Shaadi Ke Side Effects Review

When Saket Chaudhary’s debut feature film Pyaar Ke Side Effects arrived almost a full decade back, it was appreciated for its unusual lead pair and for a fresh approach at the romantic comedy genre. But most people were unaware of the fact that it was lifted almost scene-by-scene from the Korean Smash Hit film “My Sassy Girl”. Many winters have passed since then, and now Saket Chaudhary is back with the sequel to his debut film which he has based on the life of a couple after marriage and after having a baby. He has managed to get top acting talents to act in his film in the form of Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan. So is the film worth the talents of the lead pair and more importantly is it worth your money? Let’s dissect.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects
Shaadi Ke Side Effects Movie Review

Story: Shaadi Ke Side Effects is about Siddharth Roy (Farhan Akhtar) and Trisha Mallik (Vidya Balan) and about life after marriage. All is hunky dory in their relationship after marriage until they have a daughter. The arrival of their daughter makes life go awry for the both of them but Sid is hit harder by this event than his wife Trisha who leaves her job to devote her full time to her daughter. Sid starts experiencing the normal pangs of marriage and decides to go to Trisha’s brother-in-law (Ram Kapoor) for marital advice. Sid is advised to be devoted to his marriage with little doses of a single life. Heeding this advice a bit too well is what lands Sid in trouble and jeapordizes his marriage with Trisha. The penultimate portions of Shaadi Ke Side Effects is about Sid trying to win over his wife. To know the final outcome of their marriage watch the film, we are not going to play spoilers.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects Review: Saket Chaudhary brings a realistic angle to Shaadi Ke Side Effects by throwing in real life anecdotes and situations from his life and also from the lives of the lead actors (Vidya plays the wife of someone named Siddharth Roy is one such fact). Chaudhary is unable to keep the film flow freely because Shaadi Ke Side Effects lacks any urgency to tell its story. The various situations and gags are only able to hold the viewer’s attention for so long. It can be said that the writing is let down by the uneven direction. The film just about scratches the subject of marital problems because Chaudhary resorts to keep the tone on the lighter side.

The technical aspects of Shaadi Ke Side Effects are of top quality. The cinematography, even though the film is located mostly indoors except for that sequence in Australia, is up to the mark. The editor has also done a good job with their editing scissors. The costume designer of the film gets it right for the most part except for Vidya Balan’s style which doesn’t match her body type and character. Pritam disappoints with his music to a certain degree because album lacks any bonafide chartbuster although most of the songs suit the texture of the film.

Acting: Shaadi Ke Side Effects works to a degree solely because of the crackling chemistry between Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan. The preproduction workshop seems to have paid off as they look and feel like a real life couple going through their marital problems. Farhan is as effortless as he has always been as the carefree husband Sid and Vidya Balan almost reprises her role of a troubled housewife with her Trisha act. The other character actors do a good job. Ram Kapoor, Purab Kohli, Vir Das and Ila Arun are very appropriate in their respective roles.

Conclusion: Shaadi Ke Side Effects is one film that feels better suited to be enjoyed at home. It does not feel like a big screen cinematic experience. Saket Chaudhary is not able to take his promising premise to the next level because of the tonal clash of the first half and the second half. If you have not watched a film in a long time, then the film could make for a lazy viewing.

Box Office: Shaadi Ke Side Effects is very likely to take an average opening at the multiplexes because of the genre and the setting. The goodwill of the lead cast will most likely be able to carry Shaadi Ke Side Effects over the 50 crore mark.

