Opposites attract. Just
like in most of the romantic fairytales; they do meet, greet & kiss each
other in Shashanka Ghosh’s candy floss love-story KHOOBSURAT too, but it’s more
like ‘Irresistible meets irritating’ and ‘alluring meets annoying’. The later
being Sonam Kapoor, of course! First reaction, why should a chick-flick need to
be a dumb comedy of convenience? Why should the girl being portrayed as the
most carefree, lively and good-natured human on earth has to be loud, noisy,
illogical and a stack of overacting on the performer’s side? No wonder, there
are times you want to call it off but then, multiplexes aren’t your personal home
theatre system that comes with a full functional remote.
Official remake of
Hrishikesh Mukherji’s classic family drama of same name, KHOOBSURAT sticks to
the basic premise from the old reference. A young, fashionable and spontaneous physiotherapist
[Sonam playing mostly herself] is sent to a royal palace to take care of ‘His
Highness’ on wheel chair. This perfectly punctual & controlled museum of
people with religiously followed discipline in veins is lead by a sophisticated
yet dominating ‘Her Highness’, played by the very reliable Ratna Pathak Shah. No
prizes for guessing that there is a prince charming [Pakistani poster boy Fawad
Khan in a well-suited role] ready to be the last & final nail in the coffin
before the house of infinite rules gets down by our sweet, silly and stylish physiotherapist.
Shashanka Ghosh
creates a world of picture perfect frames with royal real locations, best of
props, designer dresses, all flashy colors, vibrant and charmingly polished characters
and also succeeds in giving us some extremely beautiful scenes like prince
Vikram Singh Rathore trying to talk casual things with his father & the ‘His
Highness’. You could actually feel the uncomfortable zone they are in. In other
merits, the very experimental music by Sneha Khanwalkar of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’
fame is a refreshing and notable change in Bollywood soundtracks.
Film if falters, it
is all because of piercing loudness in characters supposedly being the biggest admirers
of life. So despite being a known physiotherapist to a T-20 Cricket Team, this ‘Barbie
doll’ in hot pants doesn’t necessarily know the dining table etiquettes and
also doesn’t bother to hesitate while asking a young girl of 17 about her boyfriend,
that too in front of her mother and just a minute later their first meeting.
She is also seen invading premise of historic importance to pose for her Facebook
profile picture. You can giggle or laugh out loud considering this funny but I would
settle this as another dose of Sajid Khan Humor.
On the performances,
Sonam plays it cool but thanks to the writing, she ends up being the most
annoying and overacted piece of this beautifully painted picture-frame. Fawad shows
that his popularity comes not merely with the looks but the earnestness in
acting skills. I wish his female fans could switch from ‘He’s so hot’ to ‘He’s
damn good’. He deserves that. Theatre veteran Aamir Raza Hussain as ‘His
Highness’ is the surprise package! Ratna Pathak Shah’s is an extended ‘Sarabhai’
act beautifully done. Kirron Kher as the loudmouthed Punjabi Mother to Sonam’s
character is too cliché to enjoy. I could only say, “Manju, [Sonam calls her by
her name in the film] ab bass kar!”
At the end,
KHOOBSURAT is ‘khoobsurat’ in the looks, amusingly witty in parts and
depressingly maddening for the most. Revisiting episodes of ‘Sarabhai Vs
Sarabhai’ on YouTube is way better option if you’re in search of good laugh.
Watch it only if you can’t say ‘NO’ to your girlfriend! Doesn’t that include
all of men on earth? Poor us!! [2/5]
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