Banjo

Ravi Jadhav's Underrated 'Banjo' is a decently made film, that has a good heart. Despite some flaws, the film works well & its refreshing to see a film that's not bogged by the run-of-the-mill stories we see in Hindi Cinema. Its far from perfect, but its not without its merits!

'Banjo' Synopsis: A local Musical band, led by a Banjo Player/Thug (Riteish Deshmukh), get the opportunity of a lifetime when a New-York based Musician (Nargis Fakhri) offers them to make music.

'Banjo' nicely conveys a story on street musicians, whose genuine talent, unfortunately has gone unnoticed. And that's sad! 'Banjo' is about them & how their talent deserves our attention & recognition.

Jadhav begins the story very well & the initial sequences between its leading man & women, are cute. And 'Banjo' works best, when it sticks to being about the underdogs. Its the sub-plots & Jadhav's over-stuffing approach that play a spoilsport. The angle of a rival Banjo gang seems forced & also the undercurrent of slum domination by the villains, doesn't add much to the narrative. Also, the film is a bit too long at 136-minutes. Some trimming was needed, for sure.

Nonetheless, Jadhav deserves credit for delivering a story with genuineness & some of it, definitely works. Jadhav, Kapil Sawant & Nikhil Mehrotra's Screenplay has its heart at the right place, but due to some over-stuffing, its impact lessens. The Writers should've tried a crisper approach to its rather weak sub-plots & focused primarily on its main-plot. Jadhav's Direction is well-done. Cinematography is very good. Editing needed to be sharper. Vishal–Shekhar's Score is superb & acts as a major plus-point.

Performance-Wise: Riteish is earnest & likable in the lead role. The always dependable actor remains in character & his Tapori attitude, never comes across as overdone. Nargis looks hot as always, but stumbles acting wise. Of the supporting cast, Dharmesh Yelande, Aditya Kumar & Ram Menon support wonderfully. The actor who portrays Riteish's boss, is fantastic.

On the whole, 'Banjo' is pleasant, but its not without its minuses. But for a one-time viewing, it'll sail through just finely.

"Adorably Nonsensical" - That's how I would label 'Banjo'.

Ritesh Deshmukh has carved a niche for himself - something his fellow Marathi manus must be proud of. It is rare that a Marathi (male) actor strikes big in Hindi and he is perhaps the first since Amol Palekar (who of course was in a different league). Therefore, it was expected that some successful Marathi director (Ravi Jadhav in this case) would decide to make a 'pure masala' Hindi movie with Ritesh in the lead. Something like a Punjabi filmmaker making a Hindi film with Jimmy Shergill or a South Indian filmmaker with Dhanush. They are assured of the captive audience and anything more is a bonus!

As for the movie, it is typical OTT tamasha (nonsense) with two adorable faces - both Ritesh Deshmukh and Nargis Fakhri. Adorable because they have the sexy as well as the vulnerable look. Ritesh is developing in the Jackie Shroff mould and Nargis can pull it off with minimal acting skills like Katrina.

As for the story and the music, don't expect this to be a serious movie (like Rockstar) on a musician's life travails due to its title. Rather, it is a movie confused between drama and comedy.

Recommendation: If you are die hard fan of Riteish Deshmukh then only it is recommended else it is better to let it go.

Positive: Good performances and new flavor for audience.

Negative: Script is too weak which makes it boring.

"Tarrat Bhai" (Riteish) who lives in the slums of Mumbai, plays extraordinary Banjo in festivals with his group to earn some extra bugs.Somehow they got spotted by a sound recorder while performing in Ganpati festival.

He sends the song to his friend "Chris" (Nargis),a DJ in NY who is planning to compete in global music competition and looking for some exceptional talent.

She comes to India to work with the best Banjo band to record her singles. Will she manage to do that ? Will Tarrat and his guys rise to fame and get respect ? If yes, then what all challenges come in their way ? All this will unfold in the movie.

