Hawaizaada Review

Rating: 2.5/5

Critic Rating: (2.5/5)

Hawaizaada Review: Dreamlike, beautiful and boring

If dreams were anything but boring, read about Pandit Subbaraya Shastry and Shivkar Bapuji Talpade’s life story; but if you wanna see its sheen not in the right light, watch ‘Hawaizaada’. While Biopics are something Bollywood churns out occasionally, this biopic on life of Marathi scientist Shivkar Talpade will make you see him more in the light of a lover-boy, who made a plane for the love of his life. We all know love has the power which triggers lovers to move mountains, and in this case invent a plane and fly high.

The 157 minutes long, so-called biopic had 10 songs which took most of the screen space. My thoughts, while entering the screen were that, ‘Nobody told me about any musical-like life story of Shivkar Talpade’. I was in for a film that would bring the tale of unsung hero of India on the forefront. But it seemed like the unsung hero sang A LOT on screen. Suddenly amidst a dialogue, a song would crop up and they would jive and merry or in another case cry or feel determined.

It would have been so nice if we could have seen the saga of Indian Pride who created history in a simplistic manner and not with masaledaar tadkas. But having said that, some parts of the film are beautifully shot and recreated in a brilliant manner.

Star Performances:

Ayushmann Khurrana has the image of being a natural actor. While his performance as Shivkar is convincing, I am having a hard time figuring out whether Mr. Talpade had such singing talent or Ayushmann’s vocals were mixed with his biography. I am not criticizing Ayushmann as a singer or an actor; on both fronts he is brilliant. It is just, all I felt was that the two personas, one of an 8-times-class-four-flunker-but-brilliant-scientist and another of a lover-boy-singing-dancing-jiving Shivkar Talpade, didn’t quite match. In some scenes Ayushmann was fluid on screen and too good, while in some you couldn’t just accept him.

It was Mithun Chakraborty, who quirked up the film in the shoes of Pandit Subbaraya Shastry. He was witty, good-humored, and a mastermind. Actually, building a plane was his brainchild which Shivkar outgrew and fulfilled later! In terms of acting, Dada was really good. He was full-well into the character and did what was given to him marvelously.

Pallavi Sharda as Sitaara, who was the driving force for Shivkar’s dreams, was pretty nice. She was a tamasha dancer and throughout the first half of the film she full-well did that, along with Ayushmann. In the second half she became Shivkar’s encouragement and hope. She gave her share of pep-talk to Shivkar in the film.

Technicalities:

Hawaizaada technically doesn’t fall in the space of a Biography. It is more of a commercial film packed with tadkas and spices here and there. It was disappointing, as I personally expected it to be more serious and fact-enriching. The whole point of watching the film was to find out how Shivkar became the first man to fly and created an unmanned plane. But while that concept deviated throughout the film, the audiences couldn’t help but sigh. We did get to see all that, but it would have been better, if all the fuss and hullabaloo and glittering touches to make it overtly-decked up, were left aside. A film is a director’s baby and his vision. Vibhu Puri does a decent job but could have done a lot better. The story was complete but still seemed ambiguous.

The film earns some really good brownie points in terms of cinematography. Savita Singh has done a delightful job. The camera angles, lighting, recreation of Bombay of 1800s is really worth commending. The film is picturesque.

Coming to the songs, it is hard for me to pinpoint each and every song and talk about it. C’mon there were so many, it isn’t feasible to give ‘gyaan’ about the ‘gaan’ here. All I can say is, they were good but weren’t meant to be in the film, except a couple of them. It seemed like an exaggerated attempt to make the film entertaining by usage of more and more songs. Had the makers left aside the musical-extravaganza, the film would have been so much better.

Watch or not:

If you wanna watch it, go for it. The story might attract you, but I cannot guarantee the boredom that comes along with so many songs in such a long film. The film is dreamlike on certain occasions, looked beautiful and at the same time was boring. But if you think after reading the whole review that you wanna leave this one out, then no worries peeps! You can always Google Shivkar Talpade and know more about him!

Thumbs Up: Cinematography and recreation of Bombay of 1800s

Thumbs Down: Too many songs, long duration and deviation from the original theme

Yawns: Many, while seeing too many songs in the film.

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