फ़ैन: अभिनय हावी, फिल्म हवा!! [3/5]

कुछ भी तो नया नहीं है. बस शाहरुख़ खान साब वापस लौट आये हैं. ‘चेन्नई एक्सप्रेस’ और ‘हैप्पी न्यू ईयर’ वाले उबाऊ शाहरुख़ नहीं, ‘बाज़ीगर’ और ‘डर’ वाले प्रयोगधर्मी शाहरुख़! एक लंबे अरसे से जहां उनकी सारी मेहनत-मशक्कत अपने स्टारडम की चकाचौंध से अपनी और कुछ अपने ही लोगों की औसत दर्जे की फिल्मों को बॉक्स-ऑफिस पर सफल साबित करने में जाया जा रही थी, इस बार काफी हद तक अपने दोनों किरदारों को परदे पर जिंदा रखने और जिंदा दिखाने की कोशिशों में ज्यादा कामयाब होती नज़र आती है. मनीष शर्मा की ‘फ़ैन’ शाहरुख़ के उस बेजोड़ ललक, लगन और अभिनय के प्रति लगाव को हवा देती है, बॉलीवुड की बादशाहत हासिल करने में जिसने एक बड़ी भूमिका निभाई है. शाहरुख़ बेझिझक इस मौके का पूरा फायदा उठाते हैं. पर अफ़सोस, एक फिल्म के तौर पर ‘फ़ैन’ अपनी छाप छोड़ने में उतनी शिद्दत नहीं दिखा पाती.

दिल्ली की तंग गलियों में एक छोटे से मोहल्ले का हीरो है, गौरव! फिल्मस्टार आर्यन खन्ना का हमशकल और फ़ैन. लोग उसे ‘जूनियर आर्यन खन्ना’ बुलाते हैं और वो आर्यन खन्ना को ‘सीनियर’! मासूमियत का आलम ये है कि उसे लगता है मुंबई पहुँचने पर आर्यन उसे पलकों पर बिठा लेगा, पर अपना फिल्मस्टार तो उसे अपनी जिंदगी के 5 मिनट देने से भी मुंह मोड़ लेता है. एक-दो बेवजह के रोमांचक एक्शन दृश्यों को छोड़ दें तो यहाँ तक की फिल्म आपको पूरी तरह अपने गिरफ्त में जकड़े रखती है, पर इसके तुरंत बाद जब वाहियात और उल-जलूल की नाटकीयता का दौर शुरू होता है तो आपके पास भी एक वक़्त बाद फिल्म के ख़तम होने का इंतज़ार करने के अलावा बहुत कुछ करने को नहीं रह जाता.

‘फ़ैन’ को आप बड़ी आसानी से ‘प्री-इंटरवल’ और ‘पोस्ट-इंटरवल’ में बांट कर देख सकते हैं. दोनों एक-दूसरे से उतने ही अलग-थलग दिखाई देते हैं जितना आर्यन और उसका डुप्लीकेट गौरव. फिल्म के पहले हिस्से में हबीब फैसल साब की राइटिंग आपको दिल्ली के मिडिल-क्लास तबके के आस-पास ही भटकने की इजाज़त देती है. और इसीलिए इस हिस्से से आपका जुड़ाव जबरदस्ती का नहीं लगता. गौरव साइबर कैफे चलाता है, ठीक उसी तरह के सेटअप में जैसे ‘दम लगाके हईशा’ में आयुष्मान कैसेट की दूकान. हैरत तब होती है जब फिल्मस्टार को उसकी जगह दिखाने और उसके अहम को सबक सिखाने की पूरी भाग-दौड़ में दिल्ली का मिडिल-क्लास नौजवान विदेशों में एक मंजे हुए कॉन-आर्टिस्ट की तरह अपनी सनक भरी हरकतें अंजाम देने लगता है. आपका लगाव अब जमीनी किरदारों से हटकर भारी-भरकम एक्शन दृश्यों की सफाई पर टिक गया है. जबरदस्त शुरुआत के बाद, ‘फ़ैन’ अब अंततः एक औसत फिल्म बने रहने की ओर तेज़ी से लुढ़कने लगी है.

