For those who grew up watching Doordarshan, this film does not do justice to our memories.
If you can ignore that, the jokes might make you laugh but there's no guarantee, says Moumita Bhattacharjee.
Doordarshan is a name that evokes nostalgia and a fun childhood for many.
But the film does not cater to any of that!
If the film's name makes you interested in watching the film, think again.
This is a film which could have transported us to the golden days of television but ends up being a farcical mix.
Sunil (Manu Rishi Chadda) and his family of two children and a comatose mother have been residing at his friend's house for years.
His wife Priya (Mahie Gill) wants a divorce, which he is not keen on.
His son Sunny (Shardul Rana) is obsessed with erotic novels while daughter Sweety (Archita Sharma) just cannot reach school on time.
When Sunil's mother (Dolly Ahluwalia) gains consciousness after 30 years, the family feels obliged to rewind back to the late 1980s so that Biji doesn't suffer.
Why?
Because the doctor advised them not to do anything that can stress her out.
The rest of the story tells whether they manage to do so or not.
Director Gagan Puri has an interesting premise here, but fails to keep it together.
The trigger to recreate the world of 1989 seems unconvincing.
The doctor just advised them not to let her stress out but that does not mean one creates a superficial world.
There was really no need for it.
The director tries to ingest the trademark things from the '80s, including the fixing of the antenna, Ramayan and much more, which is supposed to make you remember those days. But it evokes no response.
The only time you feel slightly moved is when the signature Doordarshan logo plays out.
Words like Chitrahar, Buniyaad are liberally thrown in, but they doesn't interest you at all.
There are also unfunny jokes on the stereotypical representation of gays and a speech-impaired friend of Sweety.
Try what you may, Bollywood loves stereotypes and just can't do away with it.
Technically too, Doordarshan has been weakly mounted. There are many scenes which are grainy.
Shardul Rana's delivery of flat jokes is amusing at first, but gets repetitive even when he has the best lines in the film.
His interest in all things erotic loses sheen after a while.
Mahie Gill looks disinterested while Manu Rishi Chaddha does his best to keep the proceedings interesting.
Archita Sharma scores as Sweety. She is bright, spunky and adds some merit to the film's lackluster narrative.
Since being preachy is the norm in movies these days, there's Biji talking about the perils of a smartphone-wielding generation but the speech is neither novel nor impactful.
For those who grew up watching Doordarshan, this film does not do justice to our memories. If you can ignore that, the jokes might make you laugh but there's no guarantee.
