The movie is sure to hit home with longtime Mumbaikars. This generation wants space for recreation, but amongst the skyscrapers, there’s hardly room to stretch your hands. The group of friends that the movie follows is a diverse group, coming from almost all kinds of background. The Characters have been given realistic flaws failures and relationships, that make them more relatable, and give a certain depth, that a lot of movies fail to do. The story is the strong point of the movie, and good performances by all its actors, only add to the charm. The second half loses its grip on some points, but, we believe that is a forgivable mistake, considering how well tied the rest of the movie is.

However, Tu Hai Mera Sunday tries to talk about many issues in 126 minutes. The heated arguments sometimes look forced. The firm grips on the audience slacked somewhere in the second half. But thanks to his actors, director Milind Dhaimade manages to sail through these scenes and still conveys a very positive vibe about Tu Hai Mera Sunday. Tu Hai Mera Sunday is concerned about our well beings and that makes it notice-worthy. It’s a sweet, little film asking for your support. By the way, what are you doing this Sunday?

Milind Dhaimade's Tu Hai Mera Sunday is a film so nice it borders on the naive. It is ostensibly about the lack of space to play in a city too busy to stop being busy, but it is about so much more. It is about the city itself, Bombay, and its bizarre, beautiful inhabitants, the impossible people who hold this precarious place together with dreams and duct-tape. It is about the need to stop to smell the roses and the intent to walk away from that which does not make you happy. It is about friendship, and love, and the importance of an occasional outburst. This is, sweetly and surely, a film that cares. The cast is rather fabulous. Barun Sobti, a wavy-haired hero-type with an easy charm, plays Arjun with a great sheepishness, especially when it's hinted that he may be a virgin. Shahana Goswami plays Kavi, the no-nonsense girl he likes (who would like a bit of nonsense after all, thank you very much), and her performance is effortless. The two are lovely together, enough to forgive the film the indulgence of escalating their relationship too fast at the end. Shiv Subramanyam is wonderful as the old man who, as he gets comfortable, regains enough coherence to start using English words, and one of the film's most tender performances comes from Rama Joshi as the harried Catholic mother torn between the children she doesn't want to see grow up. Maanvi Gagroo is quite terrific as a bouncy girl who wants everyone to be in on the fun, Rasika Duggal uses her infectious smile to great effect, while Jay Upadhyay's Jayesh Bhai and Nakul Bhalla's Mehernosh really tie the film together. The most fascinating character, to me, is Rashid. Played by a wiry and likeable Avinash Tiwary, this is a young man who focusses on wearing the right t-shirts while living in a pigsty of a room, a womaniser who - depressingly enough - knows his place. It is through him that we see the joy of hoarding, of not letting go of the scraps that shape our Bombay pasts, even as a rodent he's trying to catch jumps nonchalantly from trap to trap. That might be this film's biggest lesson. The rat isn't the one racing.

The strength of the film is in its writing, intensely rooted and real. The characters have messy backstories and relationships, which gives them depth: Dominic’s (Malhotra) harried mother has to deal with two permanently squabbling sons; Rashid (Tiwary) is a love-‘em-and-leave-‘em type who chances upon a potentially life-altering bright-eyed young woman (Duggal); Jayesh (Udadhyay) lives with his large, noisy Gujarati joint family; and Mehernosh (Bhalla) is a put-upon, increasingly-frustrated office drone till one day something snaps. The detailing is spot on. Only in a few places does it feel a tad underlined, but on the whole, it is thoroughly good-natured. The ensemble cast plays well together, especially in the falling-in-like-and-something-more segments between Arjun and Kavi (why don’t we see more of the talented Shahana?), and in the unlikely bonding between Rashid and the young mother of two energetic hearing-impaired boys. Dhaimade is clearly skilled at creating life-like characters who feel as if they are people you could know, tics and all. ‘Tu Hai Mera Sunday’ is a feel-good, light-hearted yarn. And it comes at a time when that precious, vanishing space—middle-of-the-road and realistic, not too shiny or too drab but just right—needs an urgent refill. I guarantee you will leave smiling.

'Tu Hai Mera Sunday' strikes an emotional chord right from the word go because of its relatable content. What adds to its charm is the element of humour, which remains the highlight of the film with a few dramatic scenes thrown in-between.While this slice-of-life film witnesses some of the most natural performances, it is the meltdown scenes that appear to be a tad far-fetched. Director Milind Dhaimade, could have easily underplayed the drama there. Television heartthrob Barun Sobti's performance as the former-corporate-slave-seeking-happiness is pure delight. Avinash Tiwari, casanova of the gang, and Nakul Bhalla, as the frustrated accountant, have played their parts to the T. Shahana Goswami reminds us of her 'Rock On' character — a fiercely independent yet family-oriented girl. Rasika Duggal and Maanvi Gagroo exude charm with their effortless acting. Jay Upadhay and Vishal Malhotra, caught in an uncomfortable family life, are hilarious and evoke pity from time to time. The music of the film may not be it's strongest asset but the fact that the essence of Mumbai life has been captured well, makes up for the loss. For anyone who feels burdened and bogged down by life, this light-hearted tale of uncertainty and survival is a definite watch. Like they say, laugh it out!