'Bad Newz' movie review: Even Bollywood nostalgia can’t save this plotless film

Anand Tiwari’s ‘Bad Newz’ delivers what it promises by its name: bad news. A story with no plot line, no character arcs, a hasty resolution, and just plain mediocre writing makes the movie a thoroughly dissatisfying watch.

Saloni Bagga (Tripti Dimri), becomes a mother of twins by the rare occurrence of heteropaternal superfecundation. The film follows her life which led to her pregnancy by two different men at the same time and the drama that ensues from this messy situation.

The story had the potential of serving a message about women’s agency and their right over their bodies.
But the build up in the first half of the film leads to nothing as the action falls flat on every front.

Dimri, with beautiful performances in the likes of ‘Bulbbul’ and ‘Qala’, is just a stereotypical, passive heroine of mainstream cinema here, with no insightful or memorable contribution. Vicky Kaushal as the bubbly Punjabi mama’s boy Akhil Chaddha does what he can to salvage this movie, but even his swagger and occasionally humorous gimmicks clearly fail to be enough to make up for the pointless storyline. Gurbir Pannu (Ammy Virk), the other sexual encounter and potential love interest of Saloni, does absolutely nothing to be worthy of notice or comment.

The only momentary reliefs are the clear call-backs to quintessential, iconic Bollywood movies such as ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ and other such blockbuster fan favourites. However, nostalgia and metanarrative jokes have become a fairly common tool, and Tiwari does nothing new. Overall, quite an unremarkable movie. The only reason you might want to sit tight till the credits would be to enjoy Vicky’s trending moves, with Tripti dancing silently in a corner as she remains true to her character.