Hichki

Hichki () is a 2018 Indian Hindi drama film, directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra, written by Malhotra, Ankur Chaudhry, Ambar Hadap and Ganesh Pandit, and produced by Maneesh Sharma under the banner Yash Raj Films, with Aditya Chopra serving as presenter. An adaptation of Brad Cohen's 2005 autobiography "Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had", which Yash Raj Films acquired the rights to, with Cohen himself also giving advice during the film's production, the film stars Rani Mukerji in the lead role of an aspiring teacher having Tourette syndrome, who must prove herself by educating a group of underprivileged students.
"Hichki" was Mukerji's first film after a four-year hiatus she took to focus to her family, and receiving praise for its trailer, launched on 19 December 2017, was theatrically released on 23 March 2018 to generally positive reviews from critics. With production on a limited budget of , the film grossed worldwide, the majority of which came from China. The film became the eighth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2018.
Mukerji received her ninth Nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actress at the 64th Filmfare Awards. "Hichki" was also screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival on 16 June 2018.
Plot.
Naina Mathur has a B.Ed. and M.Sc. but cannot obtain a teaching position due to her Tourette syndrome which causes uncontrollable sounds likened to hiccups. Despite failing for five years, she is supported by her mother Sudha and her younger brother Vinay. Her father Prabhakar divorced her mother, and Naina's relationship with him is consequently strained. Also, Prabhakar sees teaching as low paid and wants her to take a job that she can cope with even with her "miserable condition".
Naina eventually receives an offer to teach at the prestigious St. Notker's School which she had applied to five times before. When asked why she was so persistent, Naina explains she studied there and was inspired by Mr. Khan, a principal, who believed in her and announced that she would never be expelled for being different. Naina's confidence impresses the school and they assign her to 9F, a new class section. In reality, the school was desperate as all other teachers had failed to control the class. Naina finds the students are unruly, misbehaved and visibly different. Shyamlal, the school's peon, discloses to her that the 9F students come from a nearby slum and were admitted to fill the government-prescribed quota for the underprivileged.
On the first day, Naina's students imitate and mock her. She decides to teach them interactively, determined to show resilience. The students prank her with liquid nitrogen which explodes, shattering the windows. Naina prevents a mass expulsion by saying that the prank required planning, and if that can be guided, the class has potential. Wadia, teacher of class 9A, dislikes the 9F students. His class comprises academically excellent prefects. Naina asserts that her students will earn prefect badges.
The school's annual Science Fair project is assigned to 9A, who are prevented from mingling with 9F by Wadia. They yearn to experience the interactive experiments 9F have but Wadia dismisses them as inferior to textbooks. Meanwhile, 9F warms up to Naina and wholeheartedly participates; she teaches them to be brave in pursuing knowledge and to realize their individual strengths. Aatish, the sole student who remains cold, secretly sabotages 9A's project. This is discovered by Wadia and the Principal decides to expel 9F. Again, Naina prevents this by promising that they will pass their exams, but is unable to prevent their suspension from attending school till then. Dejected, she tells them they have shattered her attempt to help them. Aatish's classmates help him realize his mistake and he publicly expresses regret.
All of 9F studies diligently. Shyamlal supplies Aatish copies of the wrong question paper so they would fail, but when he presents them to his classmates, they refuse to cheat and he gives up on the idea as well. Results prove Naina's promise as the 9F students pass. However, the class is accused of cheating as Shyamlal confesses to supplying papers, and the Principal decides to expel them during the prefect pinning ceremony. Akshay, one of Wadia's students, reveals that he bribed Shyamlal into supplying the wrong question papers and realizes that 9F did not cheat. Wadia takes to the stage and announces that he wrongfully tried to fail the students. He then applauds Naina's transformative teaching and asks her to pin the prefect badges to her students, who ranked first. She later tells him that she doubts that he did not bribe Shyamlal. Mr. Wadia smiles and says that he also doubts she did not cause a liquid nitrogen explosion. With the combined efforts of 9A and 9F, the Science Fair project is rebuilt and wins the competition. The chemistry between 9F and 9A students became better and the conversation gap became less.
The film shows Naina's last day at St. Notker's where she has served for 25 years and has been Principal. As she walks out of the school, the school's students bid farewell. The last to happily bid her adieu are the students of 9F who are now successful adults.
Production.
Development.
