Bala (2019)
BALA is the story of accepting oneself despite imperfections. The year is 2005. Balmukund Shukla aka Bala (Sachin Chaudhary) is a child in Kanpur who is proud of his looks and hair. He is very popular in his school and has lot of female admirers. He is so obsessed with his looks that he even ridicules his classmate and neighbour Latika (Saniya Touqeer) over her dark complexion. The story then moves 11 years ahead. The year is 2016 and Bala (Ayushmann Khurrana) has suffered extreme premature balding. He works in the marketing team of a fairness product. Latika (Bhumi Pednekar) is a firebrand lawyer and both still can’t look eye to eye. Bala tries lot of techniques to grow his hair but nothing works. Hair transplant is an option but he can’t opt for it as he’s diabetic. With no other option in hand, Bala accepts his father Hari's (Saurabh Shukla) suggestion and opts for a wig. He is then sent to Lucknow where his company is shooting for an ad with Pari Mishra (Yami Gautam). She is a popular TikTok star and Bala has a major crush on her. He meets her during the course of the shoot and woos her. In no time both fall in love and begin a romantic relationship. Realising that things are getting serious between them, Bala feels he should tell Pari that he is bald and that he wears a wig. However he is not able to especially when he realises that for Pari, external beauty matters the most. He fears that if he confesses to Pari, she’ll dump him. Their respective families meet and the marriage is fixed. What happens next forms the rest of the film..
Rating: 3.5/5
Khurrana is wonderfully flawed, yet you root for him as he learns to accept himself — baldness and all. And that’s the bald truth..
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3.5
Gulfnews.com
3.5
5
3.5
Rating: 3.5/5
watch it for another delectable performance by Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar. You'll have lots to laugh at and with. And some to ponder about too. I'm going with 3 and a half stars..
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3.5
Bollywoodlife.com
3.5
5
3.5
Rating: 3.5/5
Ayushmann has gotten under the skin of his complex character with aplomb. The angst, the insecurity felt by him is almost palpable. Cause-based films do bring out the best in him and the question is how long his romance with such subjects would continue...
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3.5
Filmfare.com
3.5
5
3.5
Rating: 4/5
All said and done, Bala along with bringing in a house full of laughter also has something very important to say. It’s a significant message draped under the entertaining layer of humour. A MUST WATCH!.
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Rating: 3.5/5
Bala, naam toh suna hoga? Even if you haven't, you shouldn't be missing this fun ride. In Shah Rukh Khan's style, come and fall in love with yourself..
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3.5
Filmibeat.com
3.5
5
3.5
Rating: 3.5/5
Bala is human, he is flawed; he is one of us. He makes us smile. So does this delicious line, Kaushik throwing in a politically acute curveball, just like he did in Stree — ‘poora Uttar Pradesh chal raha hai bhagwaan bharose, aur bhi chal jayega’. O.
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3.5
Indianexpress.com
3.5
5
3.5
Rating: 3.5/5
On the whole, BALA not only entertains thoroughly but also delivers a very important message that will surely be lapped up by the audiences. At the box office, the film will surely benefit thanks to great word of mouth and brand Ayushmann. It will emerge .
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3.5
Bollywoodhungama.com
3.5
5
3.5
Rating: 3.5/5
This may not be a new performance, but it is an exuberant one. He seems to have found the magic formula for rising, falling and redeeming himself before those very eyes he seems to be looking at and looking through..
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Rating: 3/5
Bala benefits no end from the quality of the performances as well as from its empathy for the idiosyncrasies of small town folk, but it is the writing that is its Samson's hair: the film's power flows principally from it. The screenplay is indeed King her.
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Rating: 2.5/5
If this film had no Latika (or she was better written and appropriately cast) and the humour of the opening half had been maintained in the second, it would have been near perfect. There is a Latika though and the humour does dip, making Bala a 50-50..
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2.5
Firstpost.com
2.5
5
2.5
Rated 3.4 10
