Review - Saas Bahu Aur Sensex: By a woman, of some women, for really no one

Saas Bahu Aur Sensex

wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do ^(?)

quick review:

The connection between the three entities of the title are contrived. You can't make head or tail of the plot because logistics go for a toss!

Director: Shona Urvashi

Cast: Tanushree Datta, Masumeh Makhija, Kirron Kher, Farouque Shaikh, Ankur Khanna

Running time: 140 minutes

Genres: Comedy

More Movie Info

"Flat but OK". - This is how a TV channel describes the graph of the sensex at one point of time in the movie. "Flat and not OK" is what would describe the entire movie at any given point. Saas Bahu aur Sensex is about a few women living together in an apartment complex. In an industry where women are mere props in most movies, it is heartening to see someone take the courage to make a movie about everyday housewives. But, the plot is so lifeless that there is hardly any excitement or motivation to get involved with the characters.

No doubt it was refreshing to see Kirron Kher as a non-Punjabi, non-loud personality. Also, Tanushree Dutta and Mausameh made a decent show of their introverted and extroverted characters respectively. I was surprised to know that the lady playing the Punjabi from Delhi was actually Sharon Prabhakar! She looked different and annoyed, as, I guess, the character was meant to do. Farouque Shaikh was adorable in his character blushing and getting frustrated alternately. Ankur Khanna managed to make you care for his character but the writing, especially for the climax of his particular character, was unforgivably lame.

So was the climax of the movie. The writing, in general, was just too incoherent to make any sense of the characters' motivations. Or, the motivations are so plain that the person seems unbelievable. A representative of each community/geographical region is picked and laced with stereotypes. Details have no place whatsoever. Things happen and you are expected to accept. The guy who runs the training for accent neutralization in a call center easily bags jobs for his friends. Passage of time is really difficult to follow too. You feel like events are happening on consecutive days, but that doesn't fit in with the way they are laid out. Nope! It doesn't have a great sense of humor either.

It might be about woman power but you are turned off by the flimsy writing itself. Let us just hope that in some way it is a harbinger of good times ahead. The Sensex is shown to touch 30,000. Isn't that the hope we need given its behavior in recent times?

- meeta, a part of the audience

21 reviewers^(?) - 3 yays 3 so-so 15 nays

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

Thumbs up, by Goher Iqbal Punn, Radio Sargam : ...Ankur Khanna is wonderful to watch also. The rest of the cast enacts well too.... full review

Thumbs up, by Spicezee Bureau, Zee News : ...fairly enjoyable in bits and parts... full review

So-So, by Sanskriti Media, AOL INDIA : ...Then Binita begins a bhashan and finishes the film, literally and metaphorically.... full review

So-So, by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM : ...Masumeh looks every inch the seductress and gets to perform in the latter part.... full review

So-So, by Gaurav Malani, indiatimes : ...the director’s stance on sensex seems to be as ambiguous as a layman’s comprehension of the medium... full review

Thumbs down, by Aparajita Ghosh, Apun Ka Choice : ...Firstly, the duration of the film is painfully long with a couple of unnecessary sequences... full review

Thumbs down, by Abhishek Mande, Buzz18 : ...Somewhere even Farooque Sheikh's affable Parsi character gets to you after a time... full review

Thumbs down, by Yasser Usmaan, DearCinema : ...the debut venture of Hollywood’s Warner Brothers. I’m sure they must be regretting their decision.... full review

Thumbs down, by S Viswanath, Deccan Herald : ...The saving grace being versatile Farooq Sheikh, as bumbling, blustering broker and Kirron Kher, an able foil wading her way into new life.... full review

Thumbs down, by Martin D'Souza, Glamsham.com : ...the movie has nothing to do with Saas, Bahu or Sensex.... full review

Thumbs down, by Khalid Mohamed, Hindustan Times : ...Tanushree, without dollops of make-up, is eminently likeable... full review

Thumbs down, by Rajeev Masand, IBN Live : ...Sloppier than a class four English essay, the script of Saas Bahu Aur Sensex is its biggest failing.... full review

Thumbs down, by Janhvi Patel, indya.com : ...Nobody could have played Firoz Sethna better than Farooque Sheikh and it is a delight to see Sheikh and Kher together... full review

Thumbs down, by Meena Iyer, Mumbai Mirror : ...They also gossip needlessly and when better sense dawns on them, they use their grocery money to trade on stocks.... full review

Thumbs down, by Anupama Chopra, NDTV : ...created a film that is devoid of depth, textures and even a narrative arc... full review

Thumbs down, by Ashok Nayak, Now Running.com : ...Shona has the talent but needs to be nurtured... full review

Thumbs down, by Prasanna Zore, Rediff : ...This is, however, a sore attempt to ape Aziz Mirza's Nukkad or Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman characters albeit in a plush environ.... full review

Thumbs down, by Sonia Chopra, Sify Movies : ...The story-telling takes till after the interval to establish its premise, which is unforgivable.... full review

Thumbs down, by Nikhat Kazmi, Times of India : ... the film is essentially an assortment of love stories, young and old, half-baked and full-blown. And the romance too is largely lack lustre.... full review

Thumbs down, by Nitesh Rohit, Upper Stall : ...The film starts with a wedding and ends with one, but everything between this divide is rubbish.... full review

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Plot Summary

Mrs. Sen (Kirron Kher) moves into an apartment complex with her daughter Nitya (Tanushree Dutta). They befriend other women in their respective age groups. Mrs. Sen needs to sell some of her investments due to her dire financial situation. She ends up being the messiah of the women in her complex to earn money on the stock exchange.

What Worked

Not much.

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

Why does Mrs. Sen tell her daughter, "you know we can't stay with your father" when the daughter really has no clue. And how come she didn't want to know any more at that point?
The first wedding looked like it had only people from the society and no relatives.
I cannot imagine so many women going together for grocery shopping! A visit to a mall or even window shopping would have been believable.
Ankur Khanna looked too young to get married.
However dumb one might think women are, I doubt any of them take their daily dose of exercise walks with high heels on. That too three of them together!

Parental Guidance:

Violence: None.
Sexual content: A couple of scenes in pubs and women dressed skimpily. Other than that, it's pretty clean.
Concept: There isn't any strong coherent concept flowing through the movie, really.