It’s 2018 and it’s about time we get a movie that’s about real women and their real relationships. With Meghna Gulzar’s latest we get all that and more.

Based on a novel Calling Sehmat by Harinder Sikka, Raazi stars Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal and is perhaps the most realized chick flick Bollywood has ever produced.

The story is a high-spirited, coming of age film where Alia’s character reunites with her old friends after getting married to a handsome, Pakistani soldier, who her friends don’t approve of.

Alia shines in the role of a young and bright girl who needs therapy to help her through her depression, proving yet again that she is the brightest of the lot of actors in Bollywood at the moment. The script gives her a lot to work with and she doesn’t slack. The makers marketed the movie as ‘Not a Chick Flick’, and rightfully so. The movie is a chick flick, without featuring tropes associated with a regular chick flick.

Alia’s group of friends is a varied cast of characters. The supporting cast holds their own and deliver a strong performance that’s understated yet impactful at the same time.

Vicky Kaushal is convincing as the dreamboat, man candy who Alia falls in love with, but is given little to do other than look and smolder on screen without taking his shirt off even once.

The script stays close to the book, but adds plot points (wildly unnecessary) to flesh out the characters. Like, for instance, the whole subplot of Alia being a spy to uncover important secrets to help the army. There’s an unnecessary montage of Alia training to become a spy with a misplaced Baadshah song in the background.

All in all, Raazi is a fun movie to watch with you girlfriends this weekend.

Rating: 3/5