Movie Review – Fukrey Returns

The boys are back

Wish I could add “and how?” to my title. Maybe it’s not “and how” level yet it’s definitely not boring. There are a lot many rubbish comedies than this which has become hit so this definitely is a genuine attempt. May be much of the dislike would have been because of the people who watched ‘Fukrey’ when it released, had lot of expectations when the sequel came after four years. And the other section would have been waiting to write off this movie, which became a surprise hit. But as I watched it back to back, I could hardly feel any difference. It was equal fun.

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The film starts one year after the first part. Though they appear in school uniform in the first dream, it was evidently a dream. Now, they are in college so no more school uniform. School uniform fit them to the tee. As not so young men, it too added to their character and made the film quirkier. The film has the same cast except Ashraf Ul Haq, who unfortunately passed away after the first part. He was terrific in that little care-of-platform role.

The three boys Hunny (Pulkit Samrat), Choocha (Varun Sharma) and Lali (Manjot Singh) are terrific as always and look the same too. Priya Sharma (Priya Anand) seemed to have put on weight but she continues her character organically with the same charm. Zafar (Ali Fazal) and Neetu Singh Raina (Vishakha Singh) are clueless as always and don’t know why they exist in the film. Unlike the first film, the second film is wholly run by Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadda) with Pandit (Pankaj Tripathi) as the sidekick.

With any part two, especially the comedy ones, it tries to repeat the same of first part. It happened even when ‘Hangover Part 2’ released which was dubbed as same film with different location. But I was absolutely fine with it. It was lovely to watch. Here too it follows the same template. But the craziness couldn’t remain intact. Especially with the lottery scene where I thought, why wouldn’t the owner want to change numbers? It happens here because they put in a lot of money. That repetition didn’t work because it’s one time magic. Then by trying to be global there was a lot of dig at politics, especially Delhi politics but they don’t target a specific individual so at least it was not preposterous.

All these are forgivable mistakes because its not a film which is meant to be taken seriously. The situations are reasonably funny. Especially the ones involving tiger, and Varun Sharma too does a fabulous job. Every comedy film needs a dumbo like Choocha to flourish, otherwise it would become stale. But here it works because as a team, the captain Hunny and poor kid Lali too do a tremendous job. They appear as a team. Even though the sad song and “we are a team” dialogue looked a little bit overdone, they still are a fabulous team.

The climax again would have been good if it had been apolitical but the second film too ends with the same tone as first one where Bholi goes to jail with a smirk. Even though she’s the root cause of all the trouble, we miss her. Here, even though the CM looks a goody goody guy, Bholi gets into the car with him. That could mean a lot of things but we’ll always take the obvious.

Movie Review – Fukrey

A witty tale of harmless youngsters

‘Fukrey’ has been in my list for quite some time. But I kept on postponing because it didn’t look like a serious film to invest time or in other words it didn’t look like a film which took itself seriously. But recently due to the readdiction of “Ambarsariya” I got some respect for the both the song and movie. Its such a tough song with difficult chords which was sung superbly by Sona Mohapatra. Thanks to the innumerous amount of times I viewed the song which had a sweet little story arc to it, I felt like watching the movie.

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I didn’t have much expectations out of the movie. All I expected was a time pass flick. The movie too started without much hope, with a couple of school kids breaking the school wall so as to make a mark. Vikas “Hunny” Gulati (Pulkit Samrat) and Dilip “Choocha” Singh (Varun Sharma) are seniors in their own class who dream about going to college. If ‘American Pie’ was about a guy’s gang trying to lose virginity. ‘Fukrey’ is about a group of boys wanting to enter the college. Seeing the title, I expected a much ‘A’ subject but the kids were mostly harmless.

Choocha poses a special gift where he has some weird dreams. Hunny decodes it and wins lottery every single time and that’s how they have their pocket money. Thankfully we don’t see much of their family. There couldn’t be much that could be done in that front than the cliched scolding of dad. So that thankfully is avoided. But the sardar, Lali Halwai (Manjot Singh) gets enough from his dad. There is a side track of a guitarist who wants to make it big, Zafar Bhai (Ali Fazal). That felt like a totally needless track. It neither could take the serious tone nor could mingle with the other guys. So, it doesn’t fit the template at all.

Anyways they all want to hit it big so that they could get their college admission. That’s when we get introduced to Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadda). The character of Punjaban was loosely based on alleged pimp, Sonu Punjaban. Generally, the characters who get introduced around the interval block would either be double action of heroes or a big star or someone totally needless but her Richa Chadda does a fabulous job and her character is written superbly. As a pimp who’s hated by everyone in neighborhood, when she gets arrested, the way she looks at ministers PA and police officer with a smirk was some writing. It’s a sad end which any hero would dream of. Something like Rajni losing all the money in ‘Sivaji’. These are the things which make ‘Fukrey’ stand out. Not only Bholi but also the college guard, Pandit (Pankaj Tripathi) and the constant stealer (Ashraf Ul Haq). Those were ingenuine characters who create an impact.

All three of the kids do a fabulous job, even though Pulkit Samrat stands out. He’s a pleasure to watch. Plus, Priya Anand for once gets to play her young as a young and bubbly girl. Unfortunately, she always gets mature role and acts opposite to older heroes. Here it was nice to see her in a charming role, even though it was a small one. The film culminates superbly to a fun end with some heart. Like I mentioned about Bholi’s track.