{"id":92178,"date":"2019-11-08T17:34:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T12:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=92178"},"modified":"2019-11-10T16:19:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T10:49:14","slug":"movie-review-bala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/reviews\/movies-reviews\/movie-review-bala","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: Bala"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bala<\/a>
Bollywood Movie Bala starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Yami Gautam and Bhumi Pednekar<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the director of \u2018Stree\u2019, Bala is a comedy-drama which talks about a sensitive subject like premature balding and how it impacts a person\u2019s psyche to a significant extent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Directed by<\/span><\/strong>\u2013<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Amar Kaushik<\/span><\/p>\n

Produced by<\/span><\/strong>\u2013<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Dinesh Vijan<\/span><\/p>\n

Written by<\/span><\/strong>\u2013<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Niren Bhatt<\/span><\/p>\n

Starring<\/span><\/strong>\u2013 Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam, Javed Jaffrey<\/span><\/p>\n

Plot<\/span><\/h2>\n

Balmukund Shukla\u00a0<\/span>aka\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Bala played by\u00a0<\/span>Ayushmann Khurrana<\/span><\/em>, a fairness products sales agent in Kanpur, live through a soul-crushing complex of baldness and the apprehensions comes with it. After rejections and contemptuous ridicule and mockery from the society, he falls for a Tik-Tok star Pari Mishra played by\u00a0<\/span>Yami Gautam<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and marry her by camouflaging his weakness under a wig. But what will happen when the truth comes out?<\/span><\/p>\n

Analysis<\/span><\/h2>\n

The film has an unambiguous approach of telling a story of discrimination based on appearance. It has touched upon the struggle of baldness and the obsession with fair complexion by contradicting itself by painting a comparatively fair actor with many shades of dark. An inaccuracy which we have recently seen in \u2018Super 30\u2019 where dark complexion has been used as a device to portray an intelligent man, however, belongs to the lower strata of the society.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than often, the fixation with looks as defined by the society \u2013 reflects in our films \u2013 or the movie that burlesque a bone of contention that becomes a part of our culture \u2013 healthful or not is a different discussion altogether. Still, surely it has become a vicious circle, so to say. It is a perennial problem of Bollywood to talk about a real subject with clone representation. Hysterically, another contradiction the film has is with its casting \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Yami Gautam<\/span><\/em>, a brand ambassador of a fairness cream since 2012, is part of a movie which talks about\u00a0<\/span>lookism<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Undeterred by its flaws, how Bala stands out is, it does resist to jeer on its characters struggling with self-worth and belief in oneself. The role of Latika played by\u00a0<\/span>Bhumi Pednekar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is shown to be a confident woman who feels good in her skin in spite of society, continually looking down upon her due to her complexion. And needless to say, obstacles in marriage prospects is sure to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one hand, where men have been shown in the place of privilege (mostly) when it comes to marriage,\u00a0<\/span>Kaushik<\/span><\/em>\u00a0has portrayed synchronicity in the life of Bala and Latika played by\u00a0<\/span>Bhumi Pednekar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0who goes through several rejections -former for baldness, latter for dark complexion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pednekar<\/span><\/em>\u2018s confidence with her looks regardless of unconventional complexion is a simple yet powerful comment on society\u2019s beauty standards but somehow comes across insincere by portraying its another woman character as superficial. Part, a Tik Tok star is a self-identified shallow character who admits \u201cmy looks are all I have\u201d \u2013 who feels betrayed when her husband\u2019s truth reveals before her.<\/span><\/p>\n

With its comic, fun elements such as a typical\u00a0<\/span>Kanpuriya<\/span><\/em>\u00a0dialect, frivolousness in its language keeps Bala an enjoyable watch with a subject of significance which couldn\u2019t be told better than now, without being preachy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film is not an intellectual comprehension of the issue it is dealing with; neither does it claim to be. But it is a commercially viable film with a message which has the potential to make people empathetic towards those who are subject to mockery for their appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the director of \u2018Stree\u2019, Bala is a comedy-drama which talks about a sensitive subject like premature balding and how it impacts a person\u2019s psyche to a significant extent. Directed by\u2013\u00a0Amar Kaushik Produced by\u2013\u00a0Dinesh Vijan Written by\u2013\u00a0Niren Bhatt Starring\u2013 Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam, Javed Jaffrey Plot Balmukund Shukla\u00a0aka\u00a0Bala played by\u00a0Ayushmann Khurrana, a fairness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19872,"featured_media":91310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10345],"tags":[718,11463,8682,10723,5903,6674,10659,5829],"class_list":{"0":"post-92178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies-reviews","8":"tag-ayushmann-khurrana","9":"tag-bhumi-pednekar","10":"tag-bollywood-movies","11":"tag-bollywood-movies-2019","12":"tag-javed-jaffrey","13":"tag-movie-review","14":"tag-movie-review-2019","15":"tag-yami-gautam"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19872"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92178"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92238,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92178\/revisions\/92238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}