Shaandaar Review: Is it really that Shaandaar?
When it is a Vikas Bahl film, the audiences go in with a lot of expectations. Since Queen became a game-changer, a lot was expected out of this Shahid Kapoor-Alia Bhatt starrer. But sadly it didn’t meet that level of expectations.
The film is not very entertaining, but it isn’t even boring. So it floats in the land between that! Shaandaar, didn’t come across as so ‘Shaandaar’ as the audiences wished it would. Having said that, the film is packaged in a way where there are certain nuances that are dealt differently. Be it fat-shamming, marriages seen as business propositions, insomniacs, breaking stereotypes and blingy-overtly expensive wedding traditions.
Star Performances:
Shahid Kapoor as the hottie got a lot of ceetis upon his entry. During the course of film, it seemed that his acting talent isn’t used to full potential. He could have had some dumdaar dialogues to match his persona. He looked good no doubt. In terms of acting, this was comparatively an easier role to pull off.
Alia Bhatt is good with what she has done. The film isn’t adding to her acting graph, but shows her in a very comfortable space. She too looks really good and does her bubble-bee camaraderie to the fullest.
Pankaj Kapur is really good as the father who wants only but his daughter’s happiness. His fatherly insecurities are portrayed perfectly and he emerges as the coolest/cutest dad. His screen presence with Shahid is better than that with his on-screen daughter Alia. The father-son duo’s rapport is one of the highlights of the film.
With her Bollywood debut, Sanah Kapur has made a mark in the film. Her role is written well and the way she shams her to-be-groom who body-shams her is a good scene. She doesn’t go overboard and it seems acting comes naturally to her.
Others too have decent roles and they’ve tried their best to keep the film together. Karan Johar had a cameo, but there wasn’t the Koffee With Karan magic in the Mehendi With Karan segment.
Technicalities:
As a viewer, I was expecting much more from Shaandaar. But I was bit let down, considering the fact that it didn’t offer much to hold my attention throughout. Seeing the trailer, which was so well packaged, I thought the film would have a lot more. Maybe, I had too much belief in Vikas’ vision.
The simplicity of the film is nice but not great. The film banking on shaan, didn’t have any shaandaar moment according to me. Bahl’s last films always had something we could fixate on. Here we can fixate on the feel good factor of the actors who look great together.
Watch or not:
It is a light and breezy film and is easy in its approach. Mass appeal might work in the favor of the film. It has a couple fun moments. So watching it with friends and family should be a good experience but not a ‘Shaandaar’ one!
Thumbs Up: Music, subtle messages,
Thumbs Down: Plot, execution
Yawns: A few
