​Angrezi Medium – Half Baked, Big Hearted Film

Director Homi Adajania's Hindi movie Angrezi Medium starring Irrfan Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Radhika Madan and Deepak Dobriyal, has received mixed reviews and ratings from the critics and audience.

Angrezi Medium is a comedy-drama, which is the spin-off to the 2017 comedy Hindi Medium. Bhavesh Mandalia, Gaurav Shukla, Vinay Chhawall and Sara Bodinar have written script for the film, which has been produced by Dinesh Vijan and Jyoti Deshpande under the banner Maddock Films. The movie has received a U certificate from the censor board and its runtime is 2.25 hours.

The film begins by introducing Irrfan as Champak Bansal, owner of one of two Ghasitaram sweet shops in the same locality of Udaipur -- the other belonging to his brother Gopi (Deepak Dobriyal). The two brothers are normally busy bickering over whose shop represents the 'real and original' Ghasitaram brand. Champak is a single parent, taking care of his teenage daughter Tarika (Radhika Madan). The girl has a big dream. She wants to pursue higher studies at a top university in the United Kingdom.

Performance: As usual, Irrfan Khan has delivered a brilliant performance, which is the highlight of Angrezi Medium. Radhika Madan has done her best and her acting is one of the attractions of the film. Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepak Dobriyal, Dimple Kapadia, Ranvir Shorey, Pankaj Tripathi, Kiku Sharda and others have done justice to their roles, say the critics and audience.

Technically Angrezi Medium has decent production values and picturisation, background score and punch lines are the attractions on the technical front, add the viewers.

The first half represents change, the second half tradition. The film tries setting up adequate drama using that premise, as the narrative moves from Udaipur to London. In the process, the story also tries creating space to talk of too many issues. There is the obvious theme of the young generation's fetish for foreign universities, and the question of how expensive world-class education continues to be. The screenplay also talks of teen rebellion and the generation gap. A cameo by Dimple Kapadia is used to highlight loneliness among the aged.

The urge to squeeze in too many subplots and characters takes its toll as the film, after an engaging build-up in the first hour, meanders in the post-interval portion before reaching a rather insipid ending. What rescues the film from sinking are the three performances that matter. Irrfan, Deepak Dobriyal and Radhika Madan are first-rate.

We would perhaps have ended saying "Angrezi Medium" is a good idea gone waste -- except that as the storyline slips with every passing minute - you begin to wonder if there was an idea to begin with.