09 May,2026 10:42 AM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
Neetu Kapoor and Kapil Sharma in ‘Daadi Ki Shaadi’
Kapil Sharma is a pretty decent actor. And I say so for a singular reason. That being the splendidly experiential, Nandita Das's Zwigato (2023, Prime Video). How that picture landed with him beats me. It remains a fine casting choice still.
Outside of that, India's top talk show host Kapil's secondary talent lies in selecting the most third-rate comedy scripts to star in.
Chiefly, comedies with rando newbies for female leads hovering over him as the chick-magnet/Casanova type, aiming for his audience's fantasies.
The sorts of Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 1 & 2, let alone Firangi (2017), even a smaller role in Crew (2024). Seen them all. You haven't. So, I know.
This picture kinda starts off flipping that script. In the sense that Kapil's character, for no fathomable reason, is unable to find a bride for three years, through a matchmaker.
The only likely girl (Sadia Khateeb), supposedly willing to settle into his joint family, has asked for further two years between engagement and wedding.
This too shall pass. It seems this girl's grandmother has announced her own wedding. The boy's family, apparently, can bear no such transgression - the marriage is called off. No? So I thought.
Since I did mention script - of which there ought to be an aakaal (drought) - this must be full of white spaces or queries at margins, to be dealt with later. Either way, there's no way Kapil read anything before signing up.
As it is, the movie's titled Daadi Ki Shaadi. So, it wasn't about Kapil's character. Only, within the first few minutes, you're told by the daadi (Neetu Kapoor) herself, there's no such shaadi. So, what's this film about?
I could reveal the minutest details, without an alert for a spoiler. You'd have to watch the whole movie to decode/decipher still.
It's that hard to figure, who's doing what in this movie, and for how long will it carry on, that I only felt terrible that I've shaved off my head, lately - didn't even have hair to tear by the end of it!
Consider the plot. The daadi announces her wedding on Facebook, hoping her children will come to visit/see her. As they do.
All they ever talk about is how a lonely woman could look for a partner at old age. So much for spending time. To keep the prank going, daadi enlists help of an ex-Army guy dressed like Rajinikanth, from Jailer, giving everyone a hard time.
Through all of this, Kapil's character, Tony, totally unrelated to this family, hangs out at home, entertained by everyone. What's he doing here? I don't know. Even he doesn't.
At some point, he says, he stayed on, because he lied to his own grandfather about where he was. So, he must fix this family he wishes to adopt.
The more pressing concern for him is the girl he wishes to marry in this family lacks any kinda interest in him. So, then, what are we rattling on about, anyway?
The central message of this movie is we must care more for our old parents. The setting is a beautiful bungalow in Himachal. Usually such locations make for great murder mysteries.
Which is what this movie should've been, beginning with killing off daadi's dodo sons, first - one talks/walks like a young âBrijendra Kala'; the other, perhaps, a sasta âVivek Shauq' (Jaspal Bhatti's associate, once upon a time).
The third sibling marks an entry customary to superstars on the big screen. That's Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, Neetu's daughter, who makes her Bollywood debut thus. These kids treat their mother terribly, who deserves a much better film herself.
There's a natural warmth that Neetu Kapoor brings to the big screen (always). Which must also be viewed in the context of how, at an early age, she traded movies for matrimony. It was the movies' loss. You wanna connect with her character. Sadly, I'd mentally checked out.
That's when you start observing extraneous stuff on screen. For instance, the charming old lady, who plays Neetu's friend in the film? That's Nikhat, Aamir Khan's sister.
You can find God, if you look hard enough. I was searching for at least half a joke. It's where a Shimla lawyer tells Kapil that his IQ is 160. "Start taking meds, that's your BP," Kapil tells him. What about the collectively depleting IQ of the audience?
