You don’t always need a strong, emotional tale to make a beautiful film. Sometimes, all you need is a simple story told in the simplest manner and that’s more than enough to touch your heart and soul. Director Suresh Triveni’s latest, ‘Tumhari Sulu’, is one of those films that reminds you of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s work, giving you a much-needed slice of real life.
Triveni’s story of a middle-class family is so heart-warming that from the first frame to the last, you are totally invested in the story.
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The film tells the tale of Sulochana Dubey (Vidya Balan) aka Sulu of the Jal Padma Housing Society, a happy-go-lucky housewife who lives with her husband Ashok (Manav Kaul) and son Pranav (Abhishek Sharma) in Virar, Mumbai. More often than not, she cooks up silly plans to do something or the other. Fortunately, she lands the role of a late-night radio jockey. Her sexy voice and her unique perspective in dealing with people’s problems makes it an adventurous ride until reality catches up with her.
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Breaking the glamorous rulebook that Bollywood has preached for a very long time, Triveni shatters the stereotype that female protagonists cannot be funny and turns it on its head. And boy, Vidya totally nails it. She’s is the emotional and comedic core of the film.
Sulu is crazy and mad but her story isn’t something to laugh about. This isn’t your regular Rohit Shetty film where people crack bizarre jokes, but Sulu’s one-liners are incredibly relatable. You actually feel that you are sitting in your own house and someone is cracking those jokes around you.
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Be it Sulu’s extended family or the people around her…….the film gives off such a genuine atmosphere that it looks like someone is portraying a true story on the big screen. Understanding what the audience likes to see, the debutant director brings the common man and woman’s problems to the big screen. It’s sad that most Bollywood films miss out on this very real feeling.
This is a film that Vidya totally deserves, and who would have known that she could make you laugh so much? There is no one who could have played Sulu the way she did. You will fall in love with Sulu and admire her because she is so damn relatable.
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Vidya takes you on a laughathon but keeps the character grounded by not ridiculing the role even for a moment, which is a tough job to do. Radio Wow’s Maria, the head of the organisation (Neha Dhupia) and RJ Albeli Anjali (Malishka Mendonsa) are amazed at Sulu but that had been explained perfectly. Everything happens in a streamlined process in the film and nothing is sudden, making it very human.
Neha and Maliksha are great in their respective roles and it’s lovely to see Neha donning the boss’s hat.
Manav Kaul comes as a complete surprise as he’s a man who is often seen playing villainous roles. In this film though, he is incredibly adorable and brings out emotions so brilliantly that Ashok’s character feels incredibly real and not fictitious. Well, if you actually had a guy who could dance to ‘Ban Jaa Tu Meri Rani’ like he did, he is indeed a keeper!
What makes ‘Tumhari Sulu’ so impactful is the fact that it gives you an insight into a relationship, where you understand the importance of small things in life and understand how a family works. And, how for two people to live happily, it is important to accept each other’s idiosyncrasies wholeheartedly as well.
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A humorous film can lose its pace when entering emotional territory, but Triveni makes sure nothing is out of the place. Despite the amount of tears you’ll cry, you’ll fall for Sulu, Ashok and Pranav’s chemistry.
Don’t forget to watch this well woven story of aspiration and achieving extraordinary feats in your ordinary life. Sulu, Ashok, and Pranav will definitely tug the right chords in your heart! With its fresh narrative, heart-warming emotions, ‘Tumhari Sulu’ is surely one of the most entertaining films of the year.