REVIEW 591: NANU KI JAANU

Release date:	April 20, 2018
Director:	Faraz Haider
Cast: Language:	Abhay Deol, Patralekhaa, Rajesh Sharma, Manu Rishi Chadha, Himani Shivpuri, Brijendra Kala Hindi

Although Abhay Deol is the leading man of Nanu Ki Jaanu (Nanu’s Beloved), the film belongs, in my ’umble opinion, to Rajesh Sharma. In what appears to be subliminal messaging snuck in by this brilliant character artiste, in a scene towards the end where he is supposed to be weeping, he turns his head gently sideways and gives the impression that he is masking a laugh. Whether or not this was his intention, it feels like an encrypted note aimed at the viewer, with Sharma’s expression seeming to say: I cannot believe I am actually working on this bizarre nonsense AND you dunces are watching it!

The other two actors in this scene, Deol and Patralekhaa, on the other hand, try to look invested in the film till it takes its last gasping, rasping breath. It is tempting to ask why they bothered at all, but the truth is, I can see what they might have spotted in the project’s concept.

Nanu Ki Jaanu is a remake of the 2014 Tamil hit Pisaasu (Devil). Although the original is not named in this one’s credits, its producer Bala and director Mysskin are listed in the acknowledgements, and the story is credited to Mysskin. I have not seen Pisaasu, but from the trailer and reviews it comes across as a somber horror flick that Faraz Haider decided to turn into a horror comedy for Hindi audiences.

The idea is not bad at all – since rationalists brush aside the possibility that ghosts exist, it makes sense to make a film that pokes fun at those who believe in spooks. And frankly, sizeable parts of Nanu Ki Jaanu’s middle portion are quite uproarious. When viewed from start to finish though, the kindest thing that can be said about it is that it is uneven.

Haider’s introduction hints at a film that is vastly different from what it turns out to be. The director also fails to make a credible transition from the humorous passages to the grave latter part. And the end is maudlin to the point of being embarrassingly silly.

In the opening moments, Nanu (Deol) and his gang barge into the house of an elderly gentleman, and threaten him into signing a flat’s ownership over to them for a pittance. The scene is trying too hard to be amusing, but is not.

Cue: change in tone: shabby ‘item’ song.

Cue: change in tone: Nanu is driving down a main road when he stops to take a call on his cellphone and sees a crowd running towards a woman (Patralekhaa) lying bleeding on the ground, her scooter beside her. Since no one else does anything but stare, Nanu rushes her to a hospital where she dies on arrival, her hand in his as life ebbs out of her body.

The episode leaves the ruffian shaken and, much to his gang’s dismay, too soft to lead them through the house-grabbing assignments that follow. What comes next is a bunch of laughs interspersed smoothly with scares as we try to figure out with Nanu & Co whether he is genuinely suffering from a psychological problem or the ghost of the dead girl is actually haunting his Noida flat.

Just as it seems like Nanu Ki Jaanu might add up to something after all… Cue: change in tone: love angle.

Cue: change in tone: messages.

Cue: change in tone: lively song with end credits.

The middle bits are fun. The scene involving the redoubtable Manu Rishi Chadha’s character Dabbu trying to scare off the spook is a scream. Chadha brings to that very long segment all the comical depth that made Hindi film-goers sit up and take notice of him in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008) and Phas Gaye Re Obama (2010). (Note: he is also this film’s screenplay and dialogue writer.)

Haider’s direction is too ham-fisted to make optimum use of his talented cast though, making Nanu Ki Jaanu a bumpy ride, until it gets to its it’s-so-bad-that-it-is-good finale.

Deol, who started off with such promise in films like Socha Na Tha (2005) and Oye Lucky, has featured in very few good projects since then. The beguiling innocence he brought to those early works and the finesse of his performance in the more recent Shanghai (2012), is proof enough that he cannot be written off. His performance in Nanu Ki Jaanu is uninspired though.

Patralekhaa, who shone in Hansal Mehta’s Citylights (2014), has almost nothing to do in this film. Sharma seems to give up part way through it. Only Chadha crackles till the end. 

Parts of Nanu Ki Jaanu feel as if the production team stopped bothering with it. If you have spent money on making a film, how much would it cost you to throw some extras into a hospital scene? Or to consult grammar experts before flashing “After Few Days” and “After Few Week” on screen to indicate the passing of time?

And oh ya, Messrs Haider and Chadha, if you want to pack in messaging about beef terrorism, speaking on cellphones while driving and helmets for two-wheeler drivers, please do not make it all sound so contrived. Granted though that the point about domestic violence is well – and subtly – made.

The crux of this entire affair is that Nanu Ki Jaanu is unsure of what it wants to be, the team lacks the ability to make it everything they want it to be, and the film therefore ends up flailing its arms all over the place. It is scary in a few parts and funny in more, which is why it is so sad that in the overall assessment and especially in its finale, it turns out to be such a loosely handled, low-IQ mess.

Rating (out of five stars): *

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	133 minutes

A version of this review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bollywood/nanu-ki-jaanu-movie-review-abhay-deol-is-uninspired-at-best-in-this-loosely-handled-low-iq-mess-4439207.html

Poster courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanu_Ki_Jaanu

REVIEW 419: HAPPY BHAG JAYEGI

Release date:	August 19, 2016
Director:	Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Language:	Diana Penty, Abhay Deol, Momal Sheikh, Jimmy Sheirgill, Ali Fazal, Piyush Mishra Hindi

Urdu is like French and Bengali – the sort of language in which a person might spew abuse yet sound like they are telling you they love you. This lyrical tongue with all its eccentricities and beauty is one of the pegs on which hangs the week’s big Bollywood release Happy Bhag Jayegi. The other peg is a Punjabi woman called Happy.

