Movie Review - Nautanki Saala! - Page 3

New Delhi: You would think that after a smashing debut in 'Vickky Donor', actor Ayushmann Khurrana's second outing at the Box Office would create the same buzz. But as genuine as Rohan Sippy's 'Nautanki Saala' is - the film falls short of being a laugh riot.

With two talented actors forming the lead - Kunal Roy Kapoor and Khurrana - who are known to have perfect comic timing, one could have done wonders with this tale of comedy of errors. And yet, Sippy's latest offering somehow, fails to create an impact on cine goers. The plot is straightforward and perhaps that's why the film begins with much potential and somewhere in the middle loses track.

I list out the 5 things of 'Nautanki Saala' that does not work for me.

There are spoilers in the story. In case you haven't watched the film yet, please come back later:

1 One day someone should write a script involving all the unnecessary characters from different films - characters who are promoted before the film's release, are portrayed by known actors and do not make any impact on the story line. In 'Nautanki Saala' model turned actress Evlyn Sharma plays a theatre actress who plays Seeta in Ayushmann's play 'Raavanleela'.

Sharma looks stunning in the film, but one wonders the exact purpose of her character. The director gives very few dialogues to Sharma, and her main job is to look pretty. The story vaguely hints at an illicit romance between her character and Ayushmann's but it is never really explored much.

2 Newcomer Pooja Salvi plays Nandini Patel, whose existence forms the crux of the story in 'Nautanki Saala'. Having broken up with Nandini, a heartbroken Mandar (Roy Kapur) attempts suicide in the middle of a very busy junction in Mumbai and is saved by Ayushmann who takes it upon himself to find his love and get the two estranged lovers back. Now Nandini is your typical damsel in distress who perpetually falls in love with the 'wrong' man until she meets RP (Khurrana). Stereotypes galore, Salvi's character is a bit slow in getting hints and eventually falls in love with the man who is the cupid. Salvi's dialogue delivery, her demeanour is annoying and one wonders why RP would fall for someone like her considering he has a smart, practical and patient fianc waiting back at home.

3 Kunal Roy Kapur plays a bumbling idiot who doesn't seem to get anything right in his life. A 12th class fail, Mandar Lele is under confident guy who is jobless and suicidal. Birds poop on him, things fall on him, he is accident prone and even his grandmother doesn't think he is of any good. While Roy Kapur delivers a fine performance as Mandar, there are bits where his carelessness, clumsiness tends to look over the top and unnecessary and aren't funny at all.

4 The film begins as a buddy film where the bonding between Ayushmann and Kunal is shown. How Ayushman helps a stranger in getting back on track after he saves him from committing suicide and eventually become BFFs is what makes the first half of the story. Then somehow in the second half, the film becomes a predictable love story and completely shifts focus to Ayushman and Pooja's track. While the first half, being a bromance, has some hilarious moments, the second half drags a bit too much and has romantic scenes which we have seen in innumerable other films.

5 The major issue with the film is its pace. Unnecessary songs and a loose script mars the narrative and even though it has two very talented actors in the lead, the film drags with only few laughs in between. Sippy's 'Bluffmaster' was stylish and engaging. 'Nautanki Saala' somehow, somewhere falls short.

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kunal Roy Kapur, Pooja Salvi

Director: Rohan Sippy

'Nautanki Saala', directed by Rohan Sippy, hinges on the wobbly notion that if you save someone's life, he becomes your responsibility.

Ayushmann Khurrana plays Ram Parmar, or RP, a kind-natured theatre actor who, while rushing home after work one night, notices a random stranger trying to kill himself. RP stops the fellow - a homeless, heartbroken chap named Mandar Lele (Kunal Roy Kapur) - then proceeds to straighten out the poor sap's life, first by allowing him to crash at the home RP shares with his girlfriend, then by reuniting him with his ex, ditzy florist Nandini (Pooja Salvi). But as often tends to happen in such films, RP ends up falling for Nandini too.

Based on the 2003 French film 'Apres Vous', set in a Parisian restaurant, 'Nautanki Saala' stages its comedy against the backdrop of a long-running play. Although intended as a farce, the film is never as outrageous as it needs to be, settling instead for the kind of inoffensive silliness that's often plain boring. RP's attempts to break up Nandini and her new lover come off as infantile, and his unwavering commitment to help Mandar is puzzling after a point.

The film works best in its most zany moments, like the portion where RP mimes words and phrases discreetly to help Mandar get through an acting audition. Or an earlier scene where RP must read Mandar's suicide note to his cataract-afflicted grandmother, changing the words as he goes to make it more upbeat. There are some nice supporting characters too, who pop up occasionally to deliver a few laughs. Like the effete producer of RP's play, who is at his wit's end with Mandar during his audition, yet agrees to cast him when RP offers a sweet trade-off. Even the Malayali hospital receptionist who needs an interpreter to unscramble her rushed instructions.

But alas such genuinely inventive bits are few and far between in this muddled film that becomes a sentimental love triangle midway. What sucks the soul out of 'Nautanki Saala' is the unfathomable casting of the vapid female lead. Newcomer Pooja Salvi is about as expressive as a sack of grains. She contributes little here, beyond batting her eyelids while seesawing from one man to another.

Ayushmann Khurrana carries forward his confidence from Vicky Donor, yet he's exasperatingly over-animated and too slick for a character that needed to ooze a nave sincerity. It's Kunal Roy Kapoor as the slobbering, sloppy man-child Mandar, who wins your heart with his nicely understated performance.

Like previous films directed by Sippy, 'Nautanki Saala' has a winning soundtrack, and unfolds across real locations in South Mumbai, a part of the city rarely seen in our movies. Still, they contribute little to the film's slight, over-stretched premise, and the portions at the theatre are needlessly long and not particularly funny.

I'm going with two out of five for 'Nautanki Saala'. Sippy never brings the lightness of touch needed to pull off this kind of film. Like the title suggests, it's all empty theatrics. And wait, the film also has the unique distinction of capturing one of the longest on-screen smooches in a long time.. shot in such excruciating close-up that you might throw up your lunch.

Rating: 2/5