As suggested by the title, CRAZY CUKKAD FAMILY is based on the same seen before but still potent plot of a mad family coming together after a long while as their father is supposedly on his death bed and has written a will nobody knows about. An interesting or rather safe plot chosen by the debutant director Ritesh Menon, the film had a lot of scope of comedy (or black comedy) through its distinctive crazy characters and witty dialogues. But sadly that's not what we have as the final product here since the movie simply manages to be a light hearted family drama in totality that can only be watched in your free time at home surfing various channels and not visiting the theatres making a purposeful effort.
Devoting a good 15-20 minutes in introduction as usual, it has a fairly decent first half without any full length songs as such. However post intermission nothing works really with every twist falling flat and a lot of overdoing being done by few of its key actors. For instance Shipla Shukla tries hard but isn't able to deliver a natural ease in her frank loudness and the gay marriage plot or cross dressing angle seem to be a completely misfit in an otherwise universal family format. Kushal Punjabi, Abhay Sharma, the foreign actress and others are just there to fill in the space whereas Ninad Kamat still manages to leave an impact as a suppressed husband suffering from a personality disorder.
The songs and background music try hard to win over the viewers with their timely insertions, whereas an average cinematography, sloppy editing and an all predictable screenplay (with a bizarre climax), do not let the film rise above the run-of-the-mill stuff.
In short, only one man makes his solid impression as a multi-talented person in its two hours and he is Swanand Kirkire, the lyricist-singer and actor, who once again proves that he has got a much better comic timing, screen presence and acting skill as compared to many other famous names in the industry. Swanand leads the film visibly, right from its first frame to the last and holds it together saving it from becoming a complete waste of time quite thankfully. So you can go for it (on Home video or a channel telecast of course) just for Swanand Kirkire alone and nothing else.
