Binny and Family

Genre: Drama | Year: 2024 | Duration: 139 mins | Director: Ssanjay Tripaathy | Medium: Theater (PVR-INOX) in 2024 | Trailer: HERE | Language: Hindi | My rating: 3/5

Favorite Dialogue: Zindagi ki expiry date toh hoti hai par zindagi jeene ki nahin

Binny and Family is an emotional (and often melodramatic) roller coaster family drama depicting teenage angst, the thought divide across three generations, and shifting values of a nuclear non-resident Indian family. The film is mostly set in London and partly in a small town of Bihar, depicting different lifestyles and local flavors of people, cultures, and confused desis overseas, which also gets very well portrayed through the tug of war and conflicted relationship between a teenager and her parents and grandparents.

As a non-resident Bihari hailing from a middle class family, I could relate to several scenes like the makeover of the house prior to visiting parents, temporary changes in day-to-day life, familiar conversations, the subtle difference between ‘lihaaj’ and ‘unexpressed love’ that many like me have with their parents.

For a small size family, the film seemed a bit stretched at times! Some portions could have been edited, especially the school and romance routines, which didn’t fit in with the narrative. There was no chemistry between Binny and her crush, Dhruv (played by Tai Khan). In fact, the friend-zoned BP (played so well by Naman Tripathy) and Binny had better chemistry and could have been explored further in the story. From “Ladki jaat ho. Kuch anhoni ho gaya to kisko muh dikhange hum log” to sporting hat and being a cool grandfather seemed unrealistic within a short span of time.

Pankaj Kapoor, Rajesh Kumar and confident debutantes’ Anjini Dhawan and Naman Tripathi are a delight to watch. Even with ‘all that could have been better and viewing fatigue at times’, it’s still worth watching.