फ्रीकी अली: नवाज़ का ‘कॉमेडी सर्कस’! [2/5]

लेखक-निर्देशक सोहेल खान ने भारतीय टेलीविज़न पर कॉमेडी शोज में जज की भूमिका निभाते हुए अपना काफी वक़्त हँसते-खेलते बिताया है. उनकी नई फिल्म ‘फ्रीकी अली’ को अगर अच्छी तरह बयान करना हो तो उन्हीं कॉमेडी शोज का जिक्र लाजिमी हो जाता है. फिल्म न ही उन तमाम एपिसोड्स से कमतर है, न ही उनसे बेहतर. हां, नवाजुद्दीन सिद्दीकी को मुख्य किरदार के तौर पर फिल्म में ले लेना ज़रूर फिल्म को एक मज़बूत कन्धा दे देता है. कम से कम अब फिल्म के हर फ्रेम में एक ऐसा टैलेंट तो है, जिसे फिल्म भले ही उसकी शख्सियत-मुताबिक तवज्जो न दे पर जो खुद अपने आप को कभी निराश नहीं करता. संवादों में व्यंग परोसने की अपनी लगातार कोशिश के साथ, ‘फ्रीकी अली’ मनगढ़ंत सी लगने वाली, चलताऊ कहानी के बावजूद आप को अपने ठीक 2 घंटे की समय-अवधि में कम से कम उकताहट और उबासी तो महसूस नहीं ही होने देती.

अली ‘फ्रीकी’ क्यूँ है? इसका जवाब तो मुश्किल है पर अपनी गली की क्रिकेट टीम का ‘पिंचहिटर’ अली [नवाज़ुद्दीन] पैसे कमाने के लिए हर तरह की नौकरी-कारोबार आजमा चुका है. हफ्तावसूली उसका एकदम नया वाला पैंतरा है. एक दिन इसी सिलसिले में गलती से उसे ‘गोल्फ’ खेलने का मौका मिलता है. क्रिकेट के अनुभवों से लैस अली जल्द ही गोल्फ की दुनिया में मशहूर हो जाता है. अब उसके और उसके सपनों के बीच बस एक ही अड़चन है, अपनी अमीरी का रौब झाड़ने वाला ‘गोल्फ चैंपियन’ विक्रम सिंह राठौर [जस अरोरा, गुड़ नाल इश्क मिठा वाले]. विक्रम उसे नीचा दिखाने का कोई मौका नहीं छोड़ता और अली उन मौकों को उतनी ही आसानी से उसके खिलाफ इस्तेमाल कर लेता है.

एडम सैंडलर की ‘हैप्पी गिलमोर’ से प्रभावित होकर लिखी गयी, ‘फ्रीकी अली’ की कहानी को मजेदार बनाने के लिए सोहेल खान अपने पुराने ‘हेलो ब्रदर’ ढर्रे का ही सहारा लेते हैं, जहां कहानी के मुख्य किरदार एक अलग ट्रैक पर भटक रहे हैं और दूसरे ट्रैक पर मजाकिया किरदार फिल्म के बीच बीच में आ कर, छोटे छोटे ‘गैग्स एंड गिग्स’ के साथ आपको हंसाने की कोशिश करते हैं. कॉमेडी का ये वो ‘खान’-दान है, जहां हँसी के लिए बूढों, बच्चों और औरतों को गरियाया जाता है, लतियाया जाता है और ऐसा करते वक़्त तनिक शिकन और शर्म भी चेहरे पर आने नहीं दिया जाता. ताज्जुब होता है कि करोड़ों की ये फिल्म उसी छत के नीचे सोची और लिखी गयी है, जहां हिंदी फिल्म इंडस्ट्री के महानतम लेखकों में से एक अभी भी पूरी तरह सक्षम और सक्रिय है. सोहेल खान बार-बार अपने ‘जोक्स’ को दुहराते रहते हैं, किरदारों को कार्टून बना कर पेश करते हैं और ड्रामा के नाम पर कुछ भी ख़ास परोस पाने में असफल रहते हैं. संवाद और नवाज़ दो ही हैं जो हर बार एक-दूसरे के साथ घुल-मिल कर सोहेल के ‘मजाकिया’ दिवालियेपन को परदे पर नंगा होने से बचा लेते हैं.

