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Release
date:
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December 8, 2017
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Director:
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Mrighdeep Singh Lamba
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Cast:
Language:
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Varun Sharma, Pulkit Samrat, Richa Chadda, Ali Fazal, Manjot Singh,
Priya Anand, Vishakha Singh, Pankaj Tripathi
Hindi
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Hunnny, Chuchcha,
Zafar, Laali and Bholi Punjaban are back. They are as nutty as they were the
first time we met them in 2013’s sleeper hit Fukrey produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Back then,
however, the refreshing naturalness with which Mrighdeep Singh Lamba portrayed
them and the director’s own evident
understanding of middle-class Delhi were good enough reasons to forgive that
thoroughly enjoyable film its slightness. In retrospect though, Fukrey feels profound in comparison with
Fukrey Returns. The novelty has worn
off by now, and Lamba is so busy sitting on his laurels that he does not bother
to come up with a semblance of a credible plot for the sequel. Since his sense
of humour remains intact, what we get is a hollow film that feels like a series
of hilarious jokes strung together.
Life has somewhat
settled down since the boys were introduced to audiences. Hunnny (Pulkit Samrat) now runs a business and is in a comfortably happy
relationship with his girlfriend Priya (Priya Anand). Zafar (Ali Fazal) is a
successful singer and is moving in with Neetu (Vishakha Singh). Laali (Manjot
Singh) still longs to free himself of his mithai-shop-owning
father and still yearns for a woman to fall in love with. And Chuchcha (Varun
Sharma) is dreaming dreams.
When the gangsta
Bholi Punjaban (Richa
Chadda) gets out of jail and confronts them over
the financial losses they have caused her, the four get stuck in a scheme to
make a few crores overnight. Of course things go awry. Of course they run
around in circles, giving them time for scene after comic scene. And of course
everything is sorted out in the end.
The story – if it
can be called that – revolves around the premonitions encased in Chuchcha’s
dreams. Add a powerful politician (Rajiv Gupta) to that mix, a zoo, a tiger and
a tiger cub, and the result is a motley assortment of ingredients that do not
at any point come together as a smooth blend.
For one, Zafar and
Laali are completely irrelevant and nothing would change without them. They
have so little to do in Fukrey Returns
that they look like hangers-on who were retained simply because they happened
to be in the first one. This is the film’s loss because Ali Fazal and Manjot
Singh are both capable actors.
Priya and Neetu,
who were largely responsible for giving Fukrey
whatever little depth it had, are even more marginal than these two gentlemen.
They disappear through most of the film and resurface for one madcap ride
towards the end, for no particular reason other than that Lamba perhaps wanted
to assemble the entire cast, Priyadarshan-style, for the climactic moments.
This too is the film’s loss because Priya Anand and Vishakha Singh have both
proved their mettle as artists in their brief filmographies.
It speaks poorly of
the screenplay that four characters could be entirely dispensed with and it
would make nary a difference to the storyline or the narrative.
Chadda as Bholi
Punjaban fares a little better, not a lot. The problem with her has more to do
with the somewhat zestless acting than the writing though. Gupta, who has been
lovely in other films, is given little to chew on here but pulls through.
Pankaj Tripathi deserves applause for his value additions to the ordinary
writing – with a look here, a gesture there, an amusing posture elsewhere, he
manages to make a mark with a barely defined character.
Fukrey Returns’ screenplay has invested itself in one role and
one role alone, and that role ends up being the only reason for its survival:
Chuchcha remains laugh-out-loud, hold-your-stomach-or-it-will-hurt funny and
Varun Sharma is hysterical. The actor’s flawless comic timing makes every
moment with his character a fun ride. Even when the humour gets more slapstick
in tone than Fukrey and becomes
physical, it steers clear of being crass for the most part. I confess to
feeling uneasy with a scene in which a firecracker pierces a man’s bottom, but
that requires a separate and very long discussion that we have not even begun
to have in our country as of now.
(Note: The story,
screenplay and dialogues of Fukrey
Returns are by Vipul Vig. Lamba has been credited for “additional dialogue
and screenplay”.)
Sharma’s killer
comic talent and the lines he has been given are the driving force of Fukrey Returns. Pretty much everything
else about it is listless. Even the presence of a tiger and a cub
on screen have not been sufficiently
mined for effect.
Make a film around
Sharma/Chuchcha, if you wish, Mr Lamba. If you do intend to bring back the rest
of Team Fukrey in a third venture
though, please remember not to neglect them as you have done in this one. The
consequence of that neglect is that Fukrey
Returns is funny but its gnawing hollowness is impossible to ignore. It may
as well have been a stand-up comedy show headlined by Varun
Sharma instead of a film.
Rating
(out of five stars): *1/2
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CBFC Rating (India):
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UA
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Running time:
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131 minutes
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This review was also published on Firstpost:
