Hichki

<p>Naina Mathur, a and , aims to become a teacher, but is repeatedly rejected as she suffers from , which causes her to make uncontrollable sounds likened to . Despite failing for 5 years, she is supported by her mother, Sudha, and her younger brother, Vinay, while her father, Prabhakar, sees little potential in the idea and expects her to take up a job. Naina eventually receives an offer at St. Notker’s School to teach class 9F. Once she is employed as a teacher, however, she realises that the school was desperate to find a new teacher for 9F, as all other teachers had failed to control the class. Naina finds that the students are unruly, misbehaved, and visibly different. Shyamlal, the school’s , informs her that the 9F students come from a nearby and were admitted only to fill the government-prescribed quota for the after a previous municipality school on the St. Notker’s football ground was closed due to mounting maintenance costs. On her first day, Naina’s students imitate and mock her. She decides to teach them interactively, determined to show resilience. The students prank her with which explodes, shattering the . Naina prevents a mass expulsion by stating that the prank required planning, and if that can be guided, the class has potential. Wadia, the teacher of 9A, dislikes the 9F students. He informs Naina that his class comprises academically excellent , but she assures him that her students will earn prefect badges as well. The school’s annual project is assigned to 9A. Meanwhile, Naina teaches her students to be brave in pursuing knowledge and to realise their individual strengths. Aatish, the sole student who remains cold towards Naina, sabotages 9A’s science project. This is discovered by Wadia, and the principal decides to expel 9F. Again, Naina prevents it by promising that they will pass their , but is unable to prevent their suspension from attending school until then. Dejected, she informs them that they have shattered her efforts to help them. Aatish faces ridicule from the rest of 9F and decides to apologise to Naina, and all of the 9F students study diligently. Shyamlal then supplies copies of the question paper to Aatish so that they would be able to cheat. When he presents the papers to his classmates, they refuse and he gives up on the idea as well. After the exam days, they pass but are accused of cheating when Shyamlal confesses to the plan, and the principal decides to expel them during the prefect-pinning ceremony. Akshay, one of the 9A students, reveals to Wadia that it was he who had bribed Shyamlal to supply the copies of the “wrong” question paper to 9F students, and Wadia realises that 9F students did not cheat. At the ceremony, Wadia announces that he wrongfully tried to fail the students and applauds Naina’s teaching, requesting her to pin the prefect badges to her students who ranked first. The film ends with Naina’s last day at the school after serving for 25 years, retiring as the , as her former 9F students, who are all now successful, reunite with her. In 2013, acquired the rights to ‘s 2005 autobiography and started writing the screenplay along with Ambar Hadap and Ganesh Pandit, with Ankur Chaudhry and Raaj Mehta joining them later. The film was titled , which Malhotra felt was a suitable word for describing prejudice and social stigma against Tourette disorder. His second directorial venture after (2010), Malhotra had several failed attempts to find a production house over four years. According to him, the production houses believed that the film lacked commercial viability, telling him: “Who would watch the story of a teacher suffering from Tourette syndrome?” His wife, Sapna, suggested to him, although he was initially reluctant as he had faced many rejections. He met the company’s owner to narrate the screenplay, and the latter liked it. Chopra, however, was busy with his project (2016) and asked , who would co-produce with him, to listen to the rest. While Malhotra had conceived of the film as a male-led film when writing the screenplay, Sharma suggested casting an actress as the lead. Rani Mukerji was chosen, marking her first acting role since in 2014. She revealed that she accepted the film because she found the role to be more challenging than those in her previous films. Furthermore, Mukerji has said that it was Chopra who conceived her to portray the part as he saw Mukerji becoming obsessed with her family life and that her fans were desperately waiting for her comeback. She waited until her daughter Adira was four months old before accepting the role. In preparation, she interacted with Cohen (who was happy knowing the film would address Tourette syndrome and the character is based on him) on the social media platform , asking him for training to make her character’s motor and vocal appear spontaneous and not rehearsed. Shanoo Sharma subsequently completed the casting. was produced on a budget of (equivalent to 270 million or US$3.2 million in 2023). started in on 4 April 2017. worked as the cinematographer, with doing the choreography and Meenal Agarwal finishing the production design. Shilpa Makhija and Varsha Chandanani designed the costumes. Because this was her first on-screen project since her daughter’s birth, Mukerji confessed that she was worried about leaving her daughter for the first time. Mukerji added, “… she had not spent even one day without me. Also, I was wondering whether I would be able to act or not as I was facing the camera after two years. I wondered if I still have it in me.” The shooting finished on 5 June 2017, and the film was then edited by Shweta Venkat Matthew at . Hitesh Sonik composed the background score, and Pritam Das served as the sound designer along with Ganesh Gangadharan. The soundtrack to was composed by and the lyrics were written by Raj Shekhar, Jaideep Sahni, Neeraj Rajawat, Aditya Sharma, and David Klyton. Abhishek Kurme, , , David Klyton, , , Naina Kundu, Nigel Rajaratnam, Rhiya Jauhari, , Siddesh Jammi, and Yogesh Kurme performed the vocals. The album was released by Yash Raj Films’ subsidiary YRF Music on 19 February 2018. was one of the most anticipated Bollywood films of 2018 as the film marked the acting comeback