There is of course Dharma Productions’ favourite character - a gay man whose sexual orientation and effeminate ways are meant to be the source of all humour. His broken English is supposed to be a legitimate accompaniment to his obsession with gold and money, as is the case with all Sindhis, if the makers of this film are to be believed. Sanjay Kapoor, the forgotten brother of actor Anil Kapoor, plays “the” Harry Fundwani, whose brother, Robin Fundwani, is to marry Isha. There is a half-hearted attempt at humour, none of which is remotely funny, not even in a morbid, dark way, despite trying extremely hard to be offensive to all cultural, ethnic and gender communities. What also remains constant is the random animation every time he sees Bhatt, complete with ladybirds flying out of her sweater and into his palm. Joginder’s first interaction with the family sets the tone for the rest of the film, abundant with hamming “oye” and verbal sparring. Alia Arora (Bhatt) is an orphan who Vipin Arora (Pankaj) adopted, much to the family’s shock and displeasure.Įnter Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid) as the wedding planner, the uppity young man from Punjab who can stand down Vipin’s inflated ego. Isha Arora (Sanah) is to be married into a Sindhi family and the wedding, if it wasn’t as clear as the day, is a business deal, as the unimaginative dialogues repeatedly tell me.
The storyline is formulaic and lacks imagination - even if I tried to, it would be hard to give spoilers over and above those already in the film’s trailers. The 150 minutes that follow don’t do much for me, either. The film introduces its characters through a poorly executed animated clip at the beginning, which only makes it harder for one to connect with the story. The script, right from the start, is abrupt and compromises on depth in what looks like an attempt to be racy. The final product, though, is anything but. With an impressive star cast in Shahid, Pankaj Kapur and Alia Bhatt and introducing Shahid’s sister, Sanah Kapur, the trailers of Shaandaar seemed to promise a wedding drama with liberal doses of humour. While Shahid is quite bearable on-screen, Bahl is a massive disappointment to fans expecting a repeat performance. The other reason was, of course, that Vikas Bahl, director of the blockbuster Queen, also directed this film. After reading a lot of tabloid articles related to Shahid Kapoor’s wedding a few months ago, I expected his latest film, Shaandaar, to be an antidote to the overdose.
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