NICE N NAUGHTY. Review on Neal N Nikki

Arjun Sablok’s second venture Neal N Nikki, is definitely a lot better that his “Na Hum Jaane Na Tum’ starring Hritik and Eesha Deol, a couple of years ago. Neal and Nikki is a very contemporary, urban type of film, which will definitely appeal to the twenty some things in the audience. The film has come in for a lot of flak, especially from the moral brigade, for its vulgur display. That nothwithstanding, one must appreciate the director for giving us a no holds barred (pun intended) comedy.If you can enjoy a DVD of American Pie or police Academy in the security of your bedroom, why not Neal N Nikki? And most people seem to have two opinions when it comes to this film-a public one, where they lambast the film, and a very private one, where they seem to have liked it all. Well, well.

Neal (Uday Chopra) an NRI in Canada, on the threshold of an arranged marriage, decides to let his hair down, and have some serious fun. He heads to Vancouver, where he repeatedly runs into Nikki (Tanisha), who is constantly chucking jobs and getting drunk. Neal has to unwillingly rescue her every time. Nikki is heart broken, and his trying to get even with her ex lover. She enlists Neal’s help, and the two of them pretend to be in love, sparking off jealously in the ex lover. But, as we have seen in many such situations, the two land up falling in love. Misunderstandings, which are the fodder of which films are made of, happen and the two split, only to be reunited in the end, in an unusual climax.

The film is set in Canada, and the camera captures the beauty of that country. The film is full of funny situations, very naughty and ribald, and invariably bordering on sex. But the film makes no statement about pre marital sex, and accepts it as such, at face value. The direction, screenplay and music are uniformly good. Uday Chopra has improved as an actor, and fits the part, very well. Tanisha is cute and believable. Both actors however, need to work on their voices and dialogue delivery. In Uday’s case, his manly physique is a bit mismatched with his high-pitched voice. The film is worth a watch, but if you don’t want to blush, leave your teenage children behind. Or better still, tell them to go see it with their friends.

With AIDS, sexual abuse and teenage pregnancies on the rise, is it not time that we Indians woke up to the realities of human behaviour and existence? Sex has been around for many millions of years, and adopting an ostrich like head in the sand attitude is not going to solve our problems.