Shaandaar (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – In the backdrop of a destination wedding in London, two families try to save their respective empires, unbeknownst to each other.

My Take – Touted as Bollywood’s 1st destination wedding film, this film seemed to have everything going for it – Punjabi weddings, foreign locations and a really good star cast, yet its a shame the film fails to deliver! Yes, the film is one of the most nonsensical and unfunny films of the year! Director Vikas Bahl, the man behind highly acclaimed films like Queen (2014) & Chillar Party (2011), has made a film which stands on a faulty script (and we all know how that works out). What is eventually served here, are a few moments that provide humor & a good cast, who manages to keep you hooked, even when the script fails them. Expectations from this film were quite gigantic as apart from Vikal Bahl, the lead actors Shahid Kapoor (Haider, R..Rajkumar) & Alia Bhatt (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, 2 States) have seen inspiring success off late, & the producers backing this film are Fox Star India, Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions & Anurag Kashyap’s Phantoms & yet this big budget rom com lacks the fun evident from the trailers. Its almost as though the filmmakers wanted to trick the audience into watching a spoof on Indian weddings especially those where a lot of money is spent, the film also steps back in forth into the fantasy genre without any reason, by trying to incorporate a lot of CGI, which honestly looks good, but ends up rendering down the film completely out of sync while making such scenes seem just down right weird, for example the mushrooms and brownie scene. It seems like director Vikas Bahl was very confused about which route to take – make an Indian wedding spoof or a love story on two Insomniacs or a film about a father – daughter relationship! He tried to tackle too much for a single film running for 144 min, resulting in a very tedious screenplay. The story follows Bipin (Pankaj Kapur) who adopts the very young Alia (who grows up to be Alia Bhatt) and brings her home (shown in motion picture format narrated by Naseeruddin Shah). Mummy Ji, Bipin’s mother (Sushma Seth), matriarch of the Arora family, rules the house along with Bipin’s wife (Niki Aneja). Both Mummy Ji and Bipin’s wife are shown to be materialistic in nature. Though Alia is not accepted by both of them, she manages to deal with their hatred. Fast forward a few years ahead, Alia’s sister Eesha (Sanah Kapur, Shahid‘s step sister) is getting married to Robin Fundwani (Vikas Verma).

It is more of a business deal for Mummy Ji and Robin’s brother Harry Fundwani (Sanjay Kapoor), a merger of two major business houses of India. For Robin and Eesha also, it is just a compromise for family’s sake. Both the families Aroras and Fundwanis travel for a destination wedding. A fairy tale castle (probably in Europe) is chosen for this wedding. Jagjinder Joginder aka JJ (Shahid Kapoor) happens to be the wedding organizer for Eesha-Robin’s wedding. Alia is an insomniac. Bipin, who Alia refers to as Beeps designs dreams for her and Alia keeps all the dreams safe in a box saying that she would watch every dream when she would start sleeping. Coincidentally JJ is also an insomniac. As can be predicted, in the background of wedding preparations, another love story blossoms between JJ and Alia in a very cool fashion. How does the story move further? What happens to the destination wedding of Eesha-Robin? How does Alia-JJ’s relationship shape up? What happens when Alia comes to know regarding her biological parents? How does she respond? How does Bipin deal with his daughter Alia’s getting comfortable with JJ? What happens to Sushma Seth‘s business deal approach? Who actually benefit in the end? Though the film starts on a high note of humor, but as the film proceeds towards the interval, its just drags down. Towards the end, the film just nosedives into A silly comedy, what could have been a beautiful plot is broken down into a series of silly sub-plots. A scene just prior to climax where a girl speaks up for her right to live, could have been a show-stopper scene, but the way it is handled totally trivialized the message. The wedding-themed film also tries to tie a knot between indie sensibilities and Bollywood compulsions. Bahl and co-writer Chaitally Parmar present a grand wedding cake and then proceed to lather it all over the faces of their guests. The film is supposed to be a wicked, sly, irreverent and subversive quirky comedy that celebrates as well as sends up wedding movies, but like the characters who get intoxicated on a combination of actual brownies and actual mushrooms, it suffers from a literal-minded and often infantile treatment. Characters that are supposed to be over-the-top come across as loud and screechy; situations that are supposed to be funny will probably evoke bewilderment from audiences rather than laughter. Bahl and his writer Chaitally Parmar seem to have gone back to the 80s where films have dialogue like “chup kar anaarth!” (shut up orphan!) in public, and sing-song voices crooning “what a hottie” every time lead actor Shahid Kapoor appears in front of Sushma Seth. There are certain low points in the movie. A rather entry of Sanjay Kapoor as Harry Fundwani unfortunately is a low point, since it breaks the flow of humor tone set up till then. The drag is felt post- interval. Harry’s way of identifying with every successful individual as Sindhis (even with Michael Jackson) does not generate much humor. Karan Johar‘s special appearance with ‘Mehandi with Karan’ left me wondering whether these scenes were required at all? Among the songs, its only the chart-buster Gulaboo which works, while the rest are just badly misplaced.

The best part of the film is definitely the moments between Alia-Shahid, Alia-Pankaj, Alia-Sanah & at times Shahid-Pankaj. And the way, they have handled and justified their respective characters, is surely going to bring back the lost smiles. The real contest between Bipin and wedding organiser Jagjinder, who has fallen for Alia, and the frequent verbal jousts between the real-life father and son add sparkle to otherwise shopworn material. U-rated flickers of desire also fly between Jagjinder and Alia, but although he catches her skinny-dipping and they bond over their common problem of insomnia, their romance works due to their excellent chemistry. What can be applauded in the film is the way the character where written,especially Alia’s character, and her relationship with her dad. The Fundwani’s, the character of the grandma where all unique and funny. Certain characters are just added in the film such as the twin sisters, mirroring everything; a small kid with bow and arrow ready to hit the target etc. Anjana Sukhani is just a filler, as she does not get even a single dialogue in the film, Bipin’s brothers except the gay designer brother get lost in the crowd. Somehow the film remains watchable thanks to its credible lead cast, who deliver admirably. Pankaj Kapur has simply excelled in his role, his constant batter with real-life son Shahid, are among the better moments of the film. His and Alia’s scenes are heart warming too. Shahid Kapoor (a very under rated actor) has been seen in roles that have been so different from one another and we’ll see Shahid to deliver his role once again! His chemistry with Alia is mesmerizing, this two deserve to come together again for a better film. Alia Bhatt gets a very quirky character, and she takes advantage with a spectacular act. She is effortlessly natural & immensely likable. Sanah Kapoor makes a fine debut, delivering a commendable performance as the overweight bride-to-be. Sushma Seth is perfectly wicked as the evil grandmother & Sanjay Kapoor enacts the unbearable Sindhi millionaire, with the correct amount of madness. Karan Johar is hilarious in a cameo. The “Mehndi with Karan” sequence is supposed to send up Johar’s popular television chat show Koffee with Karan as well as his own grandiloquent movies. A clever idea but clumsily handled, like so much else here. The cinematography is another USP of this film, where each shot looks like a fantasy Disney film. On the whole, ‘Shaandaar‘ has its entertaining moments but based on the talent involved, it ends up being nothing but a disappointment. Shaandaar definitely deserved a much grand treatment by ‘Queen’ director Vikas Bahl. Watch it, if you just want some very light-hearted stuff or huge fans of Shahid Kapoor & Alia Bhatt.