Shaandaar review :
It's truly Alice in Wonderland kinda setting, maybe Alia in Blunderland would be the more apt title. That's cos the story of two bankrupt Indian families out to strike a business deal in England through a marriage doesnt look for real. Take Sushma Seth with big scowling eyes to convey authority, Sanjay Kapoor as a proud Sindhi hopelessly aping his big bro Anil from 'Welcome Back' (2015) and Pankaj Kapur faring worse than his Mandola ki Bijli..(or was it Bijli ka Mandola)!
Indeed, none of the key characters in this Walt Disney fairy tale meets Sooraj Barjatya wedding video are relatable or remotely convincing....and all this coming from director Vikas Bahl, whose last outing 'Queen' (2014) had both its plot and characters rooted in realism, is a massive disappointment. Haa boss, picture bahut gadbad hai..
Infact, your doubts of gadbad are confirmed from the very first scene with Naseerudin Shah's disinterested voice-over introducing us to Alia (Bhatt) in an animated avatar. She's the adopted daughter of aforesaid Mandola who's a core family member attending this wedding cum business arrangement in a wine red tinge british castle.
Enter Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) as the wedding planner to kindle some love shove feelings in our bijli Alia and angry disgruntled feelings in her Mandola baba. Sadly, all attempts to generate humor out of this brewing romance fall flat on its face.
Post interval, the film morphs in to a Sooraj Barjatya style shaadi video with co-producer Karan Johar making an unexplained (and unwanted) appearance; one sleep inducing sangeet competition follows and we slowly and unsteadily head towards the worst climax seen and endured this year. No kidding, it appears to me that this grand finale (!!!) was just randomly shot without any thought in mind or a bound script in hand.
On the film's very few positive aspects, the 'Monday ka khaana tuesday ko..' sequence is genuinely funny. The 'Gulaabo' song is zingy and also well choreographed.
Diverse material from Shekhar Kapur's 'Masoom' (1983) to Rahul Rawail's 'Buddah Mar Gaya' (2007) are borrowed for subplots but don't add any value to the final product.
Technically too, the movie looks dated inspite of its high budget spend. All those animated frog and roosters appear needless add-ons.
Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt look good individually but don't gel well as a pair. Their chemistry doesn't work at all. Shahid's (real life) sister Sanah makes a promising debut.
In cricket parlance, director Vikas Bahl hit a winning ton on his debut. In his second match, he's got out on a duck. It's ok. We can always forget his bad day on the field and wait for his next with hope. In the meantime, you are advised to stick to cricket and skip 'Shaandaar'.
Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.
It's truly Alice in Wonderland kinda setting, maybe Alia in Blunderland would be the more apt title. That's cos the story of two bankrupt Indian families out to strike a business deal in England through a marriage doesnt look for real. Take Sushma Seth with big scowling eyes to convey authority, Sanjay Kapoor as a proud Sindhi hopelessly aping his big bro Anil from 'Welcome Back' (2015) and Pankaj Kapur faring worse than his Mandola ki Bijli..(or was it Bijli ka Mandola)!
Indeed, none of the key characters in this Walt Disney fairy tale meets Sooraj Barjatya wedding video are relatable or remotely convincing....and all this coming from director Vikas Bahl, whose last outing 'Queen' (2014) had both its plot and characters rooted in realism, is a massive disappointment. Haa boss, picture bahut gadbad hai..
Infact, your doubts of gadbad are confirmed from the very first scene with Naseerudin Shah's disinterested voice-over introducing us to Alia (Bhatt) in an animated avatar. She's the adopted daughter of aforesaid Mandola who's a core family member attending this wedding cum business arrangement in a wine red tinge british castle.
Enter Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) as the wedding planner to kindle some love shove feelings in our bijli Alia and angry disgruntled feelings in her Mandola baba. Sadly, all attempts to generate humor out of this brewing romance fall flat on its face.
Post interval, the film morphs in to a Sooraj Barjatya style shaadi video with co-producer Karan Johar making an unexplained (and unwanted) appearance; one sleep inducing sangeet competition follows and we slowly and unsteadily head towards the worst climax seen and endured this year. No kidding, it appears to me that this grand finale (!!!) was just randomly shot without any thought in mind or a bound script in hand.
On the film's very few positive aspects, the 'Monday ka khaana tuesday ko..' sequence is genuinely funny. The 'Gulaabo' song is zingy and also well choreographed.
Diverse material from Shekhar Kapur's 'Masoom' (1983) to Rahul Rawail's 'Buddah Mar Gaya' (2007) are borrowed for subplots but don't add any value to the final product.
Technically too, the movie looks dated inspite of its high budget spend. All those animated frog and roosters appear needless add-ons.
Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt look good individually but don't gel well as a pair. Their chemistry doesn't work at all. Shahid's (real life) sister Sanah makes a promising debut.
In cricket parlance, director Vikas Bahl hit a winning ton on his debut. In his second match, he's got out on a duck. It's ok. We can always forget his bad day on the field and wait for his next with hope. In the meantime, you are advised to stick to cricket and skip 'Shaandaar'.
Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.