Kaushaljis VS Kaushal, which has released today on JioHotstar, is the story of a middle-aged couple, who is headed for a divorce, causing distress to their son in the most unexpected manner. The concept is novel and it, along with the setting, reminds one of the Ayushmann Khurrana type of cinema. The characters are well fleshed out and a few scenes raise a lot of laughs. The film also scores with its emotional quotient. On the flipside, the film is too long. The film has a runtime of 131 minutes and should have been shorter by 10-15 minutes. Secondly, it’s talk-heavy; fewer dialogues would have had a better impact. Ashutosh Rana and Sheeba Chadha are equally good and steal the show. Pavail Gulati is dependable while Isha Talwar is adorable; she also has an arresting screen presence. Brijendra Kala (Aseem), Grusha Kapoor (Sheela), Deeksha Joshi (Reet; Yug’s sister), Yash Chaturvedi (Chatty), Neha Panda (Yug’s office colleague) and Ashish Chowdhry (Maurya) are fine. All in all, Kaushaljis VS Kaushal is a nice, clean surprise of the season.
My rating – *** ½ out of 5!