फिल्म के कमज़ोर पक्षों में शामिल हैं, फिल्म की लम्बाई, बेवजह का ड्रामा, ठूंसा हुआ एक्शन और लचर स्क्रीनप्ले, खास तौर पर इंटरवल के बाद! इसके बावजूद, ‘फ़ैन’ देखने का अगर आप कोई भी बहाना ढूंढ रहे हों तो वो शाहरुख़ का अभिनय ही हो सकता है. हालाँकि हॉलीवुड एक्सपर्ट्स का मेक-अप दोनों किरदारों को बखूबी एक-दूसरे से अलग नज़र आने में मदद करता है, पर शाहरुख़ जिस संजीदगी से दोनों किरदारों को परदे पर जीते हैं, आप हैरान हुए बिना नहीं रह पाते. सुपरस्टार आर्यन का जिद्दी अक्खडपन, गौरव का डराने वाला पागलपन और इनके बीच लगातार रंग बदलते शाहरुख़, इसी की कमी तो अब तक खल रही थी, शाहरुख़ के चाहने वालों को भी और उनके आलोचकों को भी! [3/5]  

DILWALE: Guns and Roses, Jammed and Wilted! [2/5]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Pretending is ridiculous. I really wonder how could someone disregard this golden rule of comedy and still call himself a master of the same. Rohit Shetty’s DILWALE suffers heavily from this exact syndrome where almost everyone involved with the project pretends to be someone else. Rohit acts [behind the camera, as director] as if he’s none less than Late Mukul Anand. Varun Dhawan makes faces as if he’s his dad’s favorite Govinda. Kajol and Shahrukh pretend comfortably to be in a love-story within a comedy within an action thriller [Now you know why Varun compares it with INCEPTION. Yeah, he did. You heard it right!]. The film itself lives in a make-believe world to be a HUM (1991) in plot-construction and DDLJ (1995) in promotional gimmicks. And pretending is ridiculous, I tell you. So, the only two who don’t fall in the pit are Pankaj Tripathi and Sanjay Mishra; one plays a character [where mosts play their aura] and the other does a spick and span imitation of Jeevan Saab.

DILWALE settles its base in Asian Paints sponsored Buenos Aires, Venice and Charleston parts of Goa. Kids here if not driving modified multihued cars, sure would find themselves in a clash for ‘tera laal mere laal se jyada laal kaise?’. Raj [Shahrukh Khan] with his younger brother Veer [Varun Dhawan] runs a Dilip Chhabria inspired garage-cum-design factory and stays mostly as calm as Aloknath in any Barjatya film. Well, mostly. Soon, you find him throwing professional punches on 10-12 goons in a Shahenshah-like working module at nights to ensure audiences that the guy definitely has a dark past behind. Plot gets thicken when Veer meets Ishita [Kriti Sanon] and Raj discovers that the girl is the younger sister of his ex-flame Meera [Kajol]. The star-crossed lovers have many secrets to unravel including murders, betrayals and mix-ups.

So what if it belongs to an average formula of 90’s; DILWALE had a decent story to start with until Rohit Shetty starts promoting it as a great story. Bringing the best on-screen couple together after so long was alone a big pull for the film but Rohit couldn’t hold himself from polluting the same breezy idea of romance with his colossal caring for flying cars, blasting cars, drifting cars, toppling cars and the very dry and dreary sense of slapstick comedy. Since when and why do the charm of Shahrukh and the flair of Kajol need substantial comic sub-tracks having Boman Irani, Johnny Lever, Varun Sharma and Mukesh Tiwari? The film’s high points are mostly with Kajol where she looked, acted and ruled the screen in same potion of intensity, integrity and beauty she’s been always admired for. DILWALE also fails to recreate the chemistry between Kajol and Shahrukh. Rohit does ensure that they both look their best on-screen but it all comes out as a lifeless still postcard and not as a lively moment to cherish.

On the performances, Shahrukh does exactly what he’s been doing in CHENNAI EXPRESS & HAPPY NEW YEAR. He charms the ladies, woos the fans, promotes brands and guarantees a ‘No risk’ cover for his producers [He himself is the one]. Varun Dhawan becomes pathetic, irritating and unbearable at times. Kriti is good, balanced and doesn’t disappoint. Varun Sharma is wasted, especially in a girlfriend-bashing monologue inspired by Kartik Aryan’s in PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA. Kajol is the only redeemer here but in those tiresome and trivial 2 hr 34 min of total duration, trust me, even her spark begins to fade.

