A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

'Shaadi Ke Side Effects' has its share of glorious moments & spirited performances working for it, but an erratic screenplay plays a spoilsport. 'Shaadi Ke Side Effects' Synopsis: A complicated relationship develops between a man & woman after they get married & have a baby.'Shaadi Ke Side Effects', at first, seems pro anti-marriage. But, later comes on to its favor. Its an erratic film, that chooses different sides in phases. A consistent mood & pace, is also missing!However, a few light moments cannot be forgotten. The humor in the first-hour is first-rate, even some of its characters, are indeed interesting. How one wishes if Writer/Director Saket Chaudhary's Screenplay had been much stronger. His Direction, on the other-hand, is fair. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are standard. Music by Pritam is decent.Performance-Wise: Farhan, now a seasoned actor, dominates the show with an earnest performance. Vidya Balan is good, though her character comes across more as negative than positive. Ram Kapoor is very funny. His scenes stand out. Vir Das hams. Rati Agnihotri & Ila Arun shine in brief roles.On the whole, 'Shaadi Ke Side Effects' is a half-baked fare.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects starts with the apparent one-night stand between a frustrated husband (due to wife's endlessly watching TV serials) and a frustrated wife (due to a workaholic husband). The Director Saket Chaudhary has made this as a sequel to his first movie – Pyar Ke Side Effects (starring Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat).Sid (Siddharth), essayed by Farhan Akhtar and Trisha, played by Vidya Balan try to keep the passion and fire alive in their relationship through quirky games. The director tries to build up the plot slowly but definitely the dialogues have kept a few shots very realistic. Probably it is the story of almost every household (Ekta is trying to narrate घर घर की कहानी) that a couple very much in love with each other takes their relationship to the next level to marriage and later to parenthood. Movie certainly gives an insight into the fact that the initial love, care, concern, passion vanishes, rather the very intention of enjoying the togetherness through marital bliss fails. Sid is in constant fight with the self and wants to enjoy his singleton days and enjoy parties, friends, watching sports etc. and on the other hand Trisha is in constant nagging mode due to complexities of post- delivery anxiety syndromes (weight gain, leaving career for motherhood). All Trisha can think off is in regard to the baby and all Sid can think off how "it used to be earlier". The communication between them hits a low pitch and frequency. Ranvir (Ram Kapoor), brother-in-law of Sid advises him to spice up his marital life with occasional white lies, and having some "Me-Time" and re-living the joys of a carefree single life. The movie depicts that one is not able to appreciate what is in the hands and looks out to escape from daily mundane and monotonous life.Crucial piece of advice by Sid : if the male partner commits mistake, please apologize, and in case the female partner commits mistake, still the male partner has to apologize and life would go on Mothers feel that they are instinctively the best mothers in the world whereas the fathers have to take special efforts to be the 'best dad in the world'.I kept wondering, aren't certain trivial reasons cause marital drudgery, relationship failures, infidelity issues and extramarital affairs ??? I felt that every couple must watch the movie not because the movie is great but because it would definitely give insight into how we perceive our marital relationship, how we look at our partner, how we treat our partner, how we handle the commitment of togetherness, how we cope up with the transition from being a single to a couple, to being parents, how we handle our love, how we take the relationship / situations / partners for granted, how one tries to generate a feeling of jealousy / insecurity in the other, how we point our fingers at our partners but ultimately end up doing the same 'mistake' Some shots take a dig at all these things in a humoursitic manner.Farhan is natural, spontaneous with his straight faced wits. Vidya is believable. This movie is being told from the perspective of Sid, though Vidya's perception is also shown in certain shots.Of course the movie has its own flaws. The plot could have been handled far more brilliantly. It is bizarre to see a struggling musician being able to manage a pretty decent lifestyle in spite of the transition of status from double-income to single-income. A few characters are introduced just to stretch the story. Other cast viz. Vir Das (room partner to Sid), Gautami Kapoor (Trisha's sister-in-law), Rati Agnihotri (Trisha's widowed mother), Purab Kohli (Shekhar – a neighbor), Ila Arun (Maid) are completely wasted in the movie. One good aspect of the movie is that it is without any melodrama.Music (Music Direction – Pritam Chakraborty; Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya, Guest Lyricist – Mikey Mclleary) is not very promising.Cinematography is OK, nothing special to point out.Costumes of Farhan suits to the tone of the movie but Vidya should have been given a few good costumes.

