{"id":4417,"date":"2013-06-20T01:45:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T05:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/?p=4417"},"modified":"2013-06-13T17:53:31","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T21:53:31","slug":"movie-review-nautanki-saala-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2013\/06\/movie-review-nautanki-saala-2013.html","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review : Nautanki Saala (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[amazon_link id=”B00BPB8CU8″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]\"Nautanki[\/amazon_link]
\nRating<\/a> : 3.2\/5
\nGenre<\/a> : Romance
\nYear<\/a> : 2013
\nRunning time : 2 hours 10 minutes
\nDirector : Rohan Sippy
\nCast : Ayushmann Khurana, Pooja Salvi, Evelyn Sharma, Gaelyn Mendonca, Kunaal Roy Kapoor
\nKid rating<\/a> : PG-13<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNautanki Saala\u201d is based on a French film, so I\u2019m expecting quirky characters and some zaniness. I get both. Ram Parmar or RP (Ayushman Khurana) is a play director, and an actor. His play is based on the Ramayana, and he plays the lead role of Raavan in it. The play is a success, he\u2019s found love with his pretty girlfriend Chitra (sprightly MTV VJ Gaelyn Mendonca) and life is generally good until one day Ram comes across a man attempting suicide. Kind-hearted Ram prevents the suicide and brings the broken-spirited Mandar LeLe (Kunaal Roy Kapur) home with him.<\/p>\n

Long story short Mandar is at the end of his tether because the woman of his dreams Nandini (Pooja Salvi) has spurned him. Altruistic do-gooder Ram decides to patch things up \u2013 that is, until he sees lovely Nandini and begins to fall for her himself . . .<\/p>\n

Ayushman Khurana is in Vicky Donor<\/a> mode in this film, or looks like it. Can\u2019t they change his appearance even a little bit, to suit the role? Here, he looks young and scruffy and un-dependable \u2013 I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d trust him to cross the street, much less direct a whole play. And then he portrays a guy who sweeps women off their feet. Really?<\/p>\n

Gaelyn and Evelyn Sharma (you might have also seen her in “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”<\/a>) have small roles and they do OK. I found the leading lady Pooja Salvi unimpressive; she seemed a dramatically disinclined wilting rose with a whiny voice to match. Kapur\u2019s character Mandar was annoying \u2013 so I don\u2019t think it was his (Kapur\u2019s) fault that I wanted to shake some sense into Mandar. The film\u2019s characters as portrayed, seem goofy, which would be OK if they were French \ud83d\ude42 (French goofiness works) but desi goofballs had better have some back-story, or we wonder why they didn\u2019t turn out to become good little engineers\/doctors like the rest of us.<\/p>\n

The crux of the film centers around two men fixating on one woman, and Ram\u2019s pricking conscience \u2013 lusting for Mandar\u2019s ex-girlfriend \u2013 hello betrayal! Ayushman does nicely with the comic timing and the emoting; me thinks this guy might actually break out those acting chops someday, given the chance. However Ayushman is not Hrithik Roshan, as far as looks go. So here\u2019s my mini-rant : with three lovely-looking women in the film, all the female viewers get to look at is (unshaven) Ayushman and Kunaal? Is there no God\/Goddess? End rant.<\/p>\n

The 2003 French film \u201cApres Vous\u201d<\/a>, on which Nautanki Saala is based wasn\u2019t a big hit either, so I\u2019m wondering why this was chosen as inspiration. Nautanki Saala isn\u2019t bad, it\u2019s just \u201cmeh\u201d. But this very average film has some outstanding music, some of the best I\u2019ve heard this year. There is the very nicely done “Dhak-Dhak” remix<\/a>, “Saddi Gali” sung by Ayushman, the lovely ballad “Mera Man Kehna Laga”, the peppy “Dramebaaz” and my favorite “Dil Ki To Lag Gayi” by Saba Azad:<\/p>\n