Netflix’s latest sibling comedy Friday Night Plan follows two teenage brothers over the course of 24 hours as they mumble and stumble upon each other trying to navigate the jumbled mess that is adolescence. Tender and buoyant, it comfortably falls in the bracket of the candy-floss young-adult high school drama that the streamer has become synonymous with.
Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, the film’s brief must have been—think To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) or Never Have I Ever (2020-23) or 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) but make it Indian with two teenage brothers at the centre. We want the Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008) and Dil Chahta Hai (2001) vibe, but for Netflix. At a time when the young-adult genre is oversaturated with gritty crime investigations and bleak psychological thrillers, a Friday Night Plan where no one gets killed, raped, or kidnapped, and the biggest plot event is a car getting towed? You’ll not hear me complain.
There’s another reason. Babil Khan. I was miffed that his debut film Qala (2022) didn’t have enough of him. But Friday Night Plan makes no such mistake. Babil along with Amrith Jayan (who we will come to later) are the film’s thumping heart, its effervescent soul. They are each other’s yin and yang like most siblings are—difficult to be with, impossible to be without. Babil plays Sid, the studious, dutiful 18-year-old elder brother, weeks away from graduating school. Forced to grow up suddenly after his father’s passing, he overthinks and overprepares before making every decision no matter how big or trivial. Such is Sid’s need to be thorough, it pulls him from deciding anything at all.
Babil brings a lanky litheness to the role, a quiet gravitas, an innocent vulnerability. Though this is not his breakout performance, watching him made me feel exactly how I did when I first saw Alia Bhatt in Highway (2014) or Jennifer Lawrence in
However, Friday Night Plan’s real revelation is Amrith Jayan, who plays Adi, Sid’s younger brother. Fun-loving, flamboyant, free-spirited, outspoken, and unencumbered with a deep need to be accepted, he is everything Sid has forgotten to be. It’s not an easy part to crack but Amrith gives a scene-stealing performance, grounding Adi in an honesty that allows you to see him for who he really is—a 16-year-old trying hard to belong and be seen as an equal. Together, the two boys ensure that the film continues to be immensely watchable even when the goings-on get as predictable as your daily commute between home and office.
Written and directed by debutant Vatsal Neelakantan, Friday Night Plan’s opening scene is one of the finest, most poetic, and gripping I’ve seen in a while. We are shown a framed family photograph hung on a wall. In it, a couple is looking at each other endearingly with their young sons sitting between them. The next few photos mark the passage of time—the couple ages gradually and the sons grow up. The camera then moves to the adjacent wall. In the last photos, there’s just the mother (the ever so graceful, wonderful Juhi Chawla) and the two sons—now grown teenagers. The father isn’t there anymore, his absence unmissable and haunting.
In its structure, Friday Night Plan is similar to Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. Like the three films, it spans a day and is not big on plot. It focuses on people and their interpersonal relationships instead. If only it focused harder and explored the characters deeper. Although the film doesn’t hint at it, the possibility is rife for a sequel. I’d love to know what Sid and Adi are up to next.
Read other pieces by Sneha Bengani here.
Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, the film’s brief must have been—think To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) or Never Have I Ever (2020-23) or 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) but make it Indian with two teenage brothers at the centre. We want the Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008) and Dil Chahta Hai (2001) vibe, but for Netflix. At a time when the young-adult genre is oversaturated with gritty crime investigations and bleak psychological thrillers, a Friday Night Plan where no one gets killed, raped, or kidnapped, and the biggest plot event is a car getting towed? You’ll not hear me complain.
There’s another reason. Babil Khan. I was miffed that his debut film Qala (2022) didn’t have enough of him. But Friday Night Plan makes no such mistake. Babil along with Amrith Jayan (who we will come to later) are the film’s thumping heart, its effervescent soul. They are each other’s yin and yang like most siblings are—difficult to be with, impossible to be without. Babil plays Sid, the studious, dutiful 18-year-old elder brother, weeks away from graduating school. Forced to grow up suddenly after his father’s passing, he overthinks and overprepares before making every decision no matter how big or trivial. Such is Sid’s need to be thorough, it pulls him from deciding anything at all.
Babil brings a lanky litheness to the role, a quiet gravitas, an innocent vulnerability. Though this is not his breakout performance, watching him made me feel exactly how I did when I first saw Alia Bhatt in Highway (2014) or Jennifer Lawrence in
Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Both of these were far better films but Babil’s just as young as the two heroines were back then, just as full of promise, and just as brimming with restless, raw talent, waiting to explode. I’m fervently hoping it doesn’t take him as long as it took his legendary father to get the roles he truly deserves.
However, Friday Night Plan’s real revelation is Amrith Jayan, who plays Adi, Sid’s younger brother. Fun-loving, flamboyant, free-spirited, outspoken, and unencumbered with a deep need to be accepted, he is everything Sid has forgotten to be. It’s not an easy part to crack but Amrith gives a scene-stealing performance, grounding Adi in an honesty that allows you to see him for who he really is—a 16-year-old trying hard to belong and be seen as an equal. Together, the two boys ensure that the film continues to be immensely watchable even when the goings-on get as predictable as your daily commute between home and office.
Written and directed by debutant Vatsal Neelakantan, Friday Night Plan’s opening scene is one of the finest, most poetic, and gripping I’ve seen in a while. We are shown a framed family photograph hung on a wall. In it, a couple is looking at each other endearingly with their young sons sitting between them. The next few photos mark the passage of time—the couple ages gradually and the sons grow up. The camera then moves to the adjacent wall. In the last photos, there’s just the mother (the ever so graceful, wonderful Juhi Chawla) and the two sons—now grown teenagers. The father isn’t there anymore, his absence unmissable and haunting.
In its structure, Friday Night Plan is similar to Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. Like the three films, it spans a day and is not big on plot. It focuses on people and their interpersonal relationships instead. If only it focused harder and explored the characters deeper. Although the film doesn’t hint at it, the possibility is rife for a sequel. I’d love to know what Sid and Adi are up to next.
Read other pieces by Sneha Bengani here.
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