Positives:

  • The lead pair’s crackling chemistry
  • The promising premise of marital problems
  • The gags and situations

Negatives:

  • The music is disappointing because it lacks a chartbuster
  • The film doesn’t flow freely
  • Tonal inconsistencies affect the speed
  • Vidya Balan’s styling doesn’t suit her body

Rating: ★★½☆☆

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15 Comments

  • Lower ratings than Boss,Jai ho and Gunday.Where is the Vidya Balan and Farhan we know.That is why i don’t go by the idea Aamir or Vidya or Priyanka is a good actor or actress than his/her contemporaries.It is all about script and direction.Put Aamir in k786 with the same director and script,still k786 will be among the worst movies.Take for example MELA.Sometimes they say Katrina is a bad actress but can anyone name a movie she spoiled it with her acting.They talk about JTHJ but JTHJ had a lame script and one of the worst directions by late Yash Chopra.If katrina gets a good script and direction people won’t be rating her last in terms of acting.I wish she experiments more,that’s it

  • Umm. .it’s getting better reviews than HTP,highway and gunday. Now indicine review is an exception in that. Only 2.5! ! Means worse than jai ho and gunday too! ? ?anyway,i’m not gonna watch it as it’s nt my kind of movie genre. .

  • I have watched 3 films of 2014 so far. If i have to rank them,den it would be
    1.HTP(better than many rom coms of today): 3/5
    2.jai ho(very average masala with a message): 2.5/5
    3.gunday(the same ghissa pita masala): 2/5

  • @nipun
    What a review :p Gunday 2/5.Then Krrish3 deserves
    -2/5 for limit crossing boringness.Your comments are always funniest&kiddish.because of this reason,some guys are abusing u in here.

  • aeeyy – JTHJ had a lame script n worst direction by yash chopra? it has a 7 imdb rating n above average reviews so not dat lame. Katrina’s ek tha tiger, dhoom 3 were lamer – y no mention of them?

  • @krrish Those are the blind followers of srk who rated jthj so high for it to have 7.Even ce someone wrote a review saying it is outstanding and short of a masterpiece.That is why i don’t believe in imdb ratings for srk starrers.In ett,no one questioned katrina’s acting ability

  • Kat’s acting was really pathetic in jthj. .even DP sometimes becomes expressionless. PC N Vidya are only two perfect actress.

  • This is the first time i have to admit that this is a very bad review by Indicine.
    I loved the movie.
    Ratings: 3.5
    Opening day will b close to 5 to 6 crs. But it wil pick during the weekend.
    Farhan proves once more that he is a far better an actor than Salman Khan .

  • Vidya Balan’s styling doesn’t suit her body
    Now this is trying to go more negative for a film…
    I am going to watch it on Monday…

    Watched 2 films this year,my ratings
    Jai Ho(3 stars)
    Gunday(3.5 stars)

  • I have seen Jai Ho, Hasee Toh Phasee, Gunday, Highway & SKSE……I liked only today’s movie & Hasee Toh Phasee….Gunday, Jai Ho is nothing better than action sequences…typical old bolywood masala…highway is also good..but little slow

  • I have watched 8 movies of this year.

    Dedh ishqiya 4/5
    Yaariyaan 1/5
    Jai ho 2/5
    Hasee to phasee 3.5/5
    Ya rab 2.5/5
    Heartless 3/5
    Gunday 2.5/5
    Highway 3.5/5

  • Kisne konsa movie dekha iss saal, does not matter. Why r ol u fckrs sharing it . What matters is that this is the one of the worst review by Indicine. I am disappointed with ur rating bro. Sry …,
    (^_^)

  • @mr.aeyye I personally think that you don’t know what direction really means
    jthj wasn’t directed outstandingly but we can say it was a well and decent directed movie may be little bit slow and it’s script was appreciated by all critics and let me tell you something that I even don’t thing so that there is some one in indicine who knows as much about direction’art and scripts but for me @nipun is very good cinelover and about overrated in imdb
    loser srk’s movies were never overrated in imdb
    it’s aamir khan movies which are overrated understand
    and yash chopra’s worst directed movie is parampara(aamir)

  • @yy Mithaiwala : I dont blame Yash ji direction but the script. Do you think a virtual triangle between Kat, Srk & Jesus make any sense? It was sad to see such a boring script from YRF. Some calls it classic blindly. DDLJ, Veer Zara are true classics among Srk romantics !!!!

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