Ugly Aur Pagli

A rip-off of a successful Korean film. I never really understood why certain filmmakers in India have to copy others' films. I do enjoy the occasional films of this category though as long as they are made in their own special way, as long as the elements are somehow changed and the only thing that remains is the basic plot elements, and as long as the film is generally well-made and entertaining. This film has none of it. They put two actors in one piece of a very very boring joke. The film has a Ranvir Shorey, who is generally considered a good actor, hamming and acting like a kid, and a Mallika Sherawat, whom I personally like very much, trying to be cool without success. Nothing about this film is memorable, though I really liked the scenes in which Mallika slaps Ranvir. The film is badly made, the narrative does not go anywhere, the development is dull, and the director seems to have no interest in it. In one word: avoid. In two words: avoid it. In three words: don't watch it.

Okay, how many of you actually fancy having an unbridled shrew to romance, that too being a doormat? This movie has one hapless Kabir (Ranvir Shorey) who seems to rather enjoy taking that from a drunken Kuhu (Mallika Sherawat). If you thought this idea of sadomasochism was desi, nope, this one is a complete rip-off of Korean ‘My Sassy Girl’; since I hadn’t seen the original, I had to make do by reading the plot on web.

An out of romantic luck, flunking engineering student Kabir happens to find a ‘talli’ Kuhu leaning towards an oncoming Mumbai local on one fateful night. The swaying girl pukes over a passenger, calls Kabir ‘darling’ and gets knocked out. Unwilling to leave her to her fate in the dead of the night, Kabir takes her to a shady motel. Next morning, Kuhu commands him to come to Marine Drive, beginning their sadomasochistic romance.

As much as he tries to avoid the dominatrix, she always seems to get him. Imagine, the guy can’t order the food he wants, choose what to do, bear the abuse, wear stilettos and petticoats, takes slaps, and has to carry her to safety after her knockout. Funnier still are her futuristic scripts that he’s got to sell to producers! But, having already fallen for her; Kabir makes up his mind to put a smile on the face of her sad past! The rest is workable.

Ugly Aur Pagli is neither a sweet romance nor is a comedy you can relate to unlike its predecessor Pyar Ke Side Effects. About Kuhu, I wish the film makers could have done more to bring out the cause of her sadness, than just seemingly fake nakhre. Despite this, Mallika stands out throughout. Playing the doormat to perfection, Ranvir Shorey seems to have perfected playing the whipping boy, especially after ‘Mithya’.

If you are still wondering whether to watch this movie, the answer is a clear ‘No’. With characters not really developing much, you don’t feel for either! There are quite a few jokes you would laugh at, but none really are showstoppers. Music is passable, with the ‘talli’ song targeting gen-next drinkers, but isn’t still good enough. At the end of it all, if they made this film out of another DVD, they could have surely done better.

What were the makers of this movie thinking. They thought they could give an Indian touch to the Korean original "Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo" which is a masterpiece by itself. Though I do not understand Korean, I watched the Korean version (with English subtitles) and was touched by every moment in it. A friend of mine suggested this movie and I thought it must be some kind of Korean comedy (with animated expressions). But the end result was totally different. It turned out to be a heart rendering, natural comedy with touching moments and a warm ending. Haven't seen the Hollywood version "My Sassy Girl" but the original is special and probably no remake could recreate the magic of the movie. Ugly aur Pagli is an utter failure in an attempt to do so. Instead the comedy is slapstick and makes no sense in the Indian context. Ranvir has been wasted here and Malika should stick to what she does best (which is not acting). Music has nothing to it, except for probably "Main Talli Ho Gayi". Overall the movie makes a mockery of the original and has nothing much to take back from it.

At the cost of being called stupid let me confess, I had Hopes!!!.

Not very high hopes but I expected a movie along the lines of Pyaar Ke Side Effects, I even went prepared with the right company (girls), in fact i even hoped a bit more considering that Ranvir should be able to pull of the hen pecked boyfriend better than Rahul.

But alas it was not to be.

What i got was more of a confused film that went neither here nor there and left me with that Ugly feeling of being let down.

Clearly the weakest part of the movie is the script, Even if we are to believe that a bunch of 30 somethings are in college (better than the 70s i know but...), its hard to believe the madness thats being pushed across as real, THE MOVIE FAILS AT BOTH TRYING TO BE REAL AND LARGER THAN LIFE WITH BOTH TYPES OF SCENES HAVING THE HANGOVER OF THE OTHER.

THE MUSIC SAVE FOR "Mein Talli.." IS SO BAD THAT YOU ALMOST FORGET THE EVEN WORST PLACEMENT AND EDITING OF THE SONGS.

And whats with the sati savitri Mallika in her own words, we don't come to see her fully clothed, hell besides one song where she looked quite sexy (which was ruined because the songs were just so pathetic), she didn't even expose in goa for gods sake.

The only saving grace of the movie was the acting which was decent given the weak script, both Ranvir and Mallika did a decent job but thanks to the badly written script, many scenes looked like they were being hammed. And lets be frank Ranvir cant dance sala, so why is he doing it so much.

I suspect the movie has been copied from some movie because of the scenes were not the kind you normally see in Indian movies. In fact i would like to go on a limb and say it is some Asian movie, who are more atuned to obsessive love and such themes.

In all we have a poor movie that is best avoided, not suitable for any audience, in any mood.

-s script, songs, jokes, editing, songs, songs, editing, script.

+/-s acting or script which is to blamed??!!No exposure.

+s decent acting, A FEW FUNNY SCENES.

total 4/10 (i have factored in the fact that it fell below my expectations but don't want to exclude that and give it a five which makes it an OK movie which it definitely is not, i went with people who expected bad and the got it and those who had no idea they were seeing this and still found it bad so....)

UnP ran high on anticipation levels since it comes from the same house who gave us Pyar Ke Side Effects. Honestly UnP borrows concepts/ ideas heavily from PKSE and in lots of respects it overkills – which is why the movie fails to work. The story/ screenplay/ script lack the punch.

Ranvir Shorey:: Gives his usual best.

Mallika Sherwat:: Was a misfit IMO. Or probably her character should have been toned down.

Zeenat Aman:: Good to see her after a long time.

Songs are catchy and good.

The climax is straight out of Mills & Boons (read that "cheesy").