Saturday, April 13, 2013

Nautanki Saala - Movie Review

This one is appallingly bad. What was Rohan Sippy thinking? And to top it all it's inspired by a French film which I am sure will disassociate with this movie pretty soon. My rating - one star on five (and I am being generous).

Ram Parmar is a do-gooder, self confessed, a director of a play and an actor. He is living with his fiance Chitra. While doing some good, he saves an overweight and unemployed Mandar Lele, who is trying to hang himself on a pavement in the middle of Mumbai. Some weird bond makes Ram Parmar help this suicidal, incoherent, slob of a man who is going on about his lost love Nandini. Mandar has no clue what happened to Nandini and where she is currently but he is ready to die for her. I am still not clear why he wants to die - is it because he feels useless, because of his failed love affair, what? And what love affair can such a negative, suicidal, loser like him have? Anyway Ram takes him home and lies to his girlfriend a series of most unconvincing, unnecessary and unwanted lies when he could have as well told her the truth! From he beginning there is no hope for Mandar Lele.

Anyway Ram finds Nandini who is a successful florist and engaged to a lustful Lokesh Limaye, breaks her engagement by showing Lokesh for what he is ( a cheat). Nandini starts falling in love with RP mainly because he does not tell her about Mandar (who has now got the lead role of Ram in his drama despite being appalingly bad in the auditions). How does Mandar get the role? Why does he get it? What logic and what motive does anyone have to have this reluctant, suicidal and low on confidence chap screw up the drama? I have no idea but it happens. To add some time pass we have a South Indian producer who wants to be an actor as well.

Nandini falls in love with RP and vice versa. Why? How? What happens to Chitra? What happens to Mandar who is trying o give up his life for Nandini? What happens to the drama? And most importantly what happens to the audience with all those Ramayana shots on stage (which remind one of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro immediately)? Completely illogical where there is no motive for anyone to do anything that they do, weak on humour, poor on story and on dialogue 'Nautanki Saala' will go down as one of the worst films I have ever seen. Ayushman tries his best with the weak character he has, Kunal Kapoor has nothing in his role so one cannot blame him, the fiance vanishes suddenly, the florist gets a huge smooching scene which believe it or not sets them up forever and the Sita in the drama gets a consolation prize in Kunal Kapoor. He could have as well tied it all up by tying up Lokesh Limaye with Chitra. Hey, but the songs are good!

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