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Friday, September 13, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD NANU KI JAANU
EDITOR'S PICK
'Nanu Ki Jaanu': An amusing redemption tale (Review By Troy Ribeiro ;
Rating: **1/2)
Presented as a frothy dark comedy, "Nanu Ki Jaanu", is an amusing, romantic,
redemption film that is predictable, yet engrossing.
Nanu (Abhay Deol) is a scamster who usurps people's property. His ploy is
simple. He first rents the property and then forcibly makes the landlord part
away with it by making them sign on the required documents, fraudulently. He is
brash and unemotional.
One day while driving back home after nearly crashing into a biker, he chances
upon an accident victim Siddhi (Patralekha) lying injured on the road. For a
change he becomes a Samaritan and though he rushes her to the hospital, she does
not survive.
Her spirit follows him home and haunts him.
Inadvertently Nanu's personality changes from a tough man to a softie and he
embarks upon a journey to find the culprit who caused the accident that took
Jaanu's life.
Couched in robust humour, we are made privy to a romance between Nanu and the
spirit and there are several life's lessons learnt about cautious driving -
especially about not speaking over the phone while driving and wearing a helmet
while riding a bike.
The film's director, Faraz Haider, understands that real laughter grows from
characters and he establishes them with comical demeanour and enriches them with
funny lines. He has a rich start with Nanu and his click of goons, prominent
among them are Dabbu (Manu Rishi Chaddha) and Promilla (Reshma Khan), they are
established as characters with funny traits. But what keeps the plot engrossing
is the slapstick and situational comedy and comedy derived from stereotypes. The
paranormal activities add to the light vein of the narration.
The first half trudges along with comic notes but the second half which steers
in a whodunit, is interesting despite alternating between silly and funny. But
the denouement definitely seems forced and ridiculously obtuse.
Abhay Deol as Nanu delivers his chops with panache. His exasperation and romance
is genuinely palpable. But it is Manu Rishi Chaddha as his friend Dabbu who
keeps you in splits with his spontaneous reaction trying to convince Nanu that
there are no ghosts and that he is just hallucinating.
Patralekha as Siddhi, though an integral part of the narrative, hardly has much
of screen time and thus has nothing much to offer.
Himani Shivpuri and Rajesh Sharma as Abhay's mother and Siddhi's father are
earnest and so are the actors who play Nanu's neighbours.
With moderate production values, the film, initially seems like a tacky B grade
entertainer especially when Sapna Chaudhary dances with gay abandon to the item
number, "Tere Thumke".
Cinematographer S.R. Sathish Kumar's tight close-ups and static frames add to
the feeling. But then over a period of time, the film sustains and raises the
bar.
Overall, this quirky film has its moments of brilliance which keeps you riveted.
Nanu Ki Jaanu': Cute, Harmless & Original ( Review By Subhash K Jha ;
Rating: ***)
One moment can change your life. So says the film regarding our nasty habit of
attending to the cellphone while driving. Oh well, read the bold italicized
writing on the wall.
The lessons of life flow like toothpaste from an uncapped tube, luckily without
hampering the flow of some refined farce in this innocuous, cute, if at times
grating, confection blending humour with the supernatural element.
For those who have been missing him, Abhay Deol gets to be in nearly every frame
of the film. It's called making up for lost time. And that (time wasted time
gone) is one of the underlying themes of this fair little concoction of farce
and fear... It could have been much better if only it didn't set out to wag
fingers at the imbalances in life.
Actually the fear factor is just a hazy notion, as Deol, putting all his energy
into the part, steps into the role of a man who loses his mafia mojo after an
accident.
The film has some lovely ideas on redemption and salvation that it throws
forward willy-nilly. The humour specially related to a bully who loses his
aggression to a road accident, is well-aimed. Abhay Deol's deadpan drollery
(which makes him look like a cousin to Ajay Devgn rather than Sunny Deol) serves
the plot well.
Deol infuses intelligence in potentially fatuous sequences. And he gets reliable
support in redoubtable co-actors like Manu Rishi, Himani Shivpuri, Rajesh Sharma
and Bajendra Kala, all of whom work laboriously towards making us overlook the
gaping holes in the narrative. But the ham-handed treatment of the theme
occasionally disrupts the rather endearing story of a man who falls in love with
the ghost of a road accident.
Patralekha makes a likeable spirit. But playing ghost also keeps her invisible
for a large part of the film. You wish there was more of her. Come to think of
it, you wish there more of a lot of things in this ghostly satire.
You also wish the film didn't labour so strenuously to throw forward the lessons
of life which wouldn't need to be served on a platter if the story had been
written with more sensitivity.
Nonetheless "Nanu Ki Jaanu" compensates for its pale notions of redemption with
lots of voluptuous Punjabi-styled humour, that includes a female ghostbuster in
a hip-hugging saree and with a designer handbag, that never lapses into
vulgarity. It is a fun to watch while it lasts, though you would find yourself
wondering why it couldn't have been better assembled and packaged.
Busy promoting his forthcoming film "Nanu Ki Jaanu", actor Abhay Deol believes India has enough audience numbers to sustain four to five films releasing on the same day."Nanu Ki Jaanu", releasing on April 20, is clashing with movies like "Omerta", "Daas Dev", "High Jack" and "Beyond the Clouds".Asked if this clash will affect his film, Abhay told media persons: "I hope all films do well, and I think it is possible. We have audience numbers.Read More
Abhay Deol hopes there's a 'Zindagi Na...' sequelActor Abhay Deol, who was a part of Zoya Akhtar's memorable film "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", says the primary cast members, including Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar, are ready for a sequel, but the director needs to say "yes".There have been media reports that Zoya Akhtar may consider making a sequel after she finishes shooting of her current film "Gully Boy".Read More