of Mukerji after four years. She promoted it on television in five languages: , , , , and . According to her, the film has inspired her by its moral message and relevancy, saying that she wanted more people in the country to hear it as well. The trailer was released on 19 December 2017. The first poster for the film was released by the critic and trade analyst on his account on 26 December, showing a release date of 23 February 2018; Ritika Handoo from thought that Mukerji’s pose on it was impressive. However, another poster came out on 1 February 2018 and the release date was postponed to 23 March. Sharma said that it was delayed because Indian student exams were starting around the first date. The promotion of started on 14 January 2018, during the celebration of . Mukerji went to to interact with school students and her fans, and later to eight other cities. She also did promotion on several television shows, including , , and . Mukerji continued it by interacting with the spiritual teacher at the inaugural session of the . She spoke of her experience, “It will be amazing to be part of this session and hear him speak. is all about harnessing your positivity and inner peace to bring out the best in you and I’m going to speak about this in his presence. I look forward to this interactive session.” In October, Mukerji visited five cities in China ( , , , , and ) to promote the film there. premiered on 23 March 2018 with the tagline, “What is life without a few hiccups”. It was released on in the widescreen format on 8 May, and premiered on television on 26 May. The film was screened at the on 15 June, the on 11 August, the in November, and the in July 2019. Malhotra told the that the festival screenings were an honour for him and an opportunity to boost his career. The film was released in theatres in China on 12 October with the title . It was released in Taiwan as on 2 November. is available for streaming on and . The film was met with generally average reviews from critics; most of the praise focused on Mukerji, while the plot faced the greatest criticism. It received a rating of 54% on the website based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The entertainment portal Bollywood Hungama said that Mukerji had delivered an effervescent performance and made a good film despite a predictable story, believing she would make the audience empathise with her character and that the actress portrayed it zestfully. In her two-and-a-half-star review, of panned the melodramatic screenplay but appreciated Mukerji and described the film as an “out-and-out” show for her. , writing for , was critical of the film, calling it the version of the American drama (1989). critic Devesh Sharma thought Mukerji looked as if she had not taken a sabbatical from full-time acting, lauding her dramatic confrontational scenes with Neeraj Kabi, and expressed appreciation of her for playing against . Reviewing for , Rachit Gupta said that she hoped the film focused not only on Naina’s classroom struggle but also on her personal life, especially her conflict with her father. She, however, commended the performances of Mukerji and the actors who played her students, particularly that from Harsh Mayar. of found to be inconsistent and unoriginal; however, he praised the film’s moral message. In the words of ‘s , “Rani Mukerji’s energetic, engaging performance apart, is a huff-and-puff show marked by too much mush and fuss. But it has just enough to keep tearjerker junkies interested.” From the , Rohit Vats rated the film two-and-a-half stars, complimenting Mukerji’s straightforward, confident performance and those of Kabi and the student actors. However, Vats was disappointed that the film only revolves on the relationship between a teacher and students. Richard James Havis of found Mukerji’s spirited performance enhancing an otherwise predictable story. Udita Jhunjhunwala of Scroll.in appreciated Malhotra for putting the narrative focus on Naina only without disruptive , and Samrudhi Ghosh of observed that Malhotra “had a tough task at hand—to stay away from emotional manipulation, even in the dramatic moments. He succeeds, for the most part; although some portions of the film, such as the climax, feel a little contrived.” Another review in News18, written by Kriti Tulsiani, commented that the film is a remake of ‘s 2008 film , which was based on the same book as , and criticised it for the inability to provide an original story and undramatic ending. In the , Rohit Bhatnagar, who gave the film three out of five stars, wrote that Mukerji drives the film with her effortless performance; although the latter aspect make the film mediocre, he added that is as good as Malhotra’s . From the , Chaya Unnikrishnan termed a film with inspiring themes and was impressed by Mukerji’s acting. praised her tics used in the right measure and time, but noted the actors cast as her parents (Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar) did not get enough scope. and Aditya Shrikrishna from said Mukerji was successful at making her tics look natural, and described the actress as one of the “biggest strengths” of . Billing it as a comeback vehicle for Mukerji, Shalini Langer acclaimed Malhotra for not adding romantic songs or sequences. The Tamil magazine named it as the best example of what teachers should teach to their students, with summarising, “[It] is a genuinely earnest film made with heart. But it doesn’t take enough risks and consequently doesn’t touch a raw nerve in the way that did. But it’s always nice to see a talented actress with all guns blazing.” Swetha Ramakrishnan of claimed would be not complete if Kabi did not feature in it. The film was a commercial success in India and abroad, with the trade analyst Girish Johar telling that its business largely relied on the audience’s . However, he added that the issue of Tourette syndrome that is addressed in it may limit the audience. Released in more than 900 theatres, the film had a below average opening in India, grossing (US$390,000). After earning (US$2.4 million) in only five days, however, it was declared a commercial success. collected (US$7.0 million) over its theatrical run in India.</p>