{"id":696,"date":"2008-03-01T22:22:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-01T22:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2008\/03\/review-superstar-2.html"},"modified":"2011-06-13T02:22:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T02:22:00","slug":"review-superstar-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2008\/03\/review-superstar-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Review : Superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rating<\/a> : Above average (3.75\/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2008
Director : Rohit Jugraj
Cast : Kunal Khemu, Tulip Joshi, Darshan Jariwalla, Aushima Sawhney, Sharat Saxena, Reema Lagoo, Vrajesh Hirjee, Anjan Srivastav, Zafar Karachiwala<\/p>\n

SUPERSTAR : DOPPELGANGER DRAMA<\/a><\/p>\n

I am not a fan of Kunal Khemu because I totally hated his first film \u201cKalyug\u201d<\/a> and thought the second \u201cTraffic Signal\u201d<\/a> not worth much. However cast as the protagonist in \u201cSuperStar\u201d Khemu finally delivers. It\u2019s not that I blame him for his previous disasters (he was a pretty decent actor even then), but there was something about his earlier ventures which just didn\u2019t click. Happily for us, this one does.<\/p>\n

Kunal Mehra (Khemu) is your average struggling actor, finding for now, only 3 second snatches of screen-time, lost amid other extras. His Dad (Sharat Saxena) wants him to get a \u201cregular\u201d job, egged on by the next-door nosy neighbor (Anjan Srivastav). Supported by his mom (Reema Lagoo) and friends, Kunal struggles on. It looks like his persistence has paid off, when one fine day his photograph makes the headlines in every newspaper, and he is touted as the next young superstar, to star in an upcoming film by producer Saxena. However Kunal doesn\u2019t remember getting the photo taken, and has never met the producer!<\/p>\n

The truth about the look-alike in the newspapers brings with it disappointment for Kunal, his dream of making it big in Bollywood smashed to smithereens. However fate has other plans . . .<\/p>\n

This is a double-role plot (\u201dMithya\u201d<\/a> had one too), but isn\u2019t formulaic. What adds to the film are it\u2019s genuinely comic moments \u2013 the film pokes fun at Bollywoodian clich\u00e9s, like the time Kunal\u2019s character refers to his doppelganger as not a \u201cKumbh-ke-mele\u201d types (for the uninitiated, the 80\u2019s films often had identical twins separated in the Kumbh mela). It\u2019s a breezy watch and it flows<\/em>. Rohit Jugraj, who\u2019s past projects include \u201dJames\u201d<\/a>, manages to tell the story with minimum fuss. The film is well directed and nicely paced. The characters are developed believably, except for the half-baked angle of the investigating journalist (Karachiwala). Yes, there are some logical loopholes, if you want to be really nit-picky, but the film is such a pleasant watch, that really, it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Khemu must essay two different characters \u2013 one strong and determined and struggling, and the other cocky, brash and arrogant. He does well on both, and even manages to squeeze in a little vulnerability in the characters, earning him extra brownie points. He shows a vast improvement from \u201cTraffic Signal\u201d, and exudes a new confidence and bonhomie in this film. Tulip Joshi as love interest Mausam does nicely, although she has fattened up since \u201cMere yaar ki shaadi\u201d<\/a>. And Aushima Sawhney as the hard-edged film actress suits her role. Darshan Jariwalla as crafty film producer Saxena is good too. Lagoo and Saxena as the parents manage some of the more poignant scenes in the film really, really well \u2013 had me tearing up !<\/p>\n

This film has excellent music. From the catchy \u201cMann tu talbat\u201d to the beautiful \u201cAankhon se khwab rooth kar\u201d to the funky \u201cDon\u2019t I love or do I love you ?\u201d they all just add to the film.<\/p>\n

This is one of the better films, considering that it has no \u201cbig\u201d star. And if you all want is an engrossing drama with some innovation and a \u201chatke<\/em>\u201d story, this is it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rating : Above average (3.75\/5)Genre : DramaYear : 2008Director : Rohit JugrajCast : Kunal Khemu, Tulip Joshi, Darshan Jariwalla, Aushima Sawhney, Sharat Saxena, Reema Lagoo, Vrajesh Hirjee, Anjan Srivastav, Zafar Karachiwala SUPERSTAR : DOPPELGANGER DRAMA I am not a fan … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,76,14,10,17,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-62","category-bollywood","category-drama","category-family-friendly","category-rating-g","category-recommended"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"Rating : Above average (3.75\/5)Genre : DramaYear : 2008Director : Rohit JugrajCast : Kunal Khemu, Tulip Joshi, Darshan Jariwalla, Aushima Sawhney, Sharat Saxena, Reema Lagoo, Vrajesh Hirjee, Anjan Srivastav, Zafar Karachiwala SUPERSTAR : DOPPELGANGER DRAMA I am not a fan … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-be","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1828,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions\/1828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}