I for one am extremely confused as to how I should exactly review Shashanka Ghosh's "Khoobsurat"; the official remake of doyen Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic that hit the screens sometime in the eighties.......
While Hrishida's "Khoobsurat" narrated the tussle between a dominating matriarch (Dina Pathak) who wants to keep her family under her thumb and lord them with an iron hand and an effervescent Rekha who firmly believes in doing what her heart tells her to and leading her life as a blithe spirit; Shashanka's insistence to recreate a "fairy tale" atmosphere (maybe the producers Disney Films India had something to do with it) ends up placing Mili (Sonam Kapoor) in a dazzling yet somewhat decrepit world of Maharaja's and the like...........
The Rathores of Sambhalgarh are rich beyond belief; glaringly and unapologetically royal, immensely proud of their lineage; yet totally dysfunctional and incoherent; enter Mili (Sonam Kapoor) a spunky, loud, uncouth, effervescent and happy go lucky physiotherapist whose primary objective is to attend to the family scion's (theatre legend Aamir Raza Hussain's) knobbly and totally useless limbs that are the bane of his existence.........
Sonam Kapoor in the role of a lifetime chews more or less like a cow; speaks or rather let's forth without a break and last but not the least sports garishly mismatched ensembles and tops off her sartorial elegance with green nail polish on her finger nails........
As expected Mili's entry into the hallowed halls of the Sambhalgarh palace turns the royal's disorderly life topsy turvy especially that of the "yuvraj" or prince Vikram Rathore (essayed with a rare degree of sincerity, suaveness, gravitas and maturity by debutante Pakistani matinee idol Fawad Khan); the much expected fireworks follow and do succeed in bringing forth guffaws from the stiffest of upper lips; alas "Khoobsurat" is a little to bland, benign, tasteless and predictable........
The characters sketched out by co-writers Shashanka Ghosh and Indira Bisht are mere caricatures at best and do not strike a chord in your heart as they are never really fleshed out and given identities of their own with Mili herself being a prime example as the director never succeeds in explaining whether her effervescent nature is a screen to mask the deep rooted sense of disappointment and disenchantment the leading lady of the film feels at being spurned by a legion of suitors..........
"Khoobsurat" at best is reminiscent of many a Mills and Boon romance where you know the ultimate outcome after having read twenty odd pages of the novel; yes it does have it's ,moments of heady triumphs and the much sough after cinematic brilliance; but these rare flashes of brilliance are sadly nothing more than flashes in the pan and leave a somewhat bitter after taste in your mouth after the proceedings on screen have come to their utterly predictable end.........
See this one only for the utterly charming and rakish Fawad Khan who is certainly go to set many a heart aflutter with his "prince charming" act as well as Kirron Kher who has by now perfected the art of playing the loud Punjabi mother to the extent that she might well take a patent on it.........
A word or two for Sneha Khanvalkar's musical score especially the exceptionally energetic yet melodious "engine ki seeti" and Tushar Kanti Ray's delectable visuals would certainly be in order as the two take the movie out of the realms of the utterly mundane and add some much needed lustre to it..........
RATING:2.5/5, do try and sample it only if Mills and Boon is your idea of romance and an evening well spent.......
While Hrishida's "Khoobsurat" narrated the tussle between a dominating matriarch (Dina Pathak) who wants to keep her family under her thumb and lord them with an iron hand and an effervescent Rekha who firmly believes in doing what her heart tells her to and leading her life as a blithe spirit; Shashanka's insistence to recreate a "fairy tale" atmosphere (maybe the producers Disney Films India had something to do with it) ends up placing Mili (Sonam Kapoor) in a dazzling yet somewhat decrepit world of Maharaja's and the like...........
The Rathores of Sambhalgarh are rich beyond belief; glaringly and unapologetically royal, immensely proud of their lineage; yet totally dysfunctional and incoherent; enter Mili (Sonam Kapoor) a spunky, loud, uncouth, effervescent and happy go lucky physiotherapist whose primary objective is to attend to the family scion's (theatre legend Aamir Raza Hussain's) knobbly and totally useless limbs that are the bane of his existence.........
Sonam Kapoor in the role of a lifetime chews more or less like a cow; speaks or rather let's forth without a break and last but not the least sports garishly mismatched ensembles and tops off her sartorial elegance with green nail polish on her finger nails........
As expected Mili's entry into the hallowed halls of the Sambhalgarh palace turns the royal's disorderly life topsy turvy especially that of the "yuvraj" or prince Vikram Rathore (essayed with a rare degree of sincerity, suaveness, gravitas and maturity by debutante Pakistani matinee idol Fawad Khan); the much expected fireworks follow and do succeed in bringing forth guffaws from the stiffest of upper lips; alas "Khoobsurat" is a little to bland, benign, tasteless and predictable........
The characters sketched out by co-writers Shashanka Ghosh and Indira Bisht are mere caricatures at best and do not strike a chord in your heart as they are never really fleshed out and given identities of their own with Mili herself being a prime example as the director never succeeds in explaining whether her effervescent nature is a screen to mask the deep rooted sense of disappointment and disenchantment the leading lady of the film feels at being spurned by a legion of suitors..........
"Khoobsurat" at best is reminiscent of many a Mills and Boon romance where you know the ultimate outcome after having read twenty odd pages of the novel; yes it does have it's ,moments of heady triumphs and the much sough after cinematic brilliance; but these rare flashes of brilliance are sadly nothing more than flashes in the pan and leave a somewhat bitter after taste in your mouth after the proceedings on screen have come to their utterly predictable end.........
See this one only for the utterly charming and rakish Fawad Khan who is certainly go to set many a heart aflutter with his "prince charming" act as well as Kirron Kher who has by now perfected the art of playing the loud Punjabi mother to the extent that she might well take a patent on it.........
A word or two for Sneha Khanvalkar's musical score especially the exceptionally energetic yet melodious "engine ki seeti" and Tushar Kanti Ray's delectable visuals would certainly be in order as the two take the movie out of the realms of the utterly mundane and add some much needed lustre to it..........
RATING:2.5/5, do try and sample it only if Mills and Boon is your idea of romance and an evening well spent.......
No comments:
Post a Comment