Over the years Akshay Kumar's choice of selecting the films has drastically improved. The actor has impressed in films like Holiday, Baby, Airlift, Rustom and Jolly LLB2 to name a few. Move over commercial masala potboilers with item songs, hero smashing 10 guys with a single blow and typical song-dance routine – Shree Narayan Singh's Toilet - Ek Prem Katha will give you goosebumps with the harsh-reality of Indian states without proper toilets.
Toilet - Ek Prem Katha tells the story of Keshav (played by Akshay Kumar) and Jaya (played by Bhumi Pednekar) who leaves Keshav after marriage when she discovers there is no toilet in the house. Keshav vows to bring a change in his village by driving social awareness on the usage of toilet and fight against the age-old tradition.
Directed by Shree Narayan Singh, Toilet -Ek Prem Katha catches your attention from the initial reels with light humor and feel good songs. However, the main story unfolds when Jaya discovers the absence of a toilet at the house. The drama gets more intense when she proposes to build a toilet at home which is vehemently rejected by her father-in-law. If the first half comprises of romance, family drama and songs, second half brings well-intention messages of usage of toilet in the villages. The screenplay does falter in between which could have better without few scenes and songs but nevertheless, the overall impact is pretty solid. Art direction is okay while Cinematography is decent. Though none of the songs are memorable but goes well with the film. Dialogues are punching while editing could have been better. Shree Narayan Singh does a good job in mixing the entertainment quotient with social message.
Akshay Kumar is probably at the best phase of his career. The brilliant actor just delivers another knock-out performance. Watch for him when he burst into tears after the toilet he was building, is destroyed by his father. I was surprised to see the transformation of fat-to-fit Bhumi Pednekar from Dumb Laga Ke Haisha. This is her second film and the amount of maturity she shows in her acting is astounding. Divyendu Sharma does well in a supporting role.
Toiet-Ek Prem Katha is a pleasure to watch not just for its satirical humor on Indian Sanitation system, but also for its beautiful message on honesty and bravery.
