Heyy Babyy poster

Heyy Babyy

wogma rating: Add to that never-watched 'To Watch' list (?)

quick review:

Absolutely run-of-the-mill slapstick is in-charge of the first half of the movie. Interestingly though, the second half is taken over mostly by my kind of good subtle humor. And that's what makes this one worth a DVD rental.

Read more
Director: Sajid Khan
Running time: 145 minutes
More Movie Info

I marvel at how little time a story writer can spend on his characters. A 1-in-3 character will do (1 personality in 3 characters, duh!?) when there are shaking hips and comedy to take its place. Absolutely run-of-the-mill slapstick is in-charge of the first half of the movie. Interestingly though, the second half is taken over mostly by my kind of good subtle humor. And that's what made this one worth it for me.

Who needs narratives when we have Akshay Kumar's 3-minute description of 3 characters, right? As Akshay's voiceover started annoying me, I let my mind wander around...

(Sort-of random thought – Maybe slapstick was meant to be silent, you know - Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy or even Mr. Bean - one element less to irritate me.)

...people around me are whistling and hooting at every single barely-clad woman who comes on screen...

(Random thought - I am touched! Not only the writer/director, but the audience too has immense respect for women.)

...back to slapstick. Someone is reading my sort-of random thought. Words are replaced by a typical comedy feature - a fast forward action set to loud and pacy background music. No-no - I am not saying I wanted to see it at a slower pace (Gawd, NO!). Why does our new breed of directors need to resort to this cumbersome technique? Has all that needs to be explored in editing techniques been explored? I am sure there was a day and age when this was absolutely hilarious, but don't we need a little more than this to make us laugh? Maybe not. The full house (at an 8.45 AM show) was laughing its heart out. And they laughed again - the second time this technique was used in the span of 15 minutes...

(More random thought – Whose fault is it that I am doing all this random thinking? Since I refuse to blame it on a human being, I blame it on the inimitable art of repetition.)

...Oh wow! Barely-clad women gone!! Does Sajid Khan have a random-thought-reading contraption? Well, I know I do - exactly what I expect is happening on screen. And the few times the story is not predictable, they have left out explanations altogether. Anyway, cut to song...

(Not-so random thought – There should be a better way of expressing, "this child has changed my life" than - 'tune jeena sikhlaaya, tune mujhe insaan banaaya' (you've taught me how to live, you've made me into a human being)

How about these two lines that a lay-person generated in 5 minutes... 'Nazar badli meri ya ye nazaare? Tere nazaare se badli hai dil ki niyatein' (Has the view changed or my vision? With you in view this heart has changed its intention))

INTERVAL

...Huh? Did they just start another movie by mistake? Where's the mandatory shouting gone? Suddenly, I have interesting and non-repetitive dialogues. Wow! Actual tongue-in-cheek humor, tangy one-liners!! Though the super-melodrama is here to stay, I am ecstatic that the movie is getting better and am laughing out really loud...

(Not-at-all random thought - The more randomly I think, the better the movie gets. Maybe, it's my wandering mind that is making the movie improve. Or maybe I shouldn't start taking credit just yet)

...oh, this is an interesting style of narration. Huge chunks of the story are narrated just by way of dialogue and finished off in five minutes. And huge chunks of time are taken to narrate the slow-moving parts of the story. Even-paced movies generally are better at retaining my attention, but interesting style nevertheless...

(Back to random thought - Am I getting more responsive as Baby Johaina is getting more responsive? She is doing a good job of acting. Oh wait, no-one can make an 8-month old act. She is a natural!)

...oops, what's wrong with Vidya Balan? Why is she so stiff, no body language? Where did she learn this non-acting? Hopefully, not from Fardeen Khan. On the other hand, Ritiesh Deshmukh is the regular amount of tolerable, and Akshay Kumar's comic timing is awesome in some of the scenes. But the star is Babyy Johaina - her expressions are the best...

(Real random thought - When the universe was made how many more senses were generated. What were they? How were the current five (six?) chosen and why were the others discarded?)

...yep, that's how uninteresting the climax is...This one would have been an absolute dud for me but for the comedy post-interval.

THE END

- meeta, a part of the audience

21 reviewers(?) - 11 yays 4 so-so 6 nays

Warning: clicking on "full review" will take you to an external website that could contain spoilers.

Thumbs up, by Aditi Oberoi, Bolly Spice : ...Cinematography of the film is amazing... full review

Thumbs up, by Rachel Fernandes, Bollywood Mantra : ...Nonetheless despite these flaws, the film comes across as a masala comic caper that entertains as well as manages to touch emotions... full review

Thumbs up, by Hetal Adesara, Business of Cinema : ...laced with all the right ingredients that make for an entertainer... full review

Thumbs up, by Lakshmy Ramanathan, DNA : ...gets back on track thanks to good performances, foot-tapping music... full review

Thumbs up, by Martin D'souza, Glamsham.com : ...Though it’s meant to be a comedy, it tells a stirring story;... full review

Thumbs up, by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM : ...The writing ... hits a high note in the first hour... full review

Thumbs up, by Sunil Chaudhary, MovieWalah : ...The comedy sequences, prevent the movie from being a stupid melodrama movie.... full review

Thumbs up, by Subhash K Jha, Now Running.com : ... You can't fault the narrative... full review