After acquiring the rights of Brad Cohen's book "Front of the Class", Malhotra, who had previously directed the 2010 adaptation of "Stepmom", titled "We Are Family", approached multiple production studios over the next four years but none of them were willing to back his project as they couldn't see any commercial scope in it. Finally, he met Aditya Chopra, who approved the project after a narration and directed him towards Maneesh Sharma as he himself was busy with his own directorial venture Befikre. Malhotra's original draft of the script had a male as its central protagonist which he changed into a female on Sharma's suggestion.
Casting.
In October 2016, it was reported that Mukerji had signed Yash Raj Films' next venture being directed by Malhotra. In February 2017, Mukherji herself confirmed that she would be playing the lead role in Malhotra's next film titled "Hichki". In preparation for the role, Mukerji interacted with Cohen, who gave her advice over Skype, and she trained to make her character's motor and vocal tics appear spontaneous and not rehearsed.
Filming.
The principal photography commenced on 4 April 2017 and the final scenes were shot on 5 June 2017 at Mehboob Studios in Bandra, Mumbai. The crew wrapped up the patch up shoot with Mukerji on 12 November 2017.
Soundtrack.
The music of "Hichki" is composed by Jasleen Royal and the background score is composed by Hitesh Sonik. The lyrics have been penned by Raj Shekhar, Jaideep Sahni, Neeraj Rajawat, Aditya Sharma and David Klyton. The music album of the film features seven tracks and was released by Yash Raj Music on 20 February 2018.
Reception.
Box office.
By 17 May 2018, prior to the film's release in Chinese and Russian markets, the film had grossed () worldwide, including gross ( nett) in India, and () overseas. In Russia, where the film released on 6 September 2018, the film grossed $20,157 () as of 30 September 2018.
In China, where it released on 12 October 2018, the film grossed () by 9 November 2018, making it the fifth highest-grossing Indian film in China after "Dangal", "Secret Superstar", "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", and "Hindi Medium". As of 10 November 2018, the film has grossed in China. "Hichki" became one of the top five highest-grossing Bollywood films of 2018, after "Padmaavat", "Sanju", "Race 3" and "Baaghi 2".
In Hong Kong, where the film released on 8 November 2018, it grossed () in its opening weekend (ending 11 November 2018), equivalent to . As of 14 December 2018, it has grossed HK$2,869,318 (), equivalent to . As of 23 November 2018, the film has grossed () worldwide.
Critical response.
"Hichki" has received mixed reviews from critics. Praise was directed at Mukerji's portrayal of Tourette syndrome, but critics criticized the lengthiness and predictability of the script, and the film's somewhat generic nature. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 9 reviews.
Rachit Gupta of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that, "For all its shortcomings, the movie still has plenty of freshness, insights and emotional intelligence." Rajeev Masand gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "Hichki is inconsistent but well-intentioned. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of and said that, "A novel plot idea is buried under an avalanche of narrative cliches in Hichki. The tale at the heart of Hichki is definitely inspirational. If only it had been a tad more inspired, it might have hit home with far greater force." Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "It's well-intentioned and will move you, but it could have been so much more." Namrata Joshi of The Hindu reviewed the film saying that, "Rani Mukerji lords over a film that plays out predictable, pontificatory and manipulative by turn."
Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that, "While Rani Mukerji is good as always, the actors who play the students are also natural and without any artifice, with the film cleverly dodging stereotypes just when you suspect one around the corner." Kriti Tulsiani of News18 gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "while Rani strikes the right chord and gets the intricacies of her hiccups right, the film doesn't elevate much from its hiccups and remains only partly engaging." Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 saying that, "Hichki's greatest handicaps are its predictability and sentiment." Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 saying that, "Hichki, a story of acceptance in the world of intolerance is a decent watch! It's a Rani's show all over but don't expect an extraordinary plot." Anupama Chopra of "Film Companion" gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "Hichki 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 "Taare Zameen Par" did." Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters also criticized the film, saying, "Even if you ignore the core issues in the screenplay, Hichki doesn't even get the underdog winner story right." and also specifically criticized the film's similarity to "Dead Poets Society." Raja Sen of NDTV gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and said, "Rani Mukherji's strong portrayal of a Tourette Syndrome sufferer emerges skin deep in a film that never goes beyond the obvious"
Controversy.
After the release of Hichki's official trailer, a Melbourne-based author Nishant Kaushik accused director Siddharth P Malhotra of not giving him the credit for his contribution in the script writing process. In his response, Siddharth said that after acquiring the rights of Brad Cohen's book, several writers including Amole Gupte and Abbas Tyrewala were contacted with regards to adapting the book into a Hindi film and all of them were credited for being the "creative contributors" of the film. Siddharth also mentioned that they did not mention Nishant in the credits because none of his ideas were used in developing the screenplay of the film.