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Join UsStar Cast: Farida Jalal, Dolly Ahluwalia, Kritika Kamra, Sheeba Chaddha, Juhi Babbar Soni, Nishank Verma, and others.
Director: Anusha Rizvi
What’s Good: The simple and honest storytelling!
What’s Bad: The resolution!
Loo Break: Not needed!
Watch or Not?: Yes!
Language: Hindi
Available On: JioHotstar
Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes.
User Rating:
Once upon a time, Sooraj Barjatya said, “Family that eats together, stays together.” Years later, Karan Johar made a statement, “It’s all about loving your parents.” But these family films are all about happy and illustrious families. Just take out the glamor and zoom in on a single day in the life of a big family, and we enter the world of The Great Shamsuddin Family.
The story of the film is about one single day in the life of this family, which is mostly led by women – Farida Jalal, Sheeba Chaddha, and Dolly Ahluwalia are three sisters along with their Bhabhi Natasha Rastogi. All of them, due to different reasons, arrive at one of their children’s places but find all the children of the family together.
The Great Shamsuddin Family Movie Review: Script Analysis
In one day, plenty of issues start dropping, and how the two generations fight, discuss, agree, disagree, argue, and finally tackle those issues, forms the crux of the film, and this simple and pure film highlights the bond this entire family has, and how they handle the crisis situation together.
The story of The Great Shamsuddin Family is very simple. Farida Jalal, whom the entire family calls Akko, along with her younger sister, Dolly Ahluwalia, arrives at one of the daughters of the family, Bani’s place. They have decided to go on Hajj, but they did not know that Bani’s house had already turned into chaos with the three sisters of the family trying to tackle it quickly so that the elder group of parents would not find out!
What follows next is an entire chaos, with more issues getting added to the list. The day starts with one of the boyfriends of the girls taking 25 lakh cash and not picking up her calls. Cousins reprimand her, but do not leave her side! In an era saturated with CGI and hyper-stylized action, director Anusha Rizvi dares to build a world that gives us the ultimate antidote – a story about a living room, four arguing siblings, their issues, and 4 elders trying to figure out what crisis they’re up to now!
The Great Shamsuddin Family Movie Review: Star Performance
Farida Jalal anchors this story as the matriarch. She does what she does best – makes room for everyone to shine and be herself. She does not need any dramatic undertones or monologues to rule. With her gentle and wise presence, she makes the film genuine.
Kritika Kamra‘s maturity delivers a beautifully subtle performance as the modern daughter trying to hold on to traditions. She brings a maturity to the screen. Meanwhile, Juhi Babbar’s savage and chill persona as the eldest acts as a breather. However, her ability to switch as soon as the biggest fear of her life arrives is moving!
Purab Kohli acts as the balancing act for the subtle hints the film offers about the religious divide, but it never fully explodes into a conversation about the same. Nishank Verma and Shreya Dhanwantary, as the other two cousins, also hold the film strongly!
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The Great Shamsuddin Family Movie Review: Direction, Music
There is absolutely no grandeur; it is pure soul and conversation. Just a warm hug on a cold day, and frankly, it is a genre Hindi Cinema should explore but gives a miss! Anusha Rizvi’s film functions on core emotions, reminding us that for an average Indian, the highest stakes in life are never about saving the city from a bomb blast, the most difficult job might be what Fareeda Jalal does in the family – holding a family together. The background score helps set the mood of the film very well. It does flicker at times, but still helps the film shine throughout!
The brilliance in The Great Shamsuddin Family is the casting, where every actor is perfectly placed, creating an ensemble that feels like an actual dysfunctional family. Yours or mine, or everyone’s. Despite the religious difference, we relate to their crisis, though we might have faced none of that crisis!
Anusha Rizvi very subtly talks about the issues a Muslim family faces on a regular. The inhibitions, the stress, and the scare she might have faced, probably. I might not connect with it on the basis of religion, but I might connect with it as a woman living in this society. A sense of fear has always traveled with me while I travel in this country. And I can relate to how it feels living with fear always!
The Great Shamsuddin Family Movie Review: The Last Word
The only thing that does not work for me in the film is the resolution. The entire buildup shatters in the climax. Probably, because I might be a person carrying too pessimism, or it is just practical to believe that an ideal world does not exist, so ideal resolutions seem like a very fairy tale world.
The Great Shamsuddin Family captures the chaotic, loud, yet loving atmosphere of a joint family beautifully. They bicker, they bitch, they argue, but they never leave each other’s side. But in the end, they feel like a jaadu ki jhappi. You always need, but you never ask for it. And when you get it, you realize how much you needed this.
Though the film definitely builds a Bajrangi Bhaijaan world, it is ideal, it is cute, but it surely does not and cannot exist.
3.5 stars.
The Great Shamsuddin Family Trailer
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