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Rating : 3.2/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Rohan Sippy
Cast : Ayushmann Khurana, Pooja Salvi, Evelyn Sharma, Gaelyn Mendonca, Kunaal Roy Kapoor
Kid rating : PG-13
“Nautanki Saala” is based on a French film, so I’m expecting quirky characters and some zaniness. I get both. Ram Parmar or RP (Ayushman Khurana) is a play director, and an actor. His play is based on the Ramayana, and he plays the lead role of Raavan in it. The play is a success, he’s found love with his pretty girlfriend Chitra (sprightly MTV VJ Gaelyn Mendonca) and life is generally good until one day Ram comes across a man attempting suicide. Kind-hearted Ram prevents the suicide and brings the broken-spirited Mandar LeLe (Kunaal Roy Kapur) home with him.
Long story short Mandar is at the end of his tether because the woman of his dreams Nandini (Pooja Salvi) has spurned him. Altruistic do-gooder Ram decides to patch things up – that is, until he sees lovely Nandini and begins to fall for her himself . . .
Ayushman Khurana is in Vicky Donor mode in this film, or looks like it. Can’t they change his appearance even a little bit, to suit the role? Here, he looks young and scruffy and un-dependable – I’m not sure I’d trust him to cross the street, much less direct a whole play. And then he portrays a guy who sweeps women off their feet. Really?
Gaelyn and Evelyn Sharma (you might have also seen her in “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”) have small roles and they do OK. I found the leading lady Pooja Salvi unimpressive; she seemed a dramatically disinclined wilting rose with a whiny voice to match. Kapur’s character Mandar was annoying – so I don’t think it was his (Kapur’s) fault that I wanted to shake some sense into Mandar. The film’s characters as portrayed, seem goofy, which would be OK if they were French 🙂 (French goofiness works) but desi goofballs had better have some back-story, or we wonder why they didn’t turn out to become good little engineers/doctors like the rest of us.
The crux of the film centers around two men fixating on one woman, and Ram’s pricking conscience – lusting for Mandar’s ex-girlfriend – hello betrayal! Ayushman does nicely with the comic timing and the emoting; me thinks this guy might actually break out those acting chops someday, given the chance. However Ayushman is not Hrithik Roshan, as far as looks go. So here’s my mini-rant : with three lovely-looking women in the film, all the female viewers get to look at is (unshaven) Ayushman and Kunaal? Is there no God/Goddess? End rant.
The 2003 French film “Apres Vous”, on which Nautanki Saala is based wasn’t a big hit either, so I’m wondering why this was chosen as inspiration. Nautanki Saala isn’t bad, it’s just “meh”. But this very average film has some outstanding music, some of the best I’ve heard this year. There is the very nicely done “Dhak-Dhak” remix, “Saddi Gali” sung by Ayushman, the lovely ballad “Mera Man Kehna Laga”, the peppy “Dramebaaz” and my favorite “Dil Ki To Lag Gayi” by Saba Azad:
As my mom would say, it is just about theek-thaak – passable for a one-time watch.
Kidwise : Some lip-locks, but nothing, in general, to scar the young ones. PG-13 safe.
