Rajkumar Santoshi is trying hard to recreate the magic of the cult comedy 'Andaz Apna Apna (1994)', he attempted it with 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani (2009)' but it was not even close to it i.e. beyond comparison. He now approaches with "Phata Poster Nikhla Hero" which is not even close to 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani'. 'Andaz Apna Apna (1994)' was released in 90s, receptivity and ingenuity have been changed entirely since then and we are in the phase of emerging Indian Cinema. Audiences require some commonsensical and decent screenplays because reiteration is not serving any purpose. Rajkumar Santoshi is a veteran, active since 'Ghayal (1990)', it is really a high time to understand the level of cinema and discard all the gimmicks. I am not able to understand the motivation behind making such films, what really drove the producers and the director? 'Phata Poster Nikhla Hero' about Savitri (Padmini Kolhapure), a righteous mother, who dreams to make his son Vishwas (Shahid Kapoor) an honest police officer. Vishwas in contrast dreams to become an actor. One fine day Vishwas gets a training call from Mumbai; this gives him a chance to pursue his acting career. In the process Vishwas is inadvertently taken as police officer, by Kajal (Ileana D'Cruz) a reporter. Everyone starts to believe that he is a cop and it starts the misunderstandings and comedy of errors.
The screenplay revolves around a wire thin plot, which is jarringly uneven. It heavily relies upon the happenings which is really unexciting. It includes many precipitous scenes, forced song sequences, abrupt love track and horrendous background score.
For at least 15 minutes it runs on the right track but abruptly goes off the track and goes into oblivion. You will witness forcefully plotted situations one after other, it really drags the story and becomes monotonous.
It lacks on the technical part too, the fight scenes are atrociously choreographed, editing is totally wretched, all the colors have been used by the cinematographer and every scene seems like a rainbow on the screen. The motif behind these colorful scenes is really unknown; maybe they wanted to create a colorful comedy which ultimately is flat and tiresome.
Pritam's music has become a chart-buster, some tracks like 'Tu mere agal bagal', 'Dhating dance' and 'Main rang sharbaton ka' are playing in every channel and corner. But these songs are placed abruptly and don't run with the story. The best way to enjoy these songs, (for the lovers of 'Phata Poster Nikhla Hero's tracks) is to watch these only on the music channels; you will really appreciate Shahid's moves.
There is an array of the contemporary actors in the movie; in one word all of them are wasted. Shahid Kapoor shows his comical timings and strength in some parts but mostly he over-acted, his dance numbers are an exception though.Ileana D'Cruz was a miscast, she even does not look glamorous and her dialog delivery is terrible. Dharshan Jariwala, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Mishra, Zakir Hussain and Padmini Kolhapure have put great efforts but it could not save the film because of lack of punches and comical timings.
In a nutshell, it is really an insult to the comedy genre and Santoshi's own 'Andaz Apna Apna'. If the crew does not have the proper vision of creation, they should stop making such wastes. Such movies increase the bandwidth of idiot-ism and waste of money by all means.
4.6/10
