Movie Review: Shaandaar Nothing More Than An Ordinary Film

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Pankaj Kapur, and Sanah Kapoor

Director: Vikas Behl

One of the most hoped-for “Shaandaar is in theatres with much of colors, smiling faces and gleaming emotions. Well, if the shining faces and the extravagant designer wear is theing you like then surely this could be in your watch list this weekend…

The movie has all the KJo elements in it be the dance numbers, background sound and too many things happening all at once. The themes and the ideas at work in this movie are truly skillful, but it seems as if the director is trying too hard to delight everyone with everything all at once. Well, in a bid to be glamorous and commercially applicable, the director forgets the story. How? Let me explain it to you…

The Shaandaar Story line

In a simple language, Shaandaar stands true to the phase “Never Judge a Book by Its Cover”.

Shaandaar is the film that was certainly not expected from the man who was behind the Super-hit “Queen” yes, Vikas Behl. The other producers include Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and One and only Karan Johar. One can expect some kind of stupidity from KJo but by all odds but surely not from Mr.Kashyap and Mr. Vikramaditya Motwane.

The film is based on two bankrupt families Bipin(Pankaj Kapur) and Fadwani(Sanjay Kapoor)  but they pretend to be “Ambanis”. To get over their debts, they crack a Matrimonial arrangement between their kids. The bride’s (Sanah Kapoor) sister, Alia (Alia Bhatt) is an insomaniac and a najaayaz daughter of Bipin. She falls in love with the wedding planner as he was the only one who can get her some sleep. That’s the story, duh!

Director Vikas Behl tries to envelope a princess ’Fairy tale’ into a classy romantic comedy with the Indian wedding scenario. As a result, this two-and-half hour film couldn’t do much justice to any idea. The film starts like a Disney movie with a Pixar twist. The orphaned girl, Alia was brought by Bipin, a golden heart man with wish to have his insomniac daughter fall to sleep. He wishes for a prince charming to come and help his daughter find her dreamland. Prince charming (Shahid Kapoor) arrives as a wedding planner to Bipin’s real Daughter (Sanah Kapoor). As the wedding is actually a business deal between two families, from there the story turns out to be like an unexceptional romantic comedy.

The Goods

There are some good bits that are woven around these embarrassments. The best part is the absolute chemistry between father and daughter that looks fresh and natural, their bond are informal and as seamless as friendship. Likewise, the romance between Alia and Shahid is organic but the script didn’t support the characters in the movie.

Some odds in Shaandaar

The big problem is the tone of the film. The director tries to present a film in a very childish way. There are animation sequences, cute CGI frills and juvenile humor. It just does not gel with the idea of the story. The director tries to fight the stereotypes by showing characters that don’t mind being called adopted and orphan. The repeated Sindhi jokes, fat people clichés makes you irritate for the time being.

So now if you are one of those adamant Shahid-Alia fans who will watch Shaandaar against all odds, here’s what could make it worth to watch. Amit Trivedi’s music is awesome. The chemistry between Shahid-Alia is striking. Shahid plays a role of prince charming with abundant charm and she is just flawless as ever. You won’t be able to resist the charisma of Shahid. On the other hand, Alia brings a subtle sexiness and aura to her character. Together the two make one hell of a couple and they bring some life to the film. The resonance between Pankaj Kapur and Alia is fabulous, the dynamic between Pankaj and Shahid is better. The decent cameos thrown by Sushma Seth and Sanah Kapoor as a cute, pretty plus size bride are super- fantastic.

I really think, Vikas Behl should have done better with Shaandaar. The biggest mistake he makes is to not trust his star cast. In the scenes where he has put the animations, he just should have let Pankaj Kapur and Alia Bhatt do the magic, but he doesn’t. he chooses to rely on cheap frills.

Well, you can go for the title track of Shaandaar and dance your night away but as far as for the film, I suggest give it a miss or just a one-time watch movie, that’s it!