Thumbs up, by Hanumant Bhansali, Radio Sargam : ...While the glossy look and horny humour will keep the youth busy, it’s the emotional scenes that make Heyy Babyy a wholesome experience.... full review

Thumbs up, by Nikhat Kazmi, Times of India : ...It's primarily the performances that save Heyy Babyy from being another run-of-the-mill comedy... full review

So-So, by Aparajita Ghosh, Apun Ka Choice : ...Sajid follows a simple formula – to have at least one interesting sequence in every reel.... full review

So-So, Bollyvista.com : ...Technically, this a very shoddy product, but then one is definitely not looking at technical finesse when a funnyman turns director... full review

So-So, by Amit R Agarwal, merinews : ...would have been much more enjoyable if trimmed by at least 30 minutes.... full review

So-So, by Ashok Nayak, Now Running.com : ...the pace tends to dip in the later part of the first half.... full review

Thumbs down, by Angel Rani, Deccan Herald : ...Divya Balan appears late and doesn’t have much to do.... full review

Thumbs down, by Khalid Mohamed, Hindustan Times : ...They’re to be taken deliriously, not seriously – just a brunch of joke-`n’-junk food. Dig in, digest the watchamacallit, never mind the acidity and burps.... full review

Thumbs down, by Rajeev Masand, IBN Live : ...Sajid Khan doesn't know when to end the joke... full review

Thumbs down, by Kaushik Chatterji, J.A.M : ...So there's excess of a particular aspect and complete lack of everything else in virtually every scene... full review

Thumbs down, by Vaibhav Wankhede, M TV : ...something which can only be described as unfunny and filmi... full review

Thumbs down, by Raja Sen, Rediff : ...The director hams.... full review

Twitter reviews for this movie are not available.

2 readers - 1 yays 1 so-so 0 nays

Yay! Thumbs Up, by Durable Goods

So-So, by Consumer Goods

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Arush (Akshay Kumar), Al (Fardeen Khan), and Tanmay (Ritiesh Deshmukh) are your conventional womanizer bachelors who share an apartment. One fine day, a baby is left at their doorstep and their life changes.

What Worked

  • There are a couple scenes where the reflection of the person on screen shows up on a glass article in the room, like a glass cupboard or a television. This has been done very creatively.
  • The guy with the Jack Sparrow look. Make-up was awesome!
  • The cheering Shah Rukh Khan received from the audience. It was more than that the 15+ girls put together received in the title song.

What did not

Note: This section simply lists the things that I did not like in this movie. This is not the overall impression about this movie. Please read the full review here

  • Am I the only one who has a problem with the titles coming on while there are strong and interesting visuals in the background? Are the cast and crew so dispensable? Especially, when the name of the producer and director comes up against a solid yellow background with nothing to distract the audience.
  • Dubbing is off in some scenes. E.g, Hrishita Bhatt's scene.
  • Why is a Church door closed on a Christmas night? And why won't anyone open it?
  • The lighting in the hospital room. I am sure it was intentional knowing Sajid Khan's sense of humor, but it didn't quite work for me.
  • The language inconsistency of the characters. Arush uses broken English at most times and suddenly uses a word like "audacity". Al doesn't understand what "napunsak" (impotent) means in the first half and speaks pure Hindi in the second half.
  • In the airport scene, the baby is shown lying down in one scene and then sitting up in the next and then lying down again.
  • Fardeen Khan's puffy look

Nitty-Gritty

This section lists things that I think are not important to the overall impact of the movie. In most cases, it could be explained away by something like, "we noticed the glitch after the scene was shot and there were schedule/budget issues and thus we could not re-shoot it". I like giving the makers the benefit of doubt, but I am amused nevertheless. Hopefully, they will tickle you too.

  • How does one get dry baby food on their face in a perfect shape? Akshay Kumar gets it on his face exactly to cover his eyes.
  • Some kids at the birthday party were smiling when they were supposed to be scared.
  • Why were all the kids in the same dress and hairstyle at this party? Were they sent a dress-and-hair-do code with the invite?
  • Why are Polaroid snapshots coming out of a video camera?
  • The girl coming to ask about "saat phere" at the wedding is so staged, that it is ridiculous even for a movie of this genre.

Heyy Babyy - Cast, crew, links

Director:
Supporting Cast:
Dialogues:
Cinematography:
Choreography:
Running time:
145 minutes
Reviewer:
Language:
Country:

Comments (4)

Click here for new comment

Review - Heyy Babyy...

Absolutely run-of-the-mill slapstick is in-charge of the first half of the movie. Interestingly though, the second half is taken over mostly by my kind of good subtle humor. And that's what makes this one worth a DVD rental. ...

[...] Original post by meetu [...]

Hi jeebon, as unimaginative as it may sound, time is my genuine problem - I am a part-time reviewer (note, not a critic). I can watch and review only one movie on a Friday. I generally choose to watch the more popular one - the movie most of the readers are likely to want to read about. I try to watch the second release on Monday, but that is not necessarily always possible. Unfortunately that means some movies get left out.

Another random thought - maybe there should be 48 hours in a Friday!

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to give me feedback.

oh!its just a out standing film i have ever seen .So much comedy and so much laugh.................................................

Leave a Comment