You
shift excitedly in your chair as other patrons breeze in chattering loudly as
the credits roll by. No I won’t get into how a large behind blocks my view for
a full 2 minutes while the owner of the behind figures out with the companion
how to switch on the torch in the mobile to find their
mysteriously hidden seats. Finally they decide they decide the direction of
their trajectory while of course munching loudly on their popcorns
I am not
at all irked with that. I am beside myself with excitement. Watching a Kangana
Ranaut Movie. When was the last we said that .Wow first one that after the Big B. The pure lure for the movies.
The teaser was a real tease. The Haryanvi avatar of Tanu with the structurally challenged teeth and rapid fire Haryanvi was an absolute draw. You settle with excitement
in the seat and wait for the fun to begin.
A large
building with dimly lit rooms and three characters in whites act real bad, ask
horrendous questions to a well-dressed couple who for some strange reason look
fazed but not troubled. Hold it. The punch has to come yet. You tell yourself.
Don’t be impatient. The wife calls the husband a piece of ginger. You chuckle
and then quickly repress it as you realize you look like one too. The husband
then tries weakly to explain something nonsensical to the men in whites. By now
I am distracted. I am trying to reason the logic. Who are these men? A mental
institution. These people are talking about their marital discord or something
like that. The wife looks more erratic akin to a disturbed person than a
hassled wife. The man is unsure why he is there in the first place. And then
without warning the husband is led away to be locked away in a mental
institution. Uh!
The wife
takes the next flight out of the country back home. She calls up husband’s
acquaintance and asks him to fly to London ( visas be damned ) and get the husband
released from the mental institution because he is not carrying his credit
cards. Uh!
Sorry
but I am fuming by this time. What in the heavens is this? We are almost 20
minutes into the movie! The heroine is back home to a set reminiscent of small town India and mirroring yes Queen. Queen had a
matchmaking session so we have one here. For absolutely no reason whatsoever
the psychotic wife comes out semi-nude in a bathrobe and shocks the bridegroom's
family. And half the people in the theatre fall down their seats with raucous
laughter. I look around. Hello did I miss some subtitles. This has to be one of
the crassest unrelated and unnecessary sequence simply added to establish
perhaps that the near psychotic protagonist is a daring feminist.
There
are more characters populating the scene than can be assimilated in the time
that they are on the scene though there is serious effort to replicate a small
town realistically.
Things
seem to settle down when the dazed hero ( Madhavan with a perennially shocked
and loser look) gets back to homeland and conveniently meets a look alike of
his wife – Kangana at least doubling up in a much better enacted role of a Haryanvi young
athlete 'Dhatto'. He is taken in obviously by the fact that her looks mirror that of his wife. Over a period of time with expressly forgettable sequences he gets to
a situation where he is to marry her. So what are the complications that arise?
Convenient
coincidences and social messages are forced into the script without any
commitment or emotion - a token nod to waving sociial
causes at the audience while trying to be desperately funny.
There
are lame attempts at slapstick comedy and the main laughs are drawn because of
the small town lingo used and the audience is tickled pink probably to hear
some nostalgic phrases like Mumbai audiences feel with “ maazi satakli”.There is
something inherently wrong in a film that is forever trying to force laughter
into scenes all leading to a very lame climax
Deepak
Dobriyal as the hero’s relative and side kick is the best of the lot picking up
the energy and helping a few chuckles coming along. Watch out for Mohammed
Zeeshan Ayub. He is a ticking bomb and is destined to go far.An equally lost but extremely talented Jimmy Shergil walks around in a daze!
Madhavan
– seriously what are you doing in this movie? Bad brief or just plain
uninterested. The script is also not too kind to him showing him as bumbling
weak man who has no mind of his own. I do not believe that Madhavan was being a
gentleman and trying to take the backseat to allow Kangana to shine.
And then
to the Star K. You just cannot fault her. Especially when she is doing the
Haryanvi athlete part. She certainly looks bored whenever she is asked to
reprise her Queen role and repeat the dance with gay abandon. But she jumps
into character for the Haryanvi role making the character completely loveable.
But even with her gigantic effort she cannot make the plot appear sensible. All
the stars just for her effort.
There
are many characters in the sub plots who put in their best - just could not
understand the references to IVF, wife hiding it from her husband, one
character trying to get a married woman to agree to elope with him - something about some kidnapping when I took a quick five minute snooze and the art
director just tries too hard with the result you are completely distracted by
the excellent background sets than focusing on the main artists. You get tired of the Haryanvi
dialect after some time as it distracting though it is not too difficult to
follow.
To be
fair to the director many in the audience were in splits in the first half
probably due to the gimmick of including the Haryanvi dialect and Tomboy but
post interval the audience was like a zombie and that should tell you about the
movie.
Watch it
if you liked the idea of a illogical but slapstick first part and are a fan of the Star K.The question remains why
Manu meets Dhatto. Just a ploy to make a sequel with a nonsensical script.
But way
to go Kangana! You are impressive. Sadly cannot say the same for the movie.
**1/2
