Director LaxmanUtekar comes up with a slice of life film on the lines of HrishikeshMukherjee and BasuChatterjees movies.Relatable plot coupled with melodious soundtrack and engrossing first hour are its strengths€¦ VickyKaushal and SaraAliKhans wonderful performances enhance the impact, despite ordinary writing at times. ZHZB stumbles in the post-interval portions, the humour appears forced, while the writing couldve been more impactful and persuasive.

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Ratings: — Review By: Komal Nahta Site:Filminformation

On the whole, Zara Hat Ke Zara Bach Ke is a fair entertainer with hit music being its biggest asset. It will, therefore, do reasonable business at the ticket windows. Frankly, considering the revenues due from sale of digital, satellite and audio rights, the film is already in the zone where the risk is minimal.

Ratings: 3/5 Review By: Ronak Site: Times Of India

A romantic comedy of errors set in a small town with oddball characters and an outrageous plot makes for a fun premise. Director Laxman Utekars directorial venture delivers on this account for the most part. Overall, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is an enjoyable one-time-watch for the funny punchlines, far-out characters and performances. But the unconvincing story and the temperate screenplay prevent it from reaching its full potential.

Ratings: 2/5 Review By: Shubhra Gupta Site:Indian Express

But the film never quite builds on its comic potential, by throwing a tonal switch somewhere down in its second-half, introducing a plot twist doused in mothballed sentimentality, and adding a dreary sanskari layer to the whole thing. That, and by consistently flat writing, which overcomes the efforts of the actors.What else can you say for a film which revolves around keeping both a marriage, and morals, intact?

Ratings: 3/5 Review By: Grace Site:India Today

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is definitely a must-watch for its funny punchlines and coming timings. It is a pure family entertainer that could act as a stress buster in the current hustle and bustle of life. But, it had the potential to do more.

Ratings: 2.5/5 Review By: Sukanya Site: Rediff

Like Jug Jugg Jeeyo, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke has moments that make you believe it’s a lot darker than its display of cheer lets on. A slyer film-maker would read deeper into the veiled insults of a couple’s fake fights and the stinging tone of disappointment in a real one. But Utekar and his co-writers, Maitrey Bajpai and Ramiz Ilham Khan, are happier turning Zara Hatke Zara Bachke into a boisterous romp, lapping up every chance for a joke or quip. Its sitcom humour works in fits and starts.At the end of 132 minutes, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke grants it too when it has had its fill of mush and melodrama. Not so hatke after all, but no reason to stay bachke either.

Ratings: 3.5/5 Review By: Nawaz Site: Bollywood Bubble

Laxman Utekar has told this massy love story in quite a classy way. It has the laughs, the drama, the romance, and all that is much needed for an entertaining film. So you should definitely meet Soumya, Kapil, the Dubeys and the Chawlas on the big screen for they will be quite the stressbuster for you. The film is fun to watch in a theatre hall with your loved ones.

Ratings: 3/5 Review By: Amandeep Site: ABP News

‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ starring Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan is one good romantic comedy to watch in theatres this weekend.’Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ is a light-hearted comedy film at face value. An entertainer that will bring audiences to theatre, is a paisa vasool weekend watch, for the sake of good ol times when romantic comedy dramas were done right.

Ratings: 2.5/5 Review By: Amandeep Site: Desimartini

Seems like Bollywood has taken a baton to promote a joint family setup. As after Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Laxman’s film gave a similar social commentary taking a subject of middle-class family agonies and lacing it with comedy. The movie which aimed for a gag-fest turned up lacking a bit here and there. The flick may have never gone so haywire at any point, but it was a huge relief seeing it ending. No matter how abrupt it was!

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Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Plot:

Kapil and Somya are a happily married couple from Indore who live in a joint family and decide to get a divorce one fine day to be eligible to buy a home under a government scheme. Things don’t go as planned as their family gets to know of it, and thus begins a comedy of errors.

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Release Date:

2 June 2023 straight to Theaters

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Cast:

Vicky Kaushal Sara Ali Khan

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Director: 

Laxman Utekar

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Producer: 

Dinesh Vijan Jyoti Deshpande

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Production Companies:

Maddock Films Jio Studios

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Distribution Companies:

Jio Studios

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Run Time: 

2 Hour 12 Minutes (132 minutes)

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Rajeev Masand , Taran Adarsh, Komal Nahta , Anupama Chopra Reviews are awaited for this movie

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