Vicky Donor

Plot

Dr. Baldev Chaddha is a fertility expert who runs a clinic and a sperm bank in Daryaganj, Delhi, that guarantees high-quality sperm for couples. He has more failed cases than successes. He is on the lookout for a healthy and high-performing donor.

Vikram "Vicky" Arora hails from an Arora Punjabi family and is the only son of his widowed mother Dolly, who runs a small beauty parlour in Lajpat Nagar. They live with Vicky's grandmother. Vicky is a vagabond who provides no financial support to the household and starts searching for a job that will provide them with a better lifestyle.

Chaddha meets Vicky and likes his happy-go-lucky nature. He believes Vicky is the donor he has been looking for. He stalks him and eventually painstakingly convinces him to become a sperm donor. Though Vicky is hesitant at first, he accepts after being offered a high salary. Chaddha gets Vicky's semen sample tested from a lab and is delighted to hear that it was a sample with a very high sperm count. Chaddha decides to use it for his patients and starts getting high success rates. Vicky hides his career after facing ridicule from his friends but starts spending wildly renovating his house and the parlour. Chaddha too earns handsomely in this business.

Vicky meets an ambitious accountant, Ashima Roy, at the bank, and they fall in love after going out a number of times. They soon wish to get married, but as a divorced Bengali bank employee wanting to marry a carefree man from a loud Punjabi family, both face backlash from their families. However, they eventually manage to get everyone's approval. Vicky continues to hide his occupation and stops donating sperm after getting married, ignoring Chaddha, who continues to chase Vicky as he is his most successful donor.

In an ironic turn of events, the couple discovers that Ashima is infertile. Both of them get tested, but Vicky does not take the fertility test and is forced to admit to being a sperm donor. Taken aback by her husband's strange career, Ashima leaves for her paternal home. Vicky is heartbroken and cuts all ties with Chaddha.

The parlour is soon raided by income tax officers due to their frivolous renovations. Vicky is arrested on suspicion of handling black money but is bailed out by Dr. Chaddha, who reveals his occupation to his family members. Vicky's mother is disgusted and also apologises to Ashima. Vicky's grandmother and Ashima's father make them understand how Vicky's deed has helped many families bear children and ask them to have a progressive take on this.

Chaddha's assistant finds out the list of couples to whom Vicky has donated his sperm. Chaddha calls Vicky and Ashima to an event he has hosted where all families that Vicky helped bear children are present and helps Ashima see how his step helped them find happiness. He then tells them that one child is absent. This little girl has lost her parents in an accident. Her grandparents failed to contact Chaddha's clinic and had to send her to an orphanage. Dr. Chaddha suggests the couple adopt a little girl, Diya. Ashima begins to see reason and understands. The couple reunites, adopts the little girl, and Vicky continues to occasionally donate sperm for Chaddha's clinic.

Cast

• Ayushmann Khurrana as Vikram "Vicky" Arora a.k.a. Vicky Donor
• Yami Gautam as Ashima "Tuna" Roy, Vicky's wife
• Annu Kapoor as Dr. Baldev Chaddha
• Dolly Ahluwalia as Mrs. Dolly Arora, Vicky's mother
• Kamlesh Gill as Biji, Vicky's grandmother
• Puja Gupta as Shweta (Vicky's Neighbour)
• Jayant Das as Mr. Roy (Ashima's Father)
• Swaroopa Ghosh as Pishi (Ashima's Aunt)
• Inderpal Singh as Tayaji
• Bupesh Pandya as Chaman (Dr. Chadhha's Assistant)
• K.V Rajni as nurse Lata.
• Paramjyot Singh as Vicky's Mama Ji
• John Abraham as himself in the song "Rum Whisky"
• Vijay Meenu as Parent in Chaddha's hospital

