- Movie Name:Toilet Ek Prem katha
- Critics Rating: 3 / 5
- Release Date: 11-08-2017
- Director: Shree Narayan Singh
- Genre: Comedy-Drama
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha created a massive anticipation among people, firstly for being Akshay Kumar’s second film in the year 2017, secondly for being spun around a rather serious concern of open defecation in India. Directed by Shree Narayan Singh, the movie is largely based around the campaign Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by Government of India, while tackling the highly-debate subject of open defecation crisis in India. It features the superstar Akshay Kumar in the lead role along with Bhumi Pednekar as the female protagonist. Let’s review the film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and give it a once over whether the film lives up to our expectations or not.
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha Box Office Collection
Akshay Kumar's film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha manages to do a fair business on its opening day. It mints Rs. 13.10 crore on Friday. However, on Saturday, the film did a good business and showed immense growth in earnings. According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the movie performed well post afternoon. On Saturday it minted Rs. 17 crore. The film being based on a social issue is expected to see a surge on Independence Day.
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha Synopsis
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is a love story which follows its leads Keshav and Jaya whose lives are dishevelled by the practice of open defecation in the rural settings of the country. Jaya, belonging to a progressive family, decides to abandon her husband’s house due to lack of toilets. In view of the events, Keshav embarks on a mission to wipe open defecation off his village’s face. He desperately stands out, fighting the conventional norms of the villagers alone and tries to win his love back over by establishing ‘Sulabh Shouchalaya’ in his village. Will he be able to change the primeval beliefs of his people? Will Jaya ever come back to his love?
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha Review
The film starts with a goofy note where Akshay Kumar is seen being hitched to a buffalo comically named ‘Mallika’, in order to shoo away the ‘Mangal Dosh’ from his Kundli. This sheds light on the age-old outlook of rural India present even in the times of smartphone. On one hand, Keshav and rest of villagers are seen using smartphones and LED televisions while at the same time they’re seen clicking their tongues on the mere mention of toilets inside their houses.
There are not one but many moments, where the film gets preachy and like a school teacher with his glasses on his nose. But the lectures are more needed than forced in the film. While majority of people keeps their blaming finger pointed towards the government bodies for the lack of toilets, the movie takes us to a rather unseen tendency among the people in rural settings. The film sends a message that even God cannot help those who don’t wish to help themselves. It follows the incidents where the government bodies are willingly providing toilets to people, but they refuse to have something as unsanitary as toilets in their houses.
Coming to the humour, the jokes and punches in the movies were lacklustre and manages to evoke bits of laughter in between. Divyendu Sharma, who’s comic timing was vastly acclaimed for his film Pyaar Ka Punchnama was lesser used in the film. Even the sequences which contained Sharma lacked the funny side and rather seemed stuffed. Anupam Kher who plays the congenial uncle of Jaya had few sequences in the film where the audience will find a moment of laughter. Had he had few more screen time, the humour quotient of the film could’ve been elevated by several notches.
Akshay Kumar, who plays a 36-year-old desperate bachelor in the movie has blown life into the character of Keshav. The Akshay you saw in Airlift, Baby, Rustom and Jolly LLB 2 is entirely paradox from what you’re going to see in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. Playing a happy-go-lucky man in the movie, the actor is rarely himself. He’s dwelt himself entirely into the skin of Keshav, which keeps the audience glued to the screen.
Bhumi Pednekar fits perfectly into the role of a village girl who tries to bring a revolution in the village by voicing her protest against open defecation. Contrary to the persona of her husband Keshav, Jaya believes in bringing change rather than adjusting to the happenings. There were few weak moments for Jaya where the spreading the gospel didn’t go pretty well with the actress. But on the softer notes, the actress was as spot-on as she was in her previous venture Dum Laga Ke Haisha.
The excellent writers who helmed Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, leaves something to be desired when it’s about Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.
To Watch or Not?
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is perhaps not Akshay Kumar’s best films in the recent years. But the actor has invested the best of himself in the role, which makes the movie worth a watch. The on-screen chemistry of Akshay and Bhumi is satisfactory, if not superb. The lovers of humour are definitely going to love the film. But those seeking for another Akshay Kumar magic on screen, the film is going to disappoint you big time.
