Continuing from where he left four years back in AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI,writer-director Raj Kumar Santoshi strikes again with another of his slapstick comedy called PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO wherein we have Shahid Kapoor trying almost similar things as played by Ranbir Kapoor in the 2009 hit.
Though in his latest comedy, Santoshi stresses a lot more on the emotional factor and mother-son relationship right from the first frame to the last. Still the good thing is that the film does have some fun filled comic moments reminding you of Santoshi's cult comedy ANDAZ APNA APNA and thus for me its much better than APKGK which I couldn't enjoy a lot, to be honest. In reality APKGK got a huge boost due to its big star-cast and hit melodious music missing in PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO. But the truth is that you will find more traces of that good old Santoshi of AAA in this Shahid-Ileana starrer (not relying on any Chaplin like sequences) as compared to director's 2009 blockbuster, quite frankly.
Having said that, the other dark side of the coin remains that PPNH does have an avoidable list of hiccups associated with its plot & story progression, which are sure going to restrict its box office results, as it seems. The film begins exactly like a typical Bollywood family drama of the 80s and then has a song in store too before the comedy takes it over from the front. The narration takes time to set the mood in but once it comes into the flow, you have a pretty good first half with many hilarious scenes and witty dialogues to enjoy on the lines of ANZAZ APNA APNA. The opening 30 minutes also have a surprise sequence with SALMAN KHAN wherein he too mentions AAA Part 2 being made by Santoshi with Aamir Khan in a sarcastic tone. Together the entire cast puts up a good show in few sequences and one overall enjoys the first half ignoring its initial weak moments and the deliberate songs.
Post intermission, as the viewers are ready to enjoy it more, surprisingly the film goes into a different mode altogether and drops badly. The long emotional & slightly absurd insertions simply ruin the enjoyable build up of its first half and one starts losing patience waiting for its promised comic moments for long. After a while it does strike back, but is not able to generate the similar kind of impact as made in its initial hour, till the climax. The villain's additional plot of Operation White Elephant simply falls flat and a few songs (in shorter versions) are thrown in just like that followed by a clumsy end (treating the Police real bad) which lacks the solid punch required in such comic scripts.
Musically PPNH has one enjoyable track "Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai", which is not only melodiously composed (Pritam) and well sung (Mika) but also has a dazzling choreography well adapted by Shahid. Plus I also liked "Main Rang Sharbaton Ka" while watching it on the screen featuring the stunning Ileana. Besides both background score and cinematography enhance the comedy sequences fairly as required.
In the performance section, it's a Shahid Kapoor film all the way and the actor tries almost everything in his act quite convincingly. Shahid shows variety in his act but unfortunately the script plays the spoil sport here particularly in the second half. Ileana in her second film post BARFI plays it well but doesn't get any strong role to present her acting skills. It was really a treat to watch Padmini Kolhapure in a major, long length role after a long time. Providing the much needed comic support, Sanjay Mishra, Saurab Shukla, Darshan Jariwala and Zakir Hussain are truly superb with their admirable timing. Mukesh Tiwari sincerely tries hard to put up a good show as the villain but Nargis Fakhri is not up to the mark in her song-dance cameo.
Putting it together, the biggest merit of PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO is its clean, enjoyable comedy (away from sex and double meaning stuff), along with many funny, entertaining dialogues which instantly reminds you of the director's first comic movie released almost two decades back. Yes, the film cannot be termed as a great entertainer or a perfect comedy due to its many drawbacks mostly visible post intermission. Yet I would like to rate it much more than Santoshi's last APKGK for the only reason that it did reach quite close to the unique ANDAZ APNA APNA in its few scenes thankfully.
Now coming to the INSPIRATION Section of the review, 1. The title of the film is taken from a dialogue of HERO HIRALAL (1988) in which Naseeruddin Shah comes out tearing a film's poster and says the same words.
2. The very first scene of the film dealing with a self confessed traffic challaan is straight out of FERRARI KI SAWAARI (2012) wherein Sharman Joshi does the same act as done by Padmini Kolhapure.
3. Most importantly (as also confessed in a dialogue too), the whole story idea of PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO has been inspired from MUNNA BHAI MBBS with the theme of Doctor being replaced by an Inspector. To elaborate it further, as seen in Munna Bhai film, here the hero's mother thinks that her son has become an Inspector and she is coming to visit him in the town. Knowing this, the hero becomes a fake inspector and all his friends play different roles of a hawaldaar, a social worker and more to support the inspector's act.
Anyway, if you loved watching AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI a lot, then you are sure going to enjoy PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO too as a one-time watch, particularly for all its entertaining funny moments in the first half. So just keep that yardstick in mind and make your own decision for the coming weekend.
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