''Bala'' is a 2019
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
black comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the old ...
directed by
Amar Kaushik
Amar Kaushik is an Indian director and actor working in Hindi cinema. He is best known for directing the critical and commercial blockbusters '' Stree'' (2018) and '' Bala'' (2019).
Early life
Amar Kaushik grew up in Medo, Arunachal Pradesh w ...
and produced by
Dinesh Vijan
Dinesh Vijan is an Indian film producer and director who works in Hindi films. He is the founder of Maddock Films. He gave up his banking job in 2004 to pursue films. He has produced critically and commercially acclaimed films such as '' Stree ...
, based on an original story by Bengali film director
Pavel Bhattacharjee. It stars
Ayushmann Khurrana,
Bhumi Pednekar
Bhumi Pednekar (born 18 July 1989) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. After working as an assistant casting director at Yash Raj Films for six years, she made her film debut as an overweight bride in the company's romantic come ...
and
Yami Gautam
Yami Gautam Dhar (born 28 November 1988) is an Indian actress known predominantly for her work in Hindi films. She sprang into prominence after doing some commercials for Glow & Lovely and began her acting career in television shows, followed ...
.
''Bala'' revolves around the protagonist Balmukund Shukla, a young man living in
Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
who is suffering from
male pattern baldness
Pattern hair loss (also known as androgenetic alopecia (AGA)) is a hair loss condition that primarily affects the top and front of the scalp. In male-pattern hair loss (MPHL), the hair loss typically presents itself as either a receding front ha ...
, and the story is about his lack of confidence and societal pressure that comes with premature balding. It focuses on the social issues of
baldness and
colourism
Discrimination based on skin color, also known as colorism, or shadeism, is a form of prejudice and/or discrimination in which people who share similar ethnicity traits or perceived race are treated differently based on the social implications ...
.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
of the film took place from May to July 2019 in
Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
.
The
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
was composed by
Sachin–Jigar
Sachin–Jigar is an Indian music composer duo consisting of Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya. They compose for Hindi and Gujarati language films. They have scored a number of successful soundtracks in recent times. Before working independently ...
''Bala'' was released in preview shows on 7 November 2019 and theatrically worldwide on 8 November 2019.
It was a critical and commercial success. The film emerged as a
blockbuster
Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to:
*Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived.
Corporations
* Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain
** Bl ...
with global earnings of 172 crore. ''Bala'' was showcased in Indo-German Filmweek 2020 in Berlin on 27 September 2020.
At the
65th Filmfare Awards
The 65th Filmfare Awards ceremony, presented by The Times Group, honored the best Indian Hindi-language films of 2019. The ceremony was held on 15 February 2020 in Guwahati and broadcast on Colors TV the following day. This is the first time in ...
, ''Bala'' received 3 nominations, including
Best Actor (Khurrana) and
Best Supporting Actress (Pahwa).
Plot
The film opens in
Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
in 2005, where 14-year-old students tease a bald teacher. Balmukund "Bala" Shukla, a popular kid who carries much pride for his hairstyle, leads the teasing of the teacher. Bala borrows notes from the studious and dark-complexioned Latika Trivedi who was good in studies and passes them off as his own to the fair-skinned Shruti to impress her by pasting a new sticker bearing his name above Latika's notebook. When Latika calls him out and open up the sticker in front of Shruti, Bala berates her for being dark-skinned. The narrator describes how society values beauty and fair skin over other accomplishments, especially in marriage.
14 years later, Bala is a balding man in his late twenties who struggles with his premature baldness. He is a fairness cream salesman by day and nightclub comic by night. One day, Bala angrily lashes out at his bald father Hari, who is a ''
ghar jamai'', that the father's balding genes have killed the son's prospects. Hari presents him with a wig and explains that baldness is external and need not have anything to do with one's accomplishments. Bala dons the wig and resumes his work with new vigor. He finally meets his crush, a pretty, fair-skinned model, Pari Mishra, and courts her. They decide to marry. Some days before the wedding, Bala is stricken by conscience and sends her a text disclosing his baldness. Unbeknownst to him, the text accidentally goes to someone else and Pari does not see it. Bala assumes she has accepted his baldness and they marry.
Latika has her share of troubles. Many boys and families come to see her but reject her because of her dark skin. Among these prospective suitors is Rohan, an Australia-settled NRI who is attracted to Latika but the meeting blows over when his mother mentions Latika's complexion and Latika storms out. Rohan asks to meet her and they reconcile until he mentions he was initially attracted to her due to her
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
profile. Latika reveals that she is not on Instagram, and it is revealed that Bala had created a fake profile with airbrushed pictures of her at her aunt's behest.
Fuming, Latika storms into Bala's home the day after his wedding and shouts at him. She says she is not ashamed of her skin and warns him not to interfere in her life anymore. Pari hears this, discovers Bala's baldness, and walks out on him. Bala is dejected. Bala visits her to talk it over. Pari reveals that she was blessed with good looks but not much else. She knew she was a below-average student and thus could not enter any other profession besides modeling. Her looks are all she has: they are the source of the attention she's received all her life and the source of her livelihood. He later receives a court notice: Pari wants the marriage annulled.