कहने को तो यहाँ बहुत कुछ है. एक हट्टा-कट्टा गुंडा जिसकी समझ बच्चे से भी कम है [निकेतन धीर], एक चालाक बूढ़ा आदमी जिसे दुनिया की हर चीज़ याद है पर अपने पैसे और प्रॉपर्टी नहीं, एक माँ जो अपने बेटे के लिए ‘उसके पास माँ है’ की दुहाई देते हुए एक गैंगस्टर से भी भिड़ जाती है [सीमा विश्वास], पर जब अभिनय बात आती है सिर्फ नवाज़ आपको लुभाने में कामयाब रहते हैं. उनके साथी की भूमिका में अरबाज़ बेचारे से लगते हैं, जिन्हें सिर्फ इस लिए फिल्म में लिया गया है क्यूंकि वो ‘खान’दान से हैं. जस अरोरा गुर्राते ज्यादा सुनाई देते हैं. एमी जैक्सन कितनी ईमानदार कोशिश करती होंगी अपने परफॉरमेंस में, इसका अंदाजा आपको इसी बात से हो जाता है कि अक्सर अपनी लाइनें बोलते वक़्त उनके होंठ ही आपस में मिलने से इनकार कर देते हैं. एक दृश्य में जैकी श्रॉफ बस अपने बदनाम ‘मऊशी’ वीडियो क्लिप की ही याद दिलाने परदे पर आ जाते हैं.

अंत में; ‘फ्रीकी अली’ एक बहुत ही सामान्य सी, हलकी-फुलकी फिल्म है, जो दो घंटे के कम वक़्त में भी अपने आप को कई बार दोहराती रहती है. ऐसा लगता है जैसे आप टीवी पर ‘कॉमेडी सर्कस’ का कोई महा-एपिसोड देख रहे हैं, जहां कोई कपिल-कृष्णा-सुदेश नहीं हैं. हैं तो बस नवाज़! सन्डे को टीवी पर आये तो ज़रूर देखियेगा! [2/5]          

KIS KISKO PYAR KAROON: Love it? Naah, leave it! [1/5]

In times when Govinda is pushing himself hard to reinvent his career with at least ‘his best in considerately not-so-good films’, someone is trying to do a typical Govinda act. I laugh, but hardly at the act and mostly at the ridiculous choice one has made to mark his calling for the big screen. Abbas-Mustan’s KIS KISKO PYAAR KAROON sees not only the rise of absurd, silly and tasteless writing in bollywood comedies seeking laughs at each & every scene but also the regrettable fall of the magical talent of India’s most-loved entertainer on Television named & famed as Kapil Sharma. I really wonder if one should go dumb before enjoying these comedies. If so, where should I dump my brain jam-packed with all the hard-earned sense and sensibilities? I think the makers should set up a counter outside the theatre.

KIS KISKO PYAAR KAROON tries to be a situational comedy where the situations are all fabricated, unreasonable and totally convenient to the plot. It is also a film that questions and insults the intellect of today’s women exactly the way Kapil hits on his TV show. Here, he plays Shiv Ram Kishen Kumar- a millionaire owning 4 flats in a skyscraper on the most-expensive Nariman Point of Mumbai [I can be wrong of the exact address though], 3 wives [Manjari Phadnis, Sai Lokur & Simran Kaur Mundi] to fill in as some of the designer furniture and a hot-body girlfriend [Eli Avram] supposedly being the ‘love’ of his life. Hard to digest? Wait, there is more. Considering the same apartment they are placed smartly by their ‘all in one’ husband, the wives become friends. They party together. They shop together. In fact, they jog together but their mind doesn’t shift an inch to find out that they are sharing the same man. I m not judging them but how can one marry a guy without knowing his full name. This guy in polygamy uses each part of his name as his identity to all 4 girls in his life. And guess what, the sympathy is always in the court of the husband. Actually, he plays a Krishna from Mahabharata who prefers to marry every ‘Abla Naari’ in his way to rescue them from their ill-fated world. The only problem here is, there is no religion to back the faith in his persona. Comedy could possibly be the force but sadly, it also fails.

KIS KISKO PYAAR KAROON is a film that believes in creating problems in name of the plot-development and then solving all of it in an explanatory and emotional climax. One’s misery is other’s laugh but it all become offensive when you see everyone acting calm as the deads about serious issues like polygamy, cheating, extra-marital affairs and all of that related to women’s respect. Could we also react the same way if a woman is seen playing wife to 4 different men? Would we not call her names? I think enough is never enough for Bollywood filmmakers. The film constantly hits the low in comedy and becomes a torture at some point. How many millions of times you want to laugh at a man hiding his identity with banging his face in the cake? People carry the ‘printed’ photographs to identify someone in times of e-mails, Whats App and Camera-phones. I mean, really? An underworld don [Arbaaz Khan] can orchestrate a 5-crore ransom but can’t afford a hearing-aid. I know why. To bless the film’s writer buy some more screen-time to try his luck in making us laugh at one’s disability. Someone is sick. Really!

