Doctor G Review: Ayushmann Khurrana’s film is a comedy in disguise that doesn’t land anywhere

Director: Anubhuti Kashyap

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Rakul Preet Singh, Shefali Shah, Sheeba Chadha and others

Where: In theatres near you

Rating: 2.5 stars

Filmmaker Anubhuti Kashyap earlier helmed the web series 'Afsos' and is the sister of Anurag Kashyap and the not-so-Dabangg Abhinav Kashyap. She has entered the movie business with the exact opposite genre than what her brothers are known for.

'Doctor G' deals with the awkwardness of a male doctor studying gynaecology — the core idea is supposedly this but Anubhuti brings a melodramatic, stereotypical Ayushmann-style film that has too much talking in the second half. The whole set-up of the film is scattered like 'Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan' — completely hay-wired. Anubhuti does have a quirk in her storytelling but she doesn’t make use of it.

Dr Uday Gupta (Ayushmann Khurrana) aspires to become an orthopedist but eventually gets into gynaecology. In fact, he is the only male in the whole batch. Soon-to-be-engaged, Dr Fatima (Rakul Preet Singh), senior to Dr Uday, meets him but they don’t fall in love. Dr Nandini (Shefali Shah) heads the gynaecology. Things become more complicated for Dr Uday when the rest of the batch including Dr Fatima and Dr Nandini stand against him.

Anubhuti kept the first half full of humour. The graph is enjoyable and the characters are funny but her intent to make a situational comedy turns out to be about Dr Uday’s messed-up personal journey after the interval. Unfortunately, the second half dips too badly — Ayushmann too couldn’t save it. However, no songs or cliche romance (except the passing affair) between Ayushmann and Rakul are the good highlights of the film.

Set in Bhopal, Anubhuti has surely created an unusual world for her plot but she forgets her identity as a director completely after the intermission. The film looks cluttered — Uday’s single mother (Sheeba Chadha), who is tech savvy and an aspiring food blogger, his tenant, his elder brother and his minor girlfriend — 'Doctor G' is nothing but the series of unimportant events taking the core idea of the film away.

In 'Doctor G' too, Ayushmann is Ayushmann — young, charming, shy, wears cool clothes, does comedy, etc. Rakul is also Rakul like in every other film — this is her fourth release this year and she has two more to go. Sheeba is fun like ever before but her character adds nothing to the story until the climax arrives — her banter with the tenant is annoying. Shefali still seems to be in the 'Human' (her recent web series) mode — with a straight face and that monotonous baritone. The rest of the cast is passable.

'Doctor G' might be your rescue from a boring weekend, but it’s all show, no glory.