Crazy Cukkad Family

Ritesh Menon's debut full length feature film is about the super eccentric Beri family. The patriarch Shri Beri (Yusuf Hussain) doesn't have much of an opinion about his children. Not that they have done anything noteworthy but Shri Beri doesn't leave any stone unturned when it comes to rubbing their face onto the ground. He uses the choicest of sardonic language available at his disposal to make them feel like scum of the earth.

The eldest of the litter of 4 is Pawan (Swanand Kirkire) who hasn't even cleared middle school. He has a reputation of impudence. Such as the time he used his school fees to buy a lottery ticket. He now owes ₹50 crores ($10 million give and take a few) to a local part time Don and full time politician all because his partner Mishra conned them.

Next up is Archana aka Archie (Shilpa Shukla) whose dreams of being Ms. India have been relegated to Mrs. India as of now. Not much success there either or with her henpecked cross dressing husband Digvijay (Ninad Kamat). Third in line is Aman (Kushal Punjabi) who is trying to con his way to a green card with his make believe wife Amy (Nora Fatehi).

At the bottom of the food chain is Abhay (Siddharth Sharma) who has immigrated to New Zealand but has to come back for a bit to get married. Why? Because Shri Beri has slipped into aroma for the third time and his “will” cannot be revealed till all his children are married. The first half of the movie is about the mad rush to get Abhay to India and the second part is a mad attempt to provide twists and turns with some comedy.

To its credit, Crazy Cukkad Family (CCF), puts in a lot of effort in building each character as much as time allows for. So you aren't left with too many questions about the characters and why they are the way they are. The dialogues and humour in the first half border on corny and slapstick but are delivered fairly well thanks to a quality set of actors.

Swanand Kirkire is the pick of the actors along with Utkarsh Mazumdar who plays the role of the Lawyer Gupta. Mazumdar is effortlessly hilarious. On the other hand, Shilpa Shukla comes out as the biggest under performer. Shukla is old and jaded not just in looks but also in acting. She is capable of much more and has shown us in the past but not this time.

Overall, CCF is a good fun family entertainer but not something that you would need to spend money on. Wait for it to hit the small screen. It is reasonably entertaining and has its moments. 5 on 10 and not a must watch by a distance.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPho_mWx-Hk