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Khandaani Shafakhana
Critic reviews and ratings
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Watch the film not just for the tricky theme it tackles, but also for the way it does so.
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While this film’s intent is bang on, what it really needed was a heavier dose of humour and entertainment.
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Where the film stumbles majorly is in the screenplay and editing. There is a lack of coherency in both the departments that kind of drags the film down. The film has been made with its heart in the right place.
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...tries to explore this adage with the sex taboo issue. The movie has glaring loopholes but the subject matter is so relevant.
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Debutante filmmaker Shilpi Dasgupta needed a nudge in the right direction to get all the pieces to fit and to tie the loose ends.
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...had the potential to be a transgressive piece of Cinema with its choice of theme and setup but all it ends up being is a flaccid attempt by Bollywood to capitalize on a social cause for a few extra bucks and momentary pleasure.
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A public service announcement on sex education and the taboo associated with it. Wish the writing was like its heart–in the right place.
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Shilpi’s debut effort is well-intentioned but suffers from the same hypocrisies that afflict Indian drawing rooms. Not a line of dialogue sticks and there are very few talking points in this film on sex talk...
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It’s like building a crescendo effect with all ingredients in place and allowing all elements to peter out. The end result is that it gets funny and sweet in spots, though the light moments get lost in the haze of imitation and lack of any ambition.
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I see Dasgupta wanted to have a matured dialogue about sex without the hoopla of it but her story needed stronger legs to carry the weight of her vision.
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The film wants to be funny but the writing is too weak and the feeble jokes are underlined with loud background music, cueing us to laugh. The film also wants to deliver a serious message about the importance of being open about sex – so entire scenes play out like public service announcements, in which characters espouse the cause.
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There isn’t enough humour of the gentle or wicked variety across the sluggishly-paced film to communicate its larger themes.
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Khandaani Shafakhana’s aspiration to bring sex out in the open through its protagonist Baby Bedi’s efforts at running a sex clinic in a prudish small town is all very noble. But director Shilpi Dasgupta’s flimsy storytelling and comic timing of a subject, in the same space as Vicky Donor and Shubh Mangal Savdhan, neither enlightens nor entertains.
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It’s as if the filmmakers were instructed to amp up the drama to increase the storytelling stakes — I keep picturing producers and executives asking for more conflict, the way characters in this film want more ghee on their parathas — and that hurts this film’s simple, good-natured spirit.
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...is another example that proves that Bollywood is thinking out of the box. But the subject alone isn't enough, the key is to present it in an engaging manner, with a dose of entertainment. The film tries to do so, but doesn't quite make the cut.
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...the film stays, for most part, flat, and yes, limp.
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...has many plot points—the importance of traditional medical practices for instance --that if developed carefully could have packed in a lot more punch but end up merely being missed opportunities.
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...may have a laudable message at its core, but gets bogged down by it’s own overly righteous attempt to “educate” — that sex is not gandi baat, ashleel aur aapattijanak (bad thing, obscene and unacceptable), nothing to be shameful about.
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...the best thing about this film is that it deals with a tricky subject without getting icky at any point. That apart, Khandaani Shafakhana is an opportunity lost.
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