A sticky subject, ut fertile piece of ork

When was the last time you saw a Bollywood comedy that made you chuckle and smile for two hours? When was the last time you saw a funny fi l m that you wished wouldn't end? When was the last time you saw a fi Im where every actor in a big or small role simply sparkled on screen?

Vicky Donor is original and thoroughly engaging. How good it feels to watch a director pick up a pertinent issue and convert it into a perky precocious an d endea ring rom-com which is less rom and, ahem, a whole lot of cum.

Indeed Vicky Donor is suffused with delectable plus points, not the least of them being debutant Ayushmann Khurana who seems to be born to play Vicky the er donor.

Ayushmann - God bless his spontane ity - has formidable competition in the acti ng department from Kamlesh Gill and Dolly Ahluwalia who play his grandmother and mother, and from the redoubtable

Anu Kapoor who as the sperm doctor, adds so much to his role and to the film you wonder why he isn't seen more often in our films

Each character is written with a keenness for details that go a long way in giving them a life beyond the camera.

Del hi, done to death in film after film , re-awakens in Vicky Donor. Kamaljeet Negi's cinematography makes no overt attempt to explore the city through the topography Sircar's splendid direction takes us into the heart of Delhi. The people, their homes and specially their spoken language come alive in ways that cinema has ceased to offer in recent times

I'd give the film the thumbs-up for the sheer exuberance, joy and conversational authenticity expressed in the spoken words. Writer Juhi Chaturvedi is a prize find.

And cheri sh this film's ability to turn the subject of sperm donation i nto a joyous celebration of life. There are no dull moments in the narration. No character walks by in Sircar 's Delhi just for the heck of it. There are no incidental characters

Even the guy on the road who ca l ls out the leading lady's name on Vicky's behalf is there because he belongs to the fi l m's perfect-fitted jigsaw design depicting domesticity and adversity in the competit i ve city.

Never i n living memory have I seen a film where every character comes alive as an individual. If Dr Malpani (Anu Kapoor ) is quite a cha racter, so is his assistant Chaman (Bupesh Pandya) and his nurse

Lata (K.V Rajni). If Ayushman' s Vicky is a scene-stealer, so is his romanti c lead, the lovely Yami Gautam who as an independent working girl from a Bengali family b rings a disarming g race to her character.

Vicky Donor is a precious and important work of art It negotiates an unusual theme with the least amount of fuss and the maximum warmth and vigour. The scenes are woven with seamless serenity into one another. Like life, the film is not only about l aughter The heartbreaking moment where Ayushmann holds his sleeping mother's hand defines the undercurrent of somberness that life in Delhi constantly secretes

Scratch the surface, and the pain under the bravura display offlamboyance and gaiety comes to the surface.

Vicky Donor gets that urbane mix of the light- hearted jaunty mood at the top and the agony beneath, with pitch- perfect accuracy. The very act of attempting a film on a sticky subject like sperm donation suggests a dry staccato treatment Pulling away from the pitfalls of pontification and self-importance, Vicky Donor simply takes us on a carefree joyride where the blend of pain and pleasure is never forced into the narrative. It just happens.

In a fi l m industry saturated with slapstick double-meaning comedy, Shoojit Sircar has conceived a comedy on sex which i s a not a sex comedy. No small achievement this Large-hearted and generously endowed with moments that you take away with you from the film even as John Abraham comes on screen for an irrelevant song and dance item, Vicky Donor i s the su rprise entertainer ofthe year. It is the warmest, funniest most sensible and sparkling comedy in a very long time. In Shoojit Sircar 's vision every si ngle actor shines with a glorious natural ness.

Ayushmann is effortlessly the discovery of the year

As for the film, in Anu Kapoor 's words, the re are impatient sperms, angry sperms, stupid sperms Seen in those terms this film rs quite a fertile piece of work wh ich says a lot more about l ife than we expect from it.

Subhash K. Jha

He captured the magic of Aishwarya Rai when she got back home after winning the Miss World crown in 1994.

Now AP

In his celebrities.