Aug 21, 2010 01:14 AM
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(Updated Aug 21, 2010 01:20 AM)
Lafangey Parinde - A movie with unusual title and unusual starting point. It does hold your interest for a while but then takes the most predictable twists and turns and finally lands in a complete'Bollywoodish' style. It looses its originality somewhere down the line, probably in an attempt to safeguard its commercial success.
The story idea is novel in the beginning. Yet the main attraction of the movie is its performances. The lead actors have acted so well that you get lost in their world for some time. The highlight being, of course, Deepika Padukone.
Although I am not a Deepika fan, one cannot deny her acting and dancing skills. She looks blind, she looks stubborn, she looks ambitious all at the same time! In short, she enacts all the shades of her character beautifully. Neil is also convincing as Nandu being aggressive at times and simple and sweet otherwise. Neil and Deepika's performance makes the movie interesting. Apart from these two, one actor who holds his ground is KK Menon. He is memorable even in his 5 minutes role!
Music and lyrics are good and elevate the mood of the movie. The costumes and art direction is apt. The best part about the costumes and the sets is that it gives a realistic feel of Mumbai streets and yet it is visually beautiful to watch.(Unlike Slumdog Millionaire!) The story is a let down, though!
First half is good, fast paced and creates a nice buildup. The second half is slow and predictable. Plus the story hardly moves forward. The ending is too simplistic. The movie starts with crime and ends on a'happily ever after' note. It makes you wonder, is life that simple? I disagree with the writer on this point.
Second half has a huge hangover of Rab Ne with a similar Dance Competition Theme. Why is Aditya Chopra so obsessed with Dance Competition? And it is not like the dances are in the league of Kajra Re, Chaiyya Chaiyya or Kay Sera Sera. Agreed, that the individual dance steps are highly difficult and require great skill and effort to master. But when put together, they look so repetitive. The beauty of say a Hrithik Roshan's Idhar Chala or You Are My Sonia, or Madhuri's Akhiya Milau, that is missing. It is not mandatory to have a good dance number in every film. But when the lead character is shown as a dancer, and the story focuses so much on a dance competition, you keep waiting for that. And when it doesn't happen, you are left in disappointment.
The promo is more intriguing than the movie. The promo was so good, that I went expecting some capturing movie like Kaminey or Sarkar. Alas, it turned out to be Rab Ne Phirse Bana Di Jodi!
Overall, watchable once.
My rating: 3/5