At last, Rohit Shetty’s DILWALE is another product that highlights the demand and supply rule in Bollywood. Why to waste time and money on hunt for a concrete story if you can easily make hefty lot of money by just arranging some hit formula-bricks, without even considering the right order it should be in. The film sees around 100 brand tie-ups on opening graphic-plates; I missed brands for pain-relief tablets there. Take a pill, before you try to chill in the theatre! [2/5]

HAPPY NEW YEAR: 8-pack doesn’t disappoint! Laughter pack does! [2/5]

Farah Khan’s HAPPY NEW YEAR has blockbuster written all over it. So is Farah Khan’s trademark sense of humor coming out of anything & everything from sexist scrutiny and racist remarks to murderous-merciless mocking at the purest human emotions people usually love to cherish! So if you find nothing bad in ‘alag sirf NAME hain, baaki sab SAME hain’ comment on how Korean and Chinese people look relatively identical to a common ignorant Indian; there are chances you will love HAPPY NEW YEAR for its unarguably pathetic gags, hamming performances and an uneventful heist-plot even any of Farah Khan’s cute triplet could come up to start with.

HAPPY NEW YEAR is nothing but a wastrel celebration of two Khan’s collaboration for a gala event where audiences are cordially invited but their sensibility is taken for granted at many levels. The man on mission here is Charlie [Shah Rukh Khan], a son seeking revenge of his father’s unjust fate from a rich heartless fraud [Jackie Shroff]. To give him back what he deserves, Charlie plans to rob him of his diamonds worth gallons of millions. And there forms, a group of six losers as they love to call themselves with a mother-powered unmarried Parsi [Boman], a tapori [Abhishek], a bar dancer [Deepika], a young tech-savvy hacker [Vivaan] and a strapping & stripping stuntman [Sonu Sood]! But before the D-day comes, they have to be on stage participating in the ‘World Dance Championship’ i.e. ‘India’s got talent’ goes global!

Being unapologetically self-assured about her idea of mass-entertainment, Farah hardly tries to sound or look smart when it comes to give us a plot tagged with predictability as its only nature. Do not think harder or rather not even attempt it and you will easily foresee the next sharp turn ahead. Same goes with the gags. It’s either someone who can’t speak English or someone who has hearing impairment to produce cheap word-plays. Before Shah Rukh playing the master-planner and the captain of the ship comes up with the punch line spoken thrice in the film, “Every loser gets at least one chance to emerge as the winner”; let me tell you the concept of losers shown here. The Parsi brat stammers. The bar dancer constantly gets humiliated as being ‘Bazaaru Aurat’ by no one lesser than our leading man himself and easily falls in trap with his charming looks and English speaking skills. How pitiable can our Indian ladies be! At least in bollywood movies! On the other hand, we have Sonu Sood playing a strong-built single-headed who can jump into a fight soon someone shows disrespect to his mother but he himself doesn’t hesitate mouthing foul words having sisters in center. Double standards! Whatever creates humor!

With a tiring, tedious and repetitive 3 hours of duration, HAPPY NEW YEAR falls short of juicy dialogues, enjoyable dance numbers and praiseworthy performances. Only breathing space you notice is Shah Rukh’s magnetic screen presence, Deepika’s charismatic dance moves and Abhishek’s comic relief but as if Farah would not compromise with her instinct to ruin all emotions, she brings patriotism in the scene just before you try to locate the exit. You can be talent-killer. You can proudly be a robber. You also can be insensitively rude towards your fellow member of human race but just one patriotic song at the end with a tricolor in the backdrop and no one could ever question your heroism. Anyways, who bothers if the man in question is the king of Bollywood himself!

I clearly remember having greater laughs in a couple of ‘Comedy night with Kapil’ episodes on TV where the cast of HAPPY NEW YEAR appeared as its promotional routine. Well, I better go search those on YouTube after resting my case here.  That was epic! This is gimmick! A wafer pack full with air, if you get it! Watch it if you must! [2/5]