The Great Indian Family touches upon a series of issues that we see, hear and read all around us today. In a society slowly splitting down the middle, the film brings to the fore a story both relevant and relatable. The problem is that, along with wanting to create meaningful cinema that packs in social commentary, The Great Indian Family also aspires to be a masala Bollywood film. So what we have is gimmicky drama, over-the-top theatrics, an unnecessary romantic track and too much preachy messaging that does the film — and the viewer — a whole lot of disservice.

The thing with Bollywood films these days is that the key elements of its story, and that even includes plot twists, are revealed in the trailer itself. ‘Throw as much as you can at the audience in two minutes and reel them in’ seems to be the mantra of most film-makers today when they cut a trailer. Once that is done, there is very little left in most films to justify their two-hour runtime. At 112 minutes, The Great Indian Family, having revealed almost all its cards in its trailer, runs out of steam pretty quickly.

The Great Indian Family belongs to Bollywood’s favourite sub-genre of small-town India peopled with simple folk and joint families. This is a huge departure for director Vijay Krishna Acharya, the man who has only churned out larger-than-life, big-budget cinema (more flops than hits dot his CV though) like Tashan, Dhoom:3 and Thugs of Hindostan.

His latest film’s focus is a Hindu priest’s family in Balrampur in north India whose tween son initially rebels against being drawn into the “family business” but once he discovers his talent for singing devotional songs, there’s no looking back for Billu aka Ved Vyas Tripathi. The lad grows up to be Vicky Kaushal whose repute for singing bhajans with both footwork and fervour earns him the title of Bhajan Kumar. Life is a smooth ride for Bhajan/ Billu and his pals who wear their Brahmin identity proudly on their sleeves and constantly other those belonging to the town’s Muslim community.

Till one day a letter arrives that says that Billu was actually born a Muslim and rescued and adopted by his Pandit dad (Kumud Mishra) in the middle of the 1992 Hindu-Muslim riots. With his father away on his annual pilgrimage, an already shattered Billu finds no ally, becomes a social pariah and is forced to leave home. What happens after that can be described as melodramatic at its best and downright silly at its worst. In the end, the film is rescued (just barely) by a heartfelt and deeply emotional monologue by Billu.

In the divisive times we live in, The Great Indian Family — with its heart in the right place — could have been just the film we needed. But its shoddy execution ensures that the film ends up reinforcing the very stereotypes and preconceived perceptions that it aspires to challenge. In looks and language, dress and demeanour, Hindus and Muslims are tarred by the same stereotypical brush. No prizes for guessing which community is stereotyped more.

While Acharya, who is also the writer here, recourses to humour to depict these stereotypes (instead of challenging them), most of it falls flat. For instance, Billu, a 30-year-old man, thinks that just because people of the other community eat meat, they do not use their hands to do so. In another scene in the film, Billu and his friends, venturing into a Muslim area for the first time in their lives, scream “Surgical strike” as they rush in. While that may have been the director’s seemingly clever reference to Vicky’s blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike, it comes off as totally unnecessary and in poor taste here.

The Great Indian Family — the significance of the title is spelt out only at the end, almost as an afterthought — plods on, one melodramatic moment after another marring what could have been a deeply inspiring and incisive watch. There are flashes of what could have been, especially when the film emphasises the importance of being human, rather than being Hindu or Muslim. The Pandit family’s practice of putting every hard decision through an in-house ballot is also smart, but with the lack of any other strong ideas, it quickly overstays its welcome.

The film, though, is rescued by some of its performances. Kumud Mishra and Manoj Pahwa are both solid, as always, and Farzi’s Bhuvan Arora as Billu’s Bengali pal Bhatta puts in a strong act. Former beauty queen Manushi Chhillar has a strictly ornamental presence and in a film that wants to talk about the peaceful coexistence of different religions, her character only exists to tick off the Sikh box.

It’s only Vicky Kaushal who makes the film worthy enough to sit through, even when his Billu is being very, very preachy. That’s no mean feat, but Vicky shines — whether he’s being a buffoon, turning on his romantic side, teasing those tear ducts or going all in to sing and dance. Kanhaiya Twitter pe aaja wouldn’t be the same without his energy and exuberance. Wish he had just got a better film.

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