Fugly

F*UGLY, the name seems unusual and hatke, I kept wondering what it really meant, well the beginning credits clarifies the same; it meant "FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE". The hatke quotient stops in the name itself.

So Fugly delves in the latest trend of exploring our Capital Delhi. The story is of 5 friends, Dev (debutant Mohit Marwah), Devi (debutant Kiara Advani), Gaurav (Boxer Vijendra Singh) and Aditya alias Haggu (Arfi Lamba), who lead a chilled and care free life. In one incident wherein Devi is molested by a grocery shop owner and the friends decide to teach him a lesson and kidnap him and en-route they have an accident with a police van and they meet Police Inspector Choutala (Jimmy Shergill). This incident changes their life forever and Choutala starts blackmailing them and how these friends fight against Choutala and the system constitutes the rest of the story.

The first problem is the story by Rahul Handa which is Rang De Basanti Meets Fukrey,it hangs between being comedy or a serious issue based movie and does not have the punch. The second problem is with the screenplay which is slow and the sequences look too half baked and without the punch and the transition from flash back to present looks disjointed. The songs have no relevance to the story and look forced. And the biggest is the climax which does not justify the overall narration. The dialogues by director Kabir Sadanand and Rajveer Ahuja ranges from being witty to unintentionally funny. The characters look too monotonous and repeated.

Performance wise it needed more punch from the debutants, Mohit Marwah as Dev looks too stiff and needs diction lessons as his dialogues are not clear. Boxer Vijendra Singh sleep walks through his role of Gaurav and is average as the fun loving Jat. Kiara Advani as Devi is crackling and justifies her character well and she shines amongst the other debutants Mohit and Vijendra, watch out for this girl. Arfi Lamba as Aditya becomes quite monotonous after a point and his comedy tracks look forced. Jimmy Shergill as R S Choutala is the bright spot of Fugly, he is just superb and rises above the writing with his brilliant portrayal, another under rated actor of Bollywood. Rest of the cast sleep walk through their portrayal.

Another problem is the editing by Shounok Ghosh, it is not crisp and overall flow looks bumpy. Cinematography by Milind Jog is good and captures Delhi & Ladakh well.

The Music by Yo Yo Honey Singh sounds repetitive and other music directors Raftaar and Prashant Vadhyar does not impress.

Kabir Sadanand took a topical subject but fails in the narration, it neither falls into the category of serious cinema nor a comedy. Kabir also stumbles is extracting a crackling performances by the cast excluding for Jimmy Shergill and Kiara Advani.

Its really a sad state of our Hindi cinema that at one end films like FILMISTAAN have to wait for two long years to reach the audience in absence of any gutsy buyer or supporting back up. And on the other an amateurish product like FUGLY gets produced by a big star (Akshay) and also gets promoted through a special video song featuring both Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan. Now thinking about the two, either they both agreed to do this particular venture to oblige someone close or perhaps the big names don't even have the time (or intentions) to check what kind of product they are promoting through such exceptional strategy at a decent cost.

Honestly, these were my thoughts while watching FUGLY just after its first hour and the film is a big disappointment both for the viewers as well as for the newcomers expecting a lot from the same. Taking huge inspirations from films like PAANCH, SHAITAAN, FUKREY and RANG DE BASANTI, its based on a script mixing them all and then coming up with a tasteless cocktail which neither offers any fun, thrills or entertainment in its two long hours full of many dumb scenes. The forced slang of the Delhi lingo remains bad throughout and the ridiculous story progression trying to incorporate everything ranging from friendship, eve-teasing, drugs, corrupt police, politics & channel reporters to patriotism, sacrifice and leadership simply falls flat, impressing none. Moreover the silly climax even makes you laugh looking at the desperation shown by the writers in a foolish hospital sequence.

Directed by Kabir Sadanand, FUGLY had everything required to make a decent film. But the team simply wasted this given opportunity despite having a justified budget and two big stars backing them from the front. The project does catch your attention with a fine cinematography but few mediocre songs, loud background score, weak performances and a pretty messy narrative in the second half completely ruin the sufficient resources provided.

To be fair with the fresh cast, though they still have a lot to learn but I would not like to blame them at all because its actually the writing, dialogues and stupid sequences in the film, which make them look more childish than they actually are. Out of the four,Mohit Marwah & Vijender Singh try too hard with their limited ability, Arif Lamba has got nothing to convey and only Kiara Advani gives you something to watch, but that too only because of her good looks and revealing outfits. So in the performance department you only have Jimmy Shergill saving the film with his convincing act of a corrupt Haryanvi Police officer and an old lady along with Vijender's young politician uncle who thankfully provide the only amusing moments in this otherwise dull film called FUGLY.

Interestingly the strange and rather unusual title FUGLY (reportedly) means FIGHT with the UGLY or F@#$ the UGLY in the society around. However, the end product is not even close to any of the good intentions visible in this newly invented word and here is the description of its five highly absurd scenes, which would clearly give you an idea about the film and its avoidable content perfectly.

A. It opens with one of the boys setting himself to fire right in front of the India Gate and after getting burned badly is being taken to the hospital in a stretcher. Now just outside the hospital, as he is brought out of the ambulance, a whole group of reporters put their mike right in front of his face and start asking him questions like, "Why did you opt for this? What is the motive? How are you feeling now?"

And for me this was really a dumb start of a film, undoubtedly!

B. In one of its supposed to be funny scenes, Vijender Singh pulls down an American flag from one of the street poles and then wears it around his waist. On being asked that what he will do with it, he says, "I will make my boxers (nickers) from this."