Latika apologizes to Bala, as her outburst broke his marriage. Bala engages her as his lawyer and the court case begins. Latika cross-examines Pari, who accepts she married Bala because of his wits and charm. She also accepts that Bala did not mislead or defraud her but points out that Bala was not forthcoming about his baldness, claiming that if he isn't comfortable with himself, he can't sustain anyone else. Pari’s lawyer moves that Pari has a right to want to annul the marriage regardless. Bala interrupts the proceedings and agrees that Pari does have that right and the judge orders such. When Latika questions him later, Bala explains that the law cannot compel anyone to love another, and a half-hearted marriage will not work anyway.
Later, during one of his fair-cream sales events, Bala realizes that beauty is merely skin-deep. He publicly sheds his wig to show that self-love is important irrespective of appearance. He also realizes that he has fallen in love with Latika and runs to propose to her but sees that Rohan and his family have come to finalize the wedding. He proposes to Latika, but is disheartened when she rejects his proposal, though they are able to resume their friendship.
The film ends with Bala, now at peace with his baldness, doing a new comedy routine about skin-deep beauty and the meaning of life.
Cast
Production
Casting
The cast of the film was announced by producer
Dinesh Vijan
Dinesh Vijan is an Indian film producer and director who works in Hindi films. He is the founder of Maddock Films. He gave up his banking job in 2004 to pursue films. He has produced critically and commercially acclaimed films such as '' Stree ...
. The film, directed by
Amar Kaushik
Amar Kaushik is an Indian director and actor working in Hindi cinema. He is best known for directing the critical and commercial blockbusters '' Stree'' (2018) and '' Bala'' (2019).
Early life
Amar Kaushik grew up in Medo, Arunachal Pradesh w ...
, was publicized to star
Ayushmann Khurrana in the titular role,
Yami Gautam
Yami Gautam Dhar (born 28 November 1988) is an Indian actress known predominantly for her work in Hindi films. She sprang into prominence after doing some commercials for Glow & Lovely and began her acting career in television shows, followed ...
as a model based in
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
and
Bhumi Pednekar
Bhumi Pednekar (born 18 July 1989) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. After working as an assistant casting director at Yash Raj Films for six years, she made her film debut as an overweight bride in the company's romantic come ...
as a dusky small town educated woman.
Filming
Principal photography began on 6 May 2019, and film was shot in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, Lucknow and
Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
.
Filming concluded on 7 July 2019, with a special party for the wrap up.
Soundtrack
The music and background score is composed by
Sachin–Jigar
Sachin–Jigar is an Indian music composer duo consisting of Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya. They compose for Hindi and Gujarati language films. They have scored a number of successful soundtracks in recent times. Before working independently ...
, with guest composers
Jaani and
B Praak
Pratik Bachan (born 7 February 1986), best known by his stage name B Praak (formerly Prakky B), is an Indian singer and music director associated with the Punjabi and Hindi music industry. He started his career as a music producer, and later ...
composing the song "Naah Goriye" which is a recreated version of the song "Naah" by the same artists released in 2017 while lyrics have been written by Mellow D,
Jaani,
Badshah,
Priya Saraiya
Priya Saraiya (born 19 November 1984) is an Indian playback singer and lyricist in Bollywood. She is also a live stage singer for Bollywood and Gujarati Folk Songs.
Education and early life
Music Education
Priya Saraiya also known as Pr ...
, Jigar Saraiya and Bhargav Purohit, a debutante. Vocals were provided by Saraiya, Badshah,
Shalmali Kholgade
Shalmali Kholgade is an Indian playback singer, who predominantly sings for Hindi language films. In addition to Hindi, she has also sung in other Indian languages such as Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. Through her singing career, she ha ...
, Gurdeep Mehndi,
Divya Kumar,
Asees Kaur
Asees Kaur (born 26 September 1988) is an Indian singer. She has participated in various singing reality shows including ''Indian Idol'' and'' Awaz Punjab Di''. In 2021, her song "Raatan Lambiyan" from '' Shershaah'', with Tanishk Bagchi, becam ...
,
Jubin Nautiyal
Jubin Nautiyal (born 14 June 1989) is an Indian playback singer and live performer. In June 2022, he won the IIFA award for “Playback Singer (Male)” for the song “Raataan Lambiyan.” He was awarded Upcoming Male Vocalist of the Year at ...
,
Papon,
Harrdy Sandhu
Hardavinder Singh Sandhu (born 6 September 1986) is an Indian singer, actor and former cricketer who works in Punjabi and Hindi films. His first song was ''Tequilla Shot'', and he gained popularity with ''Soch'' (2013) and ''Joker'' (2014), w ...
and Swasti Mehul, thus marking the second instance after ''
Dum Laga Ke Haisha
''Dum Laga Ke Haisha'' (), released internationally as ''My Big Fat Bride'', is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Sharat Katariya, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra and ...
