Director: Abhijith Mahesh
Cast: Diganth, Yogesh, Achyuth Kumar, Siri Ravikumar, Prakash Thumminad, and Balaji Manohar
Available in: Theatres
Duration: 145 minutes
In 1997, a film starring Shivarajkumar titled Ammavra Ganda explored the gender roles in society by flipping them in a marriage. However, the film was criticised for making fun of feminism and ultimately conforming to the status quo, in the garb of giving a social message. Twenty-seven years later, Abhijith Mahesh’s Bachelor Party does a similar thing, albeit with no promise of a social message.
The film sets up Diganth Manchale’s Santhosh as an unhappy husband (ironic because his name is Santhosh, get it?) whose wife, Sandhya loves the maid more than him. He is afraid to speak up about the lack of attention he gets from her as she will shout at him or invoke ‘patriarchy and misogyny’ the moment he goes against her. He cannot come home from office even a minute late for he'd be taken to task by his wife. He is literally called an ‘Ammavra Ganda’ (Henpecked husband) by a character in the film
Things change when he manages to go to a friend’s bachelor party after Sandhya leaves for her mother’s house. At the party, he gets drunk and takes his childhood friend Maddy (played by Yogi) and their former PT teacher (Achyuth Kumar) to Thailand. Shenanigans ensue there as they get embroiled in a gang war between a Mangalorean immigrant and an African crime boss.
The plot of the film may remind us of classic stoner comedies such as The Hangover or even the crime comedies of Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn. The visual language certainly invokes them with the rapid cuts, zoom-ins with telephoto lenses, and the generous use of split screens. Each supporting character gets a wonderful introduction, with distinctive camera angles and a musical motif.
The first half of the film is entirely focused on Diganth’s ‘helpless’ situation. He refuses to get a divorce because of the whole “How can I tell my parents and live in society after a divorce?” He aggressively complains about his wife (and maid), who is so bad that she chooses to celebrate the maid’s birthday instead of her husband’s. He refuses to voice out any of these concerns because…wait, why doesn’t he voice them out? The film shows that he is a fearful person who doesn't find the need to be assertive. Yogesh’s character literally calls him impotent for not doing so, but we are never given a proper explanation as to why. He chalks up his lack of divorce plans to society and then just resorts to complaining about his wife behind her back. The first half of the film really comes across as a series of woeful husband jokes that one sees on WhatsApp forwards from boomers. However, there is a particular obsession with wanting to hit the wives back (literally) in the film.
Bachelor Party picks up in the second half, especially with the introduction of Prakash Thumminad and Balaji Manohar. Thumminad’s Mangalorian slang is a treat to watch as he throws around term after term in desperation while being pursued by multiple gangs. Balaji Manohar’s Mahabala, a crime boss from Mangalore who is also Thumminad’s brother-in-law brings gravitas and genuine menace to the role, building on his antagonistic character in Avane Srimannarayana (2019). Props to Abhijith Mahesh, who was part of Rakshit Shetty’s writing team ‘The Seven Odds’, for his impeccable dialogues when it comes to the banter between the characters. The scene where Mahabala threatens the lead trio is a riot.
Diganth brings his signature, doe-eyed innocence to the character who is never happy in life (the film is too impressed with its Santhosha pun), and even in anger, no one can take him seriously. While the performance is nowhere near roles in Yograj Bhat films, he does his best with the material. Yogesh as the women-hating, single-by-choice Maddy has a lot of charisma and wit. He brings the almost-immature nature of the character nicely but is again let down by surface-level writing and gags. Achyuth Kumar is easily the highlight of the film. A drunk teacher with life lessons to impart to former students is a trope that is done too many times but Kumar still brings freshness to the role and has some profound scenes.
Though the film is technically sound and has good performances, it is ultimately let down by the writing which comes across as old wine in a new bottle. Though an old wine would certainly age better with time, that is not the case with Bachelor Party. It invokes the David Dhawan films of the 80s and 90s, and not in a good way. The treatment of women in the film is problematic as it depicts them as a bunch of gold diggers. The only ‘good women’ in the film are Achyuth Kumar’s dead wife who gave him a ‘World’s Best Husband’ t-shirt, and a Thailand local who has a kid (played by YouTube’s Achara Kirk).
The constant women-bashing (including fantasies of actual bashing) just comes across as veiled misogyny, which the makers have protected themselves by turning into a joke in the film. Siri Ravikumar’s Sandhya has no redeeming qualities in the film and is a one-dimensional character throughout, Yogesh’s former flame turns up at the end of the film and is again shown to be marrying for money, and of course, let us not forget Diganth’s co-worker who gets a promotion by giving sexual favours to the manager. While a male perspective on marriage woes is a valid topic, a nuanced take is still necessary and Bachelor Party fails in that zone.