Surprisingly, the supporting cast contributes more to work in favor of the film’s whole propaganda of being a comedy film than the principal cast. Varun Sharma despite acting his regular methods since his first break in FUKREY is very much watchable. Jamie Lever, the daughter of ace comedian Johnny Lever shows a great promise and has the most fertile and the best gags in the movie. Arbaaz Khan, Sharat Saxena and Supriya Pathak Kapur are also a much relief. The female brigade hardly impresses. And now the man himself; no one can actually doubt Kapil’s ability to make people laugh but the big canvas is a different ball game altogether. Here, actors rarely manage to go beyond the script to instate their strata even if the film is bad. And I am talking about actors.

At the end, KIS KISKO PYAAR KAROON is a big forgettable comic set. On Television, it might go overlooked but watching someone mouthing cheesy one-liners on big screen and not noticing his all dull, dry and dead lips sans lip-balm is the worst screen-makeup I have seen. If banning is being a fashion these days, [Though I don’t encourage of any kinds] I would call a ban on these mindless comedies that could harm a lot within you. Go back to the television, if you really want to see Kapil’s infectious energy, honesty, charm and the ruling power he holds in his show. You won’t find any of these in KIS KISKO PYAAR KAROON. Nothing can force you to love it! [1/5]   

DOLLY KI DOLI: An enjoyable ride! Short & sweet!! [2.5/5]

Marriage is a box full of surprises. You never know what comes next and in what shape, each & everyday. Sometimes, you keep waiting for one all your life and it never happens. But few are really the luckiest to have it experienced the very first morning. At least, for the on-screen grooms and their families in Abhishek Dogra’s con-comedy DOLLY KI DOLI!

A fake, cheat and single-minded bride is on loose to con filthy rich grooms. She [Sonam Kapoor, too fragile for a con artist] makes the target fall in love with her, marries him, drugs the whole family on her very last of the ‘first nights’ and runs away with all their shitloads of money and jewellery. In her victims, there is Sonu Sehrawat [Rajkummar Rao] a Haryanvi flashy boy and a desperate mumma’s boy from Delhi [Varun Sharma of FUKREY fame]. Picture this; when they meet each other appreciating the fact that Dolly is the one married to both, Varun asks naively, “bhai, iss hisaab se humara rishta kya hua? (Bro, what kind of relationship we are in now?”. Giggles come with guarantee at such cases and there are many in DOLLY KI DOLI, no doubt on that.

Based on a real chain of events and a crime-story of ‘Looteri Dulhan’ in northern India, Abhishek Dogra’s DOLLY KI DOLI works because of the humor in the script that comes easy like one after the other and the characters who despite being the typical ones, charm you endlessly. Rajkummar Rao is in top form. Watching him dancing like there’s no one to care in an item number with Malaika, is a treat. His Haryanvi is perfectly portrayed and wins your heart by the simplicity in the character and the sincerity in the performance. Sonam plays Dolly with total ease yet she doesn’t look very convincing as a con artiste. Varun is cute, indeed. He, in a sense continues his FUKREY performance. So, if you had liked him earlier, have another slice of the same. Pulkit Samrat as the cop after Dolly’s capture definitely had Salman Khan’s Chulbul Pandey in DABANGG as his acting reference. Taking cues from Salman’s dialogue, “hum yahaan ke robin hood hain”, he even possesses the name Robin.

And then, my favorite track in the film. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub [of RAANJHANAA] plays the fake brother to Sonam’s Dolly and at one point; he declines to play her brother anymore as he has romantic feelings for her. This alone has so much potential in creating comedy and drama both. Alas, it wasn’t treated well. Film’s biggest strength is the length. In its crisper than masala papad 107 mins of total duration, film could have been a laugh-riot but it comprises with being just an enjoyable watch; and the culprit here is the uneven screenplay lacking the power to convince. Film hurriedly tries to justify Dolly’s reasons to go for fake marriages after she fails in one. In today’s times, can you imagine a courtship of more than a couple of months and there is no ‘kiss’ happening between the two because of the stupidest of all ‘yeh sab shaadi ke baad’ excuse? All because, we can’t show our bad girl being so bad! Black is here not so dark. I wish writing in Bollywood gets mature soon.

At the end, DOLLY KI DOLI is an enjoyable ride you won’t regret much after leaving theatre. Rajkummar Rao ensures most of it. It’s short & sweet unlike Indian marriages. [2.5/5]