'' to not have Ayushmann Khurrana sing for any of his films.
The song "Don't Be Shy Again" is from an original track of the same title from the album 'Rouge' by Rouge, composed by
Dr Zeus
Baljit Singh Padam (Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਪਦਮ), better known by his stage name Dr. Zeus, is a British-Indian music composer, singer and music producer. He rose to fame in 2003 with his song "Kangna", which was voted the b ...
and written by Lola Olafis. This is the second time the song is being recreated after 2015's film ''
Alone'' which was titled 'Touch My Body', sung by
Aditi Singh Sharma
Aditi Singh Sharma is an Indian playback singer. She made her playback singing debut in Bollywood with Anurag Kashyap's '' Dev.D''. Sharma is known for her work in movies like '' Dev.D, No One Killed Jessica, Dhoom 3, 2 States, Agent Vinod,' ...
and picturised on
Bipasha Basu
Bipasha Basu Singh Grover (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress and former model. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films. Basu is the recipient of numerous accolade ...
.
Marketing and release
The theme poster of ''Bala'' was released on 27 May giving release date.
With the release of theatrical poster the release date was changed, the film was released in preview shows on 7 November 2019 and theatrically released in India on 8 November 2019.
Controversies
After the trailer of the film was released, it was accused of copyright violation from the makers of ''
Ujda Chaman
''Ujda Chaman'' () is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Abhishek Pathak and produced by Pathak and Kumar Mangat Pathak under the Panorama Studios banner. Starring Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Saurabh Shukla, Karishma ...
'', which also has a storyline similar to ''Bala''. ''Ujda Chaman'' is an official remake of Kannada film ''
Ondu Motteya Kathe
''Ondu Motteya Kathe'' () is a 2017 Kannada, Kannada language romantic comedy film written and directed by debutant Raj B. Shetty who also appears in the lead role, along with Usha Bhandary, Shailashree, Prakash Tuminadu, Amrutha Naik, Shreya An ...
''.
On release of its first song "Don't Be Shy", music composer-singer
Dr Zeus
Baljit Singh Padam (Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਪਦਮ), better known by his stage name Dr. Zeus, is a British-Indian music composer, singer and music producer. He rose to fame in 2003 with his song "Kangna", which was voted the b ...
claimed that the makers have used his track without giving due credit and acquiring any sort of rights.
Reception
Critical response
''Bala'' received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for the performances and the film's narrative.
''
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
'' gave 3.5 out of 5 and said, "''Bala'' not only entertains thoroughly but also delivers a very important message that will surely be lapped up by the audiences." Ronak Kotecha of
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
rated the movie 4 stars on five and wrote, "'Bala' remains a light-hearted comedy with situations that are relatable. Just like the film's message, 'Bala' is beautiful even with its flaws, and never fails to entertain." Monika Rawal Kukreja of ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
'' reviewed, "Bala is a well-made film that stays true to its genre for most of the time. It makes right jokes at the time and leaves you in stitches more often that you’d expect."
Anna M. M. Vetticad
Anna Mercy Mathews Vetticad, commonly known as Anna M. M. Vetticad, is an Indian film critic and journalist. She has been in the field of journalism since 1994. Vetticad has also hosted her own interview show, ''Star Trek'', on Headlines Today ...
of
Firstpost
''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18.
The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...
praised the use of Kanpuriya Hindi in the film, but was critical of its messaging, writing, “No one on Team Bala seems to have detected the irony in casting a light-skinned actor as Latika and painting her face black, rather than casting a black woman to play a black woman.” Kennith Rosario of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' said, "A hollow film combed over with humour." India Today rated the movie 4 on 5 and said, "King Midas Ayushmann Khurrana delivers another blockbuster." News18 rated the movie 3 on 5 and said, "Bala could have been a crackerjack of a film but allows the novelty of its premise to wear out too easily. Bala, Kanpur’s “edible young man” (sic), certainly gets your attention, but does not manage to sweep you off your feet."
Box office
''Bala''s opening day domestic collection was 10.15 crore. On the second day, the film collected 15.73 crore. On the third day, the film collected 18.07 crore, taking total opening weekend collection to 439.5 million.
, the film grossed 139.02 crore in India and 32.43 crore overseas for a worldwide gross of 171.5 crore.
See also
*
Kubja
Kubja is a hunchbacked woman from Mathura, who the Hindu god Krishna is described to have rescued and made beautiful.
The episode is described in the ''Bhagavata Purana'', ''Brahmavaivarta Purana'' and the ''Sur sagar'' by Surdas.
Background
...
, referenced several times in the film
References
External links
*
*
* {{Rotten Tomatoes, m/bala_2019
2019 films
Indian black comedy films
2010s Hindi-language films
Fiction about diseases and disorders
Discrimination based on skin color
Films set in Kanpur
Films set in Lucknow
Films shot in Kanpur
Films shot in Lucknow
Films shot in Mumbai