So if its your own country's flag then it is disrespectful & a crime to treat it like this. But in case it belongs to another country then its fine to insult it in anyway and that too by a national sportsman having won international fame! Ironically they have used this particular scene in the film's promos too but I really didn't expect this from Vijender frankly!

C. In one of its sequences talking about eve-teasing, the girl says, "Main Delhi Li Ladki Hoon! Dhakke Aur Ragarh Ka Fark Jaanti Hoon!" – And that was some great writing indeed!

D. A vague subplot in the film shows that anyone can arrange a hidden drug party in the outskirts of Delhi at a farmhouse and can earn 30-40 lakhs just like that in a single night as if it was that easy like organizing a wedding event by a professional planner in routine.

E. Lastly the most hilarious one comes in the climax, when a more than 60% burnt person lying on a hospital bed, suddenly jumps on to the Inspector and tries to strangle him with the oxygen pipes around, using his full strength like a normal youngster.

Now I have certainly heard about cinematic liberty but this was really like considering the viewers as a bunch of fools.

To sum up, if you still wish to watch FUGLY which actually remains UGLY, then watch it spending nothing when it gets aired on a TV channel soon and not before that.

'Fugly' is a well-intentioned film, that delivers a noble message, that being, off fighting for what's right. Its A Decent Effort! Its not perfect, but not without merit either.

'Fugly' tells the story of 4 friends - Dev, Gaurav, Aditya & Devi, whose fun filled & care free life comes to an abrupt halt, when they are pitted against an extremely corrupt Police Officer.

'Fugly' has a super first-hour, where the light-moments & the dramatic moments, both, work well. In the second-hour, the film begins to slip. The desired impact seems missing & even the series of events its characters encounter, are ordinary. Even the culmination, for that matter, is half-baked. In short, 'Fugly' starts off pretty well, but runs out of gas after a while.

The Screenplay is decent, but overall, the narrative isn't as hard-hitting as expected. Kabir Sadanand's Direction is fair. Cinematography, Editing & Action-Sequences, are alright. Music by Various Artists, is good.

Performance-Wise: Mohit Marwah does a decent job. Vijender Singh is strictly okay. Arfi Lamba is efficient. Kiara Advani is the pick of the lot. She looks gorgeous & delivers a highly competent performance. Mansha Bahl is very cute. But its Jimmy Shergill who steals the show. He's excellent as the villainous, corrupt cop.

On the whole, 'Fugly' is a fair entertainer.

Direction is very bad. Even the opening frame of film gives a hint that director has some alien vision. A person sets himself ablaze and walks like he is under shower!!? Might be Director had never burnt his finger with even a match stick. Person is deadly convinced about this step but it can't make him walking like fire is nothing has to do with him. After watching this scene, I was damn sure that I am going to witness another bad film. Story has nothing new, sensible to offer. Screenplay makes thing more idiotic. Dialogues are good at places. Director was so desperate to make a unique film that without justifying anything he stuffed all i.e love track, corrupt policemen, opportunist politician, drug deal, murder, comedy but final outcome is bitter. Pre climax is very slow and I couldn't able to understand the climax. Performance wise all three lead are hardly OK. Kiara Advani as Devi is very good. She emotes well in emotional as well as in dramatic scenes and looks pretty too. Jimmy Shergill as R.S.chautala is impressive. Musically two tracks Fugly fugly and Dhup chik are foot tapping and give the most required relief. Other tracks slows down further the already slow film.

Watching F*UGLY evokes a strong sense of deja vu, for its premise so similar to the 2011 dark thriller,Shaitaan.And in what I could best interpret, the title 'neatly' sums up as Friends-in-an-Ugly situation.Kabir Sadanand's directorial debut tells the story of four youngsters ,at the cusp of their lives ,whose lives come to an

abrupt halt for one wrongdoing.This triggers a series of events,putting their friendship into test.

New Delhi- The Crime capital and the hidden nexus between corrupt cops,wily politicians and administrators.It forms the canvas for Kabir's plot.Four friends - Dev(Mohit Marwah),Gaurav(Vijendar Singh),Devi(Kyra Advani) and Adi(Arfi Lamba) quite liberal(or should I say 'Communist' musketeers)in their thinking are out of their college and about to kick-start their careers.An attempt to bring a lecherous grocer to task who has abused Devi goes awry when the foursome encounter the irreverent cop, SHO Chautala(Jimmy Shergill, in a deliciously menacing avatar).Chautala, the evil incarnate , demands an unreasonably hefty sum from them in return and this leads to unforeseen tragedy and ultimately redemption.

To be fair, Fugly is a well-intention-ed thought,which doesn't translate into an edgy thriller.Blame it on the shoddy writing, the narrative loses steam soon after the entry of Chautala who works as the film's Trump card sans the gratuitous sloka chants.Starting off with the breath-taking locales of Ladakh, it soon implodes its way to debauched politicians, corrupt elements, under-house parties and even gay prostitution.Kabir provides a glimpse of the city's dark realities, but doesn't conjure them up and the outcome is highly inconsistent.As a conventional twist to the plot, one of the protagonists immolates himself in front of India Gate to symbolize the rise of conscientious nationalism.Let the truth prevail !

As far as the performances go,the quartet of the newcomers is not particularly bad but could have done better.Its Vijendar who is convincing as he plays a wannabe boxer and has to speak with Harvanvi accent,which he is so much in real life.Cast in a negative role, Jimmy Shergill is the virtual propellant of the film's vehicle. But just like an engine which runs out of fuel,Fugly gets deprived of a stirring drama.