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Saturday, January 18, 2025
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BOLLYWOOD RANCHI DIARIES
EDITOR'S PICK
Ranchi Diaries': Lacklustre chronicles (Review By Troy Ribeiro ;
Rating: **)
Contextually, director Sattwik Mohanty's "Ranchi Diaries" showcases Asia's
largest mental hospital, which is situated in Ranchi.
But unlike the hospital which treats its patients, director Sattwik Mohanty
treats (read entertains) his audience with low-IQ, physiologically challenged
characters. In this quirk-of-fate film, they are supposed to ignite the humour
factor.
The plot, with a botched abduction followed by a bank robbery that lands the
gang in more trouble, forms the crux of the tale.
Narrated in a non-linear manner, the plot and the screenplay are lazily crafted
in a slipshod manner. The narrative begins on a dramatic note with a rural bank
being robbed on the Ranchi-Patratu highway. While the police have surrounded the
bank in the hope of arresting the robbers, speculation about the burglars
abounds. Some are even as preposterous as the robbers being aliens.
Then to enlighten us on the current scenario, the narrative rewinds to events
that occurred a week earlier. We are introduced to a load of characters which
are tedious for absorption. Instead of being organic, this information overload
is indolently dumped down by a voice-over, which is unenthusiastically rendered
by Vijay Raaz.
Anupam Kher plays Thakur Bhaiya, the quintessential local mafia king who has his
fingers in every pie of Ranchi. His nephew Lalan (Jimmy Shergill) is the
principled police officer of the region, who is at constant loggerheads with
him.
Monish (Himanshu Kohli), an engineer by profession, also known as a "master
mechanic", is in love with Gudiya (Soundarya Sharma), a singer who has dreams of
becoming a pop sensation like Shakira. Her talent draws the unwanted attention
of Thakur Bhaiya. So they are constantly deciding to elope.
One evening, in an inebriated state, Monish abuses Thakur Bhaiya and hence he is
picked up by Thakur Bhaiya's goons.
Meanwhile, Monish's friends, Pinku (Taaha Shah) and Bunty (Pradeep Singh), the
two "matric-fail sons" of a retired postmaster who are bullies and consider
themselves to be the Godfathers of the younger generation, unknowingly, along
with their friend Babloo (Harry Bala), kidnap Thakur Bhaiya's younger brother.
Their van gets intercepted by the goons carrying Monish.
The four friends land up at Thakur Bhaiya's bungalow who decides to teach them a
lesson. Lalan interrupts Thakur's plans by saying that if the four are involved
with kidnapping, the law will investigate and punish the four.
So, he hands over the four friends to his junior, Sub Inspector Choubey (Satish
Kaushik) to proceed with the investigation. Instead, the corrupt officer insists
on being bribed. So, how the five of them successfully rob a bank and later lose
the money, is what keeps you hooked.
While the characters are stereotypical, the performances of the entire cast are
perforce perfunctory and to top it all, the accents of the cast seem laboured
and forced.
The music does supplement the viewing experience, but does not elevate it as the
blaring din it creates is annoying.
Overall, "Ranchi Diaries" tries hard to be quirky but fails miserably.
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Ranchi Diaries depicts the story of Gudiya and her friends who hail from a small town Ranchi. Gudiya dreams of becoming a pop sensation like Shakira. Her talent draws unwanted attention of the local Mafia kingpin Thakur bhaiya leading her to elope with childhood love, Manish. A chain of events occur and create a ruckus. To get out of this mess, Gudiya and her friends plan a bank heist. Their ambitious bank heist becomes the joke of the town when they attempt it. Amidst the chaos between the goons and the cops whether Gudiya and her friends can make it to survival, is what Ranchi Diaries all about.
