Shaadi Ke Side Effects (2014)

Strong and Moving!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Wonderful performances and some crackling dialogs, made this worth a watch.Marriage is a beautiful alliance if the couple understand each other. It will be a nightmare, if they fail to do so. But more or less, it's an alliance filled of compromises and lies at times. Lies can be said to keep the spouse happy too. But at what cost, is a terrible question. The consequences are mostly dreadful at times even practically. This movie is about an alliance of Love and Lies. Farhan Akhtar is man with tons of talent and his acting talent and his coming come use in a great deal in this film. Vidya Balan has been one of the finest actress in recent years and she plays her role as a wife and mother wonderfully. Between the two, their chemistry is great, and they seem to slide well into their roles. Aa script about a typical after marriage life, having baby, and trying to run away from responsibilities, learning from mistakes and forgiving each other would have been nonsensical if it did not have some great dialogs, which should make the stereotypes as fun but not as caricatures. that's what precisely happened in this well written script by Saket Chaudhary. From being together and have fun in early years of marriage, to changing anatomy through pregnancy, while the man becomes more responsible towards the family, and even earns more for them. This is all a clichéd tale that every family goes through. The parent teacher meetings, the birthday parties of the kid's friends, they are all part and parcel of life. Now, those are made interesting by some good writing and fine acting. Together, the team has done a wonderful job in taking the script to a respectable level. The execution through cinematography is wonderful too. Though, editing seems to have disappointed in second half by dragging on some very dramatic moments, which would have been better chopped off. To Farhan and Vidya alone, this film is worth. Also there are wonderful performances by others including Vir Das and Ram Kapoor among many others.A 3/5 would be apt in a film that's hilarious right through the first half, and a kind of drama in the second half. Yet, its fun all through.

Yet the film's consistently crackling dialogue and terrific performances from its leads makes it enjoyable despite its obvious bumps.But Shaadi Ke Side Effects belongs to Farhan, who reveals incredible comic timing as he slips into the role of the self-obsessed man-child struggling to cope with change. Steering clear of melodrama even when the script falls prey to it, Farhan plays it effortlessly cool. The film then is easy and breezy, although too long at nearly two-and-a-half hours. I'm going with three out of five for Shaadi Ke Side Effects. Predictable and occasionally misguided, but also hopelessly fun. SHAADI KE SIDE/EFFECTS is more about rediscovering your partner, post marriage. The fact that Saket borrows from real-life instances makes it relatable and identifiable. The connect is tremendous, with the spectator often drawing parallels with his/her life. On the whole, SHAADI KE SIDE/EFFECTS is a delicious take on contemporary relationships. This one's relatable, heart-warming, amusing and thoroughly enjoyable!

Well, my first reason for seeing this movie was Vidya Balan and Farhan Akhtar. They both are great actors something which they carry on with in this movie also. But in order for a movie to succeed one needs not only good actors portraying their parts correctly but also a part good enough to portray. The main reason why this film is such a letdown for me is its storyline which is a complete cliché. I expected this film to be an urban comic caper on the likes of its predecessor 'PYAAR KE SIDE EFFECTS'. PKSE was funny and took an entirely new take on the relationship between a girl and a boy. This film however is far from taking a new take. it goes along the same route of all mindless comic films where the characters who are madly in love with each other are nevertheless lying to each other and not conversing with each other. they share the most dysfunctional relationship ever seen, but are still shown to be in LOVE! the ending is again a cliché. I thought it would be the only saving grace of the film, but, no; it was not.I could go on and on about how this movie disappointed me; but I choose to brood on my own from hereon.See it only if you are a fan of the leading pair,like me.(sadly)

That is what the writers asked themselves before the film went on floor. I mean, they should be awarded for fabricating such a make- believe story of which not one sequence looks credible. Saket Chaudhary seemed eager to make a sequel after his Pyaar Ke Side/Effects being an unexpected, sleeper hit as the two lead characters were quirky, original and the plot actually made sense.Vidya Balan & Farhan Akhtar are good idiosyncratically, but they are not wacky, yet ordinary people. As a result, an ordinary story breaks out which everyone experiences in their lives. In other words, the film does not show anything new that we already already don't know, the kinda- humorous jokes notwithstanding. Starting off with the couple's fancy idea of spicing their marriage up, they immediately jump into parenthood. Then, they show how an infant can break havoc in the love life. So, I feel personally, that this film should be renamed "Parenthood Ke Side-Effects!" Because marriage only stays on-screen for a minute or two. In fact, the first sequence is so ironic to the whole idea. That sequence seemed like there ARE no side/effects.Scenes that contain humor are totally co-incidental or situational and they turned me off rather than tickling my bone. It was like fillers that we see in some cultural events which are both boring and time- consuming. Next, predictability kicks in and we are shown how selfish people can become, that is, after getting stricken with these so-called side/effects. Unwanted character (Purab) comes and goes after making a silly point (Makers should understand, we won;t believe when you show someone jumping from a 19th floor's balcony to 18th floor). Ram Kapoor's character is the only one who is believable, but then again, it was cliché. Towards the end, the characters self-realize how they are not loving themselves and letting the kid come in between. The climax is supposed to be emotional, but since the genre is comedy, it ends with the most disastrous scene in cinema history. A very poor closure.In other words, this film lacks elements that can carry a story further. Basically, it coheres itself with parts that are exaggerated. This is not at all how married couple behave when they invite a baby to their lives. It gives a wrong idea to newly married people and is a poorly made solution of utter hyperbole. To prove what? A point, maybe? Nope. To mock the whole institution.Vir Das is one good player in here and although his participation was unnecessary, the writers make us believe that he was important because it is he who maneuvers the situation for Farhan's character. Songs are blown-off party smashers and there is nothing much to consider, as far as celluloid is concerned. It was even worse that the seriousness is lost in an attempt to create humor.BOTTOM LINE: Akhtar & Balan will save the day for people (like me) who are obsessed with the theme. But I assure you, this is a very silly film. Not sticking to facts and actuality, it is a piece of exaggeration coupled with sheer imagination.Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES