Nautanki Saala Movie Review

Movie: Nautanki Saala

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Pooja Salvi

Music: Falak Shabir, Mikey McCleary, Rashid Khan

Direction: Rohan Sippy

Producer: Ramesh Sippy, Bhushan Kumar, Kishan Kumar

Release date: 12 April 2013

TeluguNow Rating: 3.25/5

At a time when it might seem that mainstream Bollywood is stuck in the rut of cannibalising Hindi hits of the past, here is a Mumbai film that is nothing if not different. It is inspired by a French romantic comedy of a decade ago. Rohan Sippy’s Nautanki Saala!, with its robust desi twist to a very Gallic idea, has the feel of an oasis in the desert. It ultimately turns out to be just a mirage, but all said and done its idiosyncrasies have the heft to lift the film high enough and keep it afloat all the way through to the end.

Here is the detailed Story:

Rohan Sippy’s Nautanki Saala! is about a good Samaritan, Ram Parmar (Ayushmann Khurrana), and a self-loathing neurotic, Mandar Lele (Kunaal Roy Kapur). The two men meet on a Mumbai street just as the heartbroken and teary Mandar is about to hang himself on a noose tied to a tree. Ram, the actor and director of Raavanleela, an ongoing popular play, is in a relationship with a shrieky go-getter Chitra (Gaelyn Mendonca) almost under duress and he decides to take charge of Mandar’s life—to change him and make him understand his worth. Whether he does that and what happens to Mandar at the end is the story of Nautanki Saala.

Positives:

• Nautanki Saala is Rohan’s lowest budget film so far. But this thought hardly crosses your mind as you embark on this voyage. For, this one’s armed with a fascinating premise that’s nourished with care by the raconteur, magnificent act by its lead actors and dollops of humor.
• Rohan layers this film with side-splitting comedy, some great lines and incredible performances. His story, although borrowed from 2003 French movie ‘Apres Vous’, has been aptly adapted to fit into the Indian psyche.
• Of the innumerable hilarious moments, the most outstanding is during the audition for the main lead of the stage show, where an unsure actor banks on his director-friend to dumb-charade the dialogues for his part.
• Ayushmann Khurrana is an absolute natural. He does not miss a single trick as he sails through the role of the nice guy who takes acting too seriously for his own good.
• The music of the film is good and worth listening to, especially songs like ‘Saadi gali aja’, which is co-composed and sung Ayushmann Khurana. ‘
• The cinematography by Manoj Lobo is quite a treat for the eyes. Besides that, the costumes used for enacting the theatre sequences in the film are innovative.

Negatives:

• The subject matter goes messy thereby. The love story, or say a love angle-cum-love triangle going parallel creates confusion in the spectators minds similar to the lead pairs are in their love life.
• The Director has given attention to the golden touch which our local theatres deliver through its dramas.
• There are moments of genuine laughter but this fleeting gratification demands extensive          wait and endurance.
• Sippy punctuates his scenes with too many pauses resulting in a dawdling pace and delayed conflicts, which makes its 130 minutes running time lengthier than it should.

Final Verdict:

Overall, Nautanki Saala is a clever comedy with some amazing characters. Its comic appeal doesn’t lie in its buffoonery but its storyline, its characters and its performances, all of which come together to tell a tale that is refreshing and genuinely funny when it’s meant to be.”