The movie is the story of an average guy Gattu (Rajkummar Rao) from Lucknow who is in love with his neighbour since childhood, Binny (Shruti Haasan). The story is a cliché of the brother zone. Gattu is assumed to be Binny’s rakhi brother and no one doubts on him to have feelings for the girl. The story carries on as NRI Rahul (Gautam Gulati) is chosen by Binny’s parents to be married to her.The only great thing about this movie is Rajkummar Rao’s portrayal of the character Gattu who is just an average guy going after an out of his league girl. It’s hard to get through without any character in the movie taking a stand against honor killers and stuck up brothers who would do anything but let their sisters marry their love interests.It’s okay to laugh at the movie and it might genuinely make you do so. The movie had a lot of scope and the laughter is based on anti-feminist clichés.

There is little to recommend in Behen Hogi Teri, which hits theatres on Friday, other than the performance of Rajkummar Rao. Behen Hogi Teri suffers from a poorly conceived plot that fails to offer the fun expected of a story of its kind. Behen Hogi Teri is a love story where the lover does everything in his capacity to get his beloved married off to another guy. Not much of a film, wouldn’t you say? The only enjoyable parts of the movie are the dialogues and the acting of Rajkummar. As they talk to each other, even some members of the supporting cast rise above the dismal storyline and deliver some brilliant punches. Rajkummar brings out the best of the guy-next-door stock character. Be it convincing Binni of his love or getting beaten up by his own dad, Rajkummar plays to the tune of the film and never misses a beat. There isn’t another actor who would have fit the role as well. Shruti, on the other hand, looks like she has been picked out of a different universe and stuck in that of the film.

The title Behen Hogi Teri itself reeks of the immaturity of a 12-year-old boy with a new batch of hormones and the first burst of testosterone. The movie takes place in a world where grown men still operate by the rules of teenaged boys: they play gully cricket, hide from girls on Raksha Bandhan, put silly curses on each other and ask their parents for money. The plot is juvenile to say the least. It is a little disheartening to see a movie that incorporates casual sexism and regressive norms without any plan to combat them. The male characters are imbecilic; Binny admits that she “used to be a firecracker but has now fizzled out” for no apparent reason. The background score tries to tell you what emotion to feel. The second half collapses when subplots start to overlap. The writing shows potential, to be honest. Moments like a romantic track playing over a funeral and a drunken rant about the Rahuls and Rajs of Bollywood give you hope. Had the writers taken a dig at patriarchy and given the female characters some spunk, this would have been hilarious. But the only reason to smile at the movie is Rajkummar Rao. The movie is packed with performers of various calibers, but Rao - the only reason to even attempt this - is better than everyone and their brother.