Heroism is in the eyes of the beholder. To Priyamvada, her son Nakul is the ultimate champion, even when all he’s doing is reading out Tambola numbers to her friends. Nakul is bored stiff, yet customarily announces each number with a humorous tag: the number 7, for instance, turns into “MS Dhoni number 7.” When his girlfriend calls and he discreetly says he’ll call her back, he looks up to see not only his mother glaring suspiciously, but all the neighbourhood aunties. Like many an Indian son, he has his hands full with mother figures.Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s Badhaai Ho is a fine, funny film about family, and about how hard it is to accept a truly unfamiliar situation, no matter how positive it may be. The Kaushiks are a simple Delhi family, living contentedly in government-allotted housing, curtains matching sofas in a flat festooned with Hanuman stickers. One night, Priyamvada discovers she’s pregnant. While this is unquestionably the most-lauded news a married woman can give an Indian family, she is too middle-aged, and too entrenched in the middle-class, to celebrate or be celebrated. Her beloved Nakul is the most torn. How can he imagine his parents doing itThe awkwardness of the situation — of parents having a child when expected to marry off their eligible son — gives rise to many a laugh.