Why would you lie to your partner though? To assuage guilt? Avoid confrontation? Allan and Barbara Pease, in their iconic book on behavior of the "other" side- Why Men Lie and Women Cry, talked of how men, compulsive liars that they are, actually suck at lying. Even though the narrative is straight off a guy's perspective, the best thing about Shaadi ke Side Effects is its real characters. The sequel to 2006's entertaining romantic comedy, Pyaar ke Side Effects and (helmed by the original director Saket Chowdhury), which to date remains Mallika Sherawat's only memorable role, brings back the same characters who are now married and expecting their first child. And it starts off pretty well- inspired from one of Phil and Claire Dumphy's role playing dates from Modern Family. So many women out there like Trisha Roy (Vidya Balan), who let their lives take a U turn once they become mothers. Out goes career, husband and friends, and their life is controlled by diapers, baby monitors, maids and baby food. And so many guys out there like Siddharth Roy (Farhan Akhtar) who consider the child as a competitor, and a hindrance to their definition of happy married life. "If you make a mistake, say sorry. If she makes a mistake, you say sorry"The first half has its funny moments, and most of it derived due to Farhan's effortless charm and comic timing. Actor, director, singer- is there anyone more talented than this guy in Bollywood today? Being very much a guy's viewpoint of marriage, Vidya gets the short straw. Her Trisha is the nagging wife, the overprotective mother, one who carries her post motherhood weight with nonchalance, much to the chagrin of Sid. Come second half, and things nosedive spectacularly as Ram Kapoor tells Sid to find some white lies derived "me time". New characters pop up- Ila Arun's matronly maid, Vir Das's cool dude, and Purab Kohli's helpful neighbor. And the film plunges into stereotype Indian melodrama when Sid's alter ego time is equated to being akin to having an affair. The screenplay is a letdown, as after the mandatory crying, all ends well though for the couple, but not for the viewer.Balaji Telefilms deserves a pat for the past- weepy serials notwithstanding, their film portfolio has demonstrated a lot of gumption- Love, Sex aur Dhoka, Ragini MMS, The Dirty Picture, Lootera have been daringly different. Shaadi ke Side Effects starts off as trying to be different, a modern take on relationships, but end ups clichéd. The humor is extremely American sitcom inspired, and the so called funny jokes mostly reside on an average guy's whatsapp list. The movie is technically sound, well shot and designed, with good performances, and pretty like a bouquet of flowers, but unlike Pyar ke Side Effects, this one lacks warmth.A happy marriage is an oxymoron. We all know that, and probably didn't need a 2.5 hour movie to drive that point in- 5/10

The movie is good at points and that the summary of this entire movie. If you need to look at, you'd like the first half more than second half. After interval the movie just seems to drag too much without much of a logic and coherence. End is slightly predictable but it is ideal for the movie. Bacche Hone Ke Side Effects would have been right title for the movie. Because it all starts with a baby in family. The typical husband-wife things are not in enough quantity and its so very particular to the type of couple they are. Frankly, the movie wasn't up to the mark and falls below the expectation. I simply couldn't connect the husband-wife and kid in the family - they all looked disjointed and wasn't felt like a family. Shaadi Ke side effects had to be generic in nature just because the message it has - but it went too specific to a particular type of couple and then didn't justify the title it had. Best of the acting came from Ram Kapoor - his dialogs delivery and conviction on them was simply amazing and live wire of the movie. Vidya and Farhan's pair doesn't look sparkling and it disappoints slightly. Individually, they have acted very well. Couple of songs are good and the don't bore you much. Script is disappointing and so is the editing. Struggling music director Farhan in the film seems to be living very comfortable life with staying in hotels - buying bikes as he wishes etc.The movie is full of promotions - Cars, bikes, cloths, TVs, phones, hospitals - everything has been branded nicely to get sponsor money. Looked sad to see all that. Its just tad too much.Overall, I wont be too excited to watch this film. Its strictly a decent watch but not up to the mark.