Phata Poster Nikhla Hero

It showers few newness & respite into our palate after few let-downs in 2013. The man who gave us Ajab Prem Ki... has made a comeback but fails to understand that same formula does not work all the time.

Shahid Kapoor has probably lost it, with no signature to him at all. His performance is fine for the plot which talks about a mother-son relationship and all the drama surrounding to her dreams of seeing her son as a policeman & some underworld mystery which later turns into tomfoolery. Somewhere or the other, a feeling that the scene you just watched has happened before may trouble you, but I promise it ain't deja vu. I feel sorry for Illeana D'Cruz playing the role of a side-character who has very little screen space, provided the songs are excluded. Padmini Kolhapure is good, so are the other supporting cast.

Coupled with inventive writing & terrible character depth, it tries to indulge its audience, referring hell of a lot of Bollywood cult classics & the actors who played in them. A cameo by a popular B-town actor adds humor to it. Not to mention, the humor is terrific throughout, but fails if we consider the slapstick involved (mostly through Shahid's) & ask our brains to indulge. A tad melodramatic towards the end, PPNH is an average watch with your friends & family which is able to quench your movie thirst if long running time, sentimental drama and 5 songs (incl. one item number) doesn't affect your watch..

BOTTOM LINE: Fairly recommended 'cause it manages to stand up and wave, then tumbles down into a limbo. Easily forgettable.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity/Vulgarity/Nudity/Sex/Alcohol/Smoking: No | Violence: Strong | Gore: Very Mild | Porn: No

In the contemporary bollywood, there are three ways to make a movie hit: sex,cast or making a masala flick. This movie has last two alluded elements. It is funny and emotional. As is being said that it is a tribute to two of bollywood's blockbusters DON and MUNNA BHAI M.B.B.S, you'll find half of the half part and half of the last part of the movie as intermingling of said movies. You'll also find that as in funny movies of Rajkumar Santoshi the element of comic fighting is prevalent through out the movie. Story: As I told that this story is intermixing of two movies. Despite of copying,film has got some genuine ideas and stuff. 5/10 I will award to the story.

Acting: Shahid kapoor has once again proved that no doubt he's a verstile actor and can justify every role given to him. Funny expressions can make you laugh even you may fall from your seats and said expressions can make you cry. I'll give 8/10 to the acting.

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

Was pleasantly surprised as to how enjoyable the movie really was!! Total paisa vasool, fun and wholesome Bollywood flick after a long time. It is not sleazy like Grand Masti or mindless like Chenni Express!!

Raj Kumar Santoshi has given us another timeless classic comedy after my favorite 'Andaz Apna Apna!!

Leads are good - I mean Shahid annoys and Ilena looks pretty!

Songs are fun, especially the Atif Aslam track and the 'aghal bhaghal' number.

Dialogues and scenes LOL - without being cheap! Perfect night out movie without your thinking hats on!!

In an era when Bollywood movies are becoming bolder with new treatment and storyline and are getting plethora of kudos for it ,it is actually quite a risky business to follow the old school way of movie making.Yes you do get all the clichéd characters,songs out of sequence,over the top acting and intermixing of a few Bollywood plots but what stands out for the movie at least for the first part is that it has got its soul in the right place.In contemporary times the plot of a movie gets praised just for showing a couple of intimate scenes (and promoted as pathbreaking) and live in relationships this movie tries what others have forgotten,that is a movie which you could watch with your entire family without being embarrassed .Talking about the movie the first half is better than the second which looses what already was a thin plot.Still the movie will make you laugh(the guffaws of audience in the cinema hall at least proves so).Overall the movie stands on the thin line of passable vs watchable,personally born in late 80's having grown up watching films with my family throughout I found the movie a nice refresher.If you have free time go out with your family and enjoy this movie.

6+1 ..extra one for being a clean family entertainer (pathbreaking for contemporary times i guess!!!)