A cocktail comprising of the Director of last year’s runaway hit Queen, Vikas Bahl, one of the biggest producers in the country, Karan Johar and one of the quirkiest production houses in the country, Phantom, what should one expect, nothing but Shaandaar?
So the story was simple. There is a wedding taking place in a castle in UK, between the calculative Aroras and the bling laden Fandwanis. The wedding planner is a certain Jagjinder Joginder. The bride is size plus plus and the groom is working on his 8 ½ pack. The bride’s sister is adopted and the grooms friends seem as if they were. The bride’s grandmother is more interested in the wedding to secure a business deal and guess what, the groom’s brother is also only interested in the business deal. The bride’s family overfeeds her to take her weight in gold from the groom, the groom’s brother is getting sleepless nights at that. The bride’s sister is an insomniac. And guess what, NO… not the groom’s brother, but THE WEDDING PLANNER IS AN INSOMNIAC! And yes, the bride’s family is bankrupt and voila, so is the groom’s family! Wonder who paid for the wedding?
Well if that sounds a little complicated to you, try watching it on screen! Yes, the film suffers from the too many cooks syndrome. If a leading publication was advertising it as India’s first destination wedding film, the film itself seems to be mocking the concept at times.
So here is the basic ground rule. Assume this film wasn’t made by its current makers and was made by Anees Bazmee or Prabhudheva or even the once comedy film maker, Sajid Khan. Then it is a given that there is no logic in the film and there are no rules. So go in for a brainless mad capper. Unfortunately even at that level the film fails.
Basically a very weak script and a weaker screenplay leaves the film on the family, not your family, the Kapoor family. So you have Pankaj Kapoor as the meek, suppressed doting father, Sanah Kapoor his daughter and Shahid’s half sister, as the oversized bride, and you have Shahid Kapoor. Because it is all about loving your parents. Then you have Alia Bhatt who looks thoroughly confused, assuming this was going to be her Queen moment, but unfortunately is let down by poor writing.
It is not that the film doesn’t have its moments of whacked out crazy madness. Kids are going to love this stuff, trust me. The only people laughing their guts out in the cinema were the children. Guess this was their target audience then. We did see quite a few adults leave the hall half way through. Wonder why didn’t they stay till the end to see a crazier climax than seen in Bazmee’s films.
The film gives it best 2 (and the only 2 hit) songs in the first 45 minutes and then leaves you with a void, cos the something which is missing in this film is a soul.
Alia, Shahid, Pankaj, Isha have all done fantastic jobs. Sushma Seth & Sanjay Kapoor will have you in splits throughout. Wish the focus would have been more on the writing than the glamour, since it has led to a completely incoherent on screen waste of talent. Even the cameo by Karan Johar fails to liven up the moment.
All in all, cocktail comprising of the Director of last year’s runaway hit Queen, Vikas Bahl, one of the biggest producers in the country, Karan Johar and one of the quirkiest production houses in the country, Phantom, what should one expect, ANYTHING BUT Shaandaar?
RATING: 2/5 … I’M STRETCHING IT.
By: Yusuf Poonawala
