Review : Jo bole so nihaal

This is an incredibly mind-numbing film. I do agree that with most hindi films, you’d better leave your thinking caps outside the theater, but this film surpasses all, in not even having an iota of common sense in its entire 3 hours. In short, this film is a disaster. And a real let-down from Betaab director Rawail.

Nihaal Singh (Sunny Deol) is an honest and simple constable patrolling the village of Moga in Punjab. He accidentally comes across notorious criminal Romeo (Kamaal Khan), and unsusceptible to bribes, takes him into custody. Romeo, then weaves an imaginary story of a dying daughter in need of help and money, hoodwinks the naive constable and runs away. Nihaal Singh is accused of abetting the criminal, suspended and disgraced. Romeo meanwhile escapes aross the border and makes his way into the States.

So, when the FBI, having discovered a plot to assasinate the US President, need Nihaal’s help in identifying Romeo, he refuses to give them a description, and insists on going to the US himself to catch Romeo. He finally does, and there encounters beautiful FBI agent Satinder Kaur (Shilpi Sharma). Satinder apparently has the job of sticking to Nihaal, while he cavorts around New York, encountering Romeo several times without catching him, and makes a royal ass of himself. And on and on, this torturous film goes, until its guessable and very daft ending.

The direction is adequate, dialogues are over-the-top, and situations are unreal. The script has holes so big, you could see them from the moon. The director and script writer have apparently mistaken stupidity for simple-mindedness, in this script. As a result the lead character appears to be a pompous, bigoted buffoon, bereft of brain cells. Sunny Deol hollers and snarls his way through the movie, except for the times his emotions are stirred by family ties/Shilpi Sharma’s womanly charms. Shilpi Sharma, shown to have a penchant for minimal clothing, does what is required of her. Kamaal Khan as the villain, is an inadequate one, without acting abilities. And Surekha Sikri, a fine actress, is reduced to a caricature of a mother with telepathic ties to her son.

To sum up, this is film-making at its worst. To paraphrase Nihaal Singh “No if, no but, just don’t see this film.”