Themes and development

Vicky Donor deals with sperm donation and infertility.{{cite web

Sircar said, "I want to take a light-hearted look at the taboo attached to infertility and artificial insemination." Before filming began, Sircar researched the plot themes for three years.{{cite news |archive-url=https://archive.today/20111010054814/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-07/news-interviews/30257028_1_ayushmann-khurrana-sperm-donor-film |archive-date=10 October 2011 |url-status=dead

Production

Despite the usual trend, Abraham did not take up the leading role in the film: "It was a conscious decision to not act in my first production because I believe producing a film is about creating quality content that I believe in."{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/John-Abraham-is-looking-for-a-Donor/articleshow/10653925.cms |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104094857/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-09/news-interviews/30373777_1_first-film-priyanka-chopra-john-abraham |url-status=live |archive-date=4 January 2013 |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219032321/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Bollywood/Introducing-John-s-new-hero-Ayushman-Khurana/Article1-813255.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 February 2012 |access-date=18 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070856/http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/ENT-john-turns-producer-and-item-boy-for-sperm-donors-2874314.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=18 February 2012

Soundtrack

Main article: Vicky Donor (soundtrack)

The soundtrack album features eight tracks which were composed by Abhishek-Akshay, Bann, Rochak Kohli and Ayushmann Khurrana. All of them contributed two tracks each. Actor Khurrana also composed and sung the track "Pani Da Rang" which was released as a single on 1 February 2012. The song was well received by music listeners. The song has a female version composed by Khurrana, and it was sung by Sukanya Purkayastha. The strings were later re-recorded by Aditya Kumar for online copy The entire album released by Eros Music on 29 February 2012.

The soundtrack album received positive reviews from critics. IBNlive.in says "Vicky Donor album tracks are worth listening and contain rawness." Ayushmann Khurrana won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer at 58th Filmfare Awards for "Pani Da Rang."

Reception

Critical reception

Vicky Donor received critical acclaim upon release. Blessy Chettiar of DNA India rated the film with 4/5 and said, "Run to the nearest theatre and surrender yourself to charm of Vicky and his team. This "Aryaputra" provides only good quality entertainment." Madhureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India gave Vicky Donor 3.5 out of 5 and said, "It takes a man to make a film like this, literally. Kudos to John Abraham for his brave maiden production. Thankfully, this sperm hits bullseye." Mathures Paul of The Statesman gave the film 3.5/5 and wrote, "Vicky Donor is an admirable movie that is at once simple, emotional, daring and in your face."

Box office

India

The film had an opening at the box office worldwide and collected on its first day in India. Vicky Donor showed good growth on Saturday as all India collections jumped around 35%–40%; it collected around nett taking its two-day business to nett. The film got tough competition from Housefull 2 in its first week of theatrical run in India. Vicky Donor is the 3rd small-budget film of 2012 after Paan Singh Tomar and Kahaani to receive such an acceptance by critics, multiplex goers and urban audience. It grossed nett on Sunday. Vicky Donor had a decent three-day weekend as it grossed around nett over its first weekend.

It had a good first week of around nett. Vicky Donor had an excellent second week collecting around nett taking its two-week total to around nett. Vicky Donor continued its strong run into the third week and totally grossed .

Overseas

The film had a wide release with close to 125 prints and grossed a decent $350,000 overseas in four days. It has done well in North America and decently in other markets.

Grosses are as follow:

• UK: £90,329 ($140,600)
• USA: $466,467
• UAE: $286,000
• Australia: $88,682

Total: $1.2 million (65 million)

Accolades

Sequel and remakes

After the major critical and commercial success of the film, producer John Abraham announced that he was encouraged by the response of Vicky Donor and has therefore laid a sequel on the cards. The sequel titled Vicky Pet Se is about a man getting pregnant. However, the story was similar to the 2022 film Mister Mummy starring Riteish Deshmukh.

Dileep has bought the remake rights for the Malayalam version. Telugu director Madhura Sreedhar bought the remake rights of the film for the Telugu version named Naruda Donoruda starring Sumanth. It was remade in Tamil as Dharala Prabhu starring Harish Kalyan.

References

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