Performance:

Riteish has done the job very well as a Banjo player and costume designer should be credited for the work done to present him as Tarrat Bhai.

On the other hand, Nargis playing a NRI looks good but fails to justify that she is a DJ. Apart from that she also lacked the emotional connect and as usual dialogue delivery falls completely flat.

Dharmesh has not got a chance to showcase his USP i.e. dance. But, he has completely shocked by his performance as a mechanic cum drummer.Other supporting cast has also done good job, special mention of Aditya Kumar who has again impressed as "Paper" after "Perpendicular" in Gangs Of Wasseypur 2.

Drill Down:

Ravi's Direction is having a Marathi element which is new and also succeeds to showcase the slums of Mumbai, but there are loopholes like the entire band is dancing in a live performance.

Dialogues are good enough to entertain the audience but the movie falls completely flat if we talk about the script.There is not much scope left for Editor when the script is so weak though the movie could have been short by 15 minutes.

Vishal-Shekhar has not disappointed much in the music department.But, a music oriented movie like this deserves far better than this. Unfortunately, it seems like a halfhearted effort from these two great musicians.

Verdict:

If we talk about BO collection then this would not be able to do as per the expectations.

"Banjo" is Ravi Jadhav's first directional venture of Hindi films. he already made some good Marathi movies and some of them are very good. I like his direction style and the way he executes the emotions and the character's chemistry. He has a unique style of storytelling and that why I was curious about this movie.

"Banjo" is a musical drama movie and this movie has some action which is negligible. This movie is not so anticipated for the Bollywood audiences but this movie will be a surprise hit. The story is very fresh and almost new for the Hindi audiences. The direction is good and Ritesh's performance is very good. After a long time, Ritesh has come with a solo movie and after some choppy comedy movies, he comes with a solo movie. he proves himself again and he is a good versatile actor. Maybe this movie will recognize as a low budget non-star cast movie but may by this movie Ritesh establish himself. Nargis Fakhri's acting is awkward and she has to improve her Hindi talking. Her acting is one of the weak points of this movie. Songs are not good but not bad and could have been better.

The chemistry between the lead casts is good and romance is very good. Ritesh steals the show and the director properly utilizes him. If you are a fresh story lover this movie is for you and you will enjoy some good emotional acting.

Banjo is a musical drama directed by Ravi Jhadav- a Marathi filmmaker who just entered the boundaries of Bollywood cinema. It stars Riteish Deshmukh, Nargis Fakhri, and Dharmesh Yelande. The music is composed by Vishal-Shekhar.

After watching this movie, I realized that this is a disgrace to Holi festivals in India. The performances in the movie were simply below average. I have a feeling that RD has become a lot like Shahrukh Khan just like the way he speaks, the way he moves, the way he expresses his feelings, etc. He gave a performance that was slightly better than what he did in Ek Villain. Nargis Fakhri's acting is like burnt biryani when there's no one who knows how to cook it and wouldn't taste it. The other performers were initially out of the right path during the movie. The music is terrible in the film. Songs like Udan Choo and Bappa are songs which will literally test your patience. Vishal-Shekhar failed in the aspect of delivering good songs for this movie.

While watching the movie, I noticed some logic fails in the film especially when it came to Fakhri's character. When she arrived in India, she had money to afford a cab, she has an Iphone 6s but she couldn't afford a hotel room or a place to stay with running water. How stupid could that get? This is like music in none of my ears with very clichéd moments. Also this will show the celebrations of Ganpatti in a very wrong way.

There are 2 good things about Banjo 1)Art Direction which keeps the execution tight 2)Editing which keeps it crisp and transitionally well paced.

Overall, I have one question. Are you in the mood of taking your wallet out of your pocket? The best place to do that is at a restaurant or someplace else where it is value for money but not the cinema. Honestly, this is like any other musical cliché film which I found slightly better than Vipul Shah's London Dreams and Subhash Ghai's Yuvraaj. Banjo is definitely a watchable movie but on Netflix or if it is on TV.

Not a good place to worship Ganpatti.