Written and directed by Mudassar Aziz, Happy Bhag Jayegi is the story of Amritsari bride Happy (Diana Penty) who runs away on the day of her marriage ceremony. Even as the groom is readying himself for their mandap, Happy boards the wrong escape vehicle and ends up in Pakistan. While her husband-in-waiting Daman Singh Bagga (Jimmy Sheirgill) and her boyfriend Guddu (Ali Fazal) desperately search for her, she creates havoc in the lives of a budding politician in Lahore, Bilal Ahmed (Abhay Deol), and his fiancé Zoya played by the Pakistani actress Momal Sheikh making her Bollywood debut here.

Most of this you might already have gathered from the trailer. What the trailer does not reveal is that the film’s best moments have been packed into it, and there is nothing much else it has to say. Happy Bhag Jayegi is hilarious at a superficial level and Penty is brimming with potential – as she was in her first film Cocktail in 2012 – but her Happy, despite being the titular protagonist, is the most under-written character in the entire story. So ultimately what we are left with is a film filled with laughter up to a point but completely lacking depth. 

Co-produced by Aanand L. Rai, the supremely successful director of Tanu Weds Manu and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Happy Bhag Jayegi starts off very well. A runaway bride landing up in the home of a prominent politician in Lahore without her passport or visa is a situation teeming with possibilities. The first half moves at an accelerated pace, the humour is unrelenting and every single member of the cast is rock solid. Deol, in particular, gets a role worth his charisma after a long time and Piyush Mishra playing his ally, the hapless senior policeman ASP Usman Afridi, nudges the funny bone each time he walks on to the screen. Besides, how can you not giggle over a film featuring a grown Punjabi man called Winkle?

And then something goes wrong. What happened in the pre-interval portion is repeated post interval, and it gradually becomes evident that Mudassar Aziz – who earlier made the disastrous Dulha Mil Gaya (2010) with Sushmita Sen – does not know how to take his concept forward. The film’s limited writing is its failing.

Worst of all is the treatment of Happy. She seems like an interesting creature, a free spirit who will not be constrained by a despotic father, a violence-prone fiancé or misadventures in enemy territory. Yet beyond that one-line description, the film fails to acquaint us with this woman. She remains nothing more than the introductory note about her that was probably sent to the producer at the start of this project. Guddu tells Bilal that it is impossible not to love Happy once you get to know her, but we never get to know her so we do not find that out for ourselves.

Imagine having your name in the name of the film, and yet being given only one calm conversation with another character throughout that film’s 126 minutes. Happy is constantly described with admiration and gazed at with adoring eyes by the two young men in her life, but we do not have a chance to fall in love with her ourselves because she remains such a distant figure. She is forever running in Happy Bhag Jayegi, but after a while the running too remains a gimmick that worked well in the promotional teaser but means little in a full-length story.

Oddly enough, Bilal’s character is far better explored in the screenplay. In fact, at some point this becomes more a film about Bilal and Zoya than about Happy and Guddu. Perhaps a more appropriate title could have been Kya Bilal Happy Ke Saath Bhag Jayega? However, Aziz’s inadequacies show up here too. He is clearly keen to surprise us with Bilal’s actions and decisions towards the end of the second half, but since the man’s motivations are poorly fleshed out, they remain completely unconvincing.

Bagga, on the other hand, is described as a vicious fellow by Happy. You can see that he ain’t no saint by the behaviour of the goons who form his coterie. However, his character never rises above Jimmy Sheirgill’s naturally likeable personality.

For the record, though most of the story is set in Pakistan, the film is shot entirely in India – in Amritsar, Chandigarh and Mumbai. Aziz throws in some crowd-pleasing lines about Pakistan, but they are inoffensive and balanced out by the bond that forms between the four youngsters at the centre of the story.

These are among the few moments of maturity in the screenplay. The others come in the atypical portrayal of the film’s Punjabis (they do not call out “Balle Balle” or dance the Bhangra at the drop of a hat) and in the writing of Zoya. She could have easily been pigeonholed as the evil doosri aurat (other woman) in the hero’s life, but somewhere along the way, a spot of nuance enters the picture and she becomes more than that lazy stereotype. One of the film’s nicest scenes is the one in which she urges Bilal to make his own life decisions rather than bowing to his father’s wishes at all times.

Happy Bhag Jayegi includes the song Ashiq tera with the following lyrics (music – Sohail Sen, words – Aziz himself): “Dil ke aage yeh aafat badi hai / Khwahishein phir bhi zidd pe adi hain / Humse maayus hoga zamana / Par zamane ki kisko padi hai.” Roughly translated, that means: “There is a huge hurdle standing in the way of my desires / but I am determined to follow my heart / The world may be disappointed in me / But who cares about this world?” THIS is what the film should have been and could have been about. Happy Bhag Jayegi could have been about finding happiness in pursuing your dreams. You can see that that is what it wants to be, but does not know how to be.

Aziz obviously has a flair for comedy but he needs to work on it. What he desperately needed here was either more time and thought, or a co-writer to help him build on the starting blocks he set up. Happy Bhag Jayegi is fun and funny in large parts, but the second half is also bogged down by how insubstantial and consequently forgettable it is.

Rating (out of five): **

CBFC Rating (India):	U
Running time:	126 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/happy-bhag-jayegi-review-diana-penty-brims-with-potential-film-is-funny-but-forgettable-2964790.html

Poster courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/erosnow/

Film still courtesy: Raindrop Media