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SHAANDAAR
ABOUT SHAANDAAR
Even though there have been many movies which have been made on the theme of weddings in Bollywood, there has never been a film that dealt with the concept of destination wedding. Film Shaandaar is one such movie that treads on the never-before attempted theme of destination wedding.
When Vikas Bahl had made the highly enjoyable yet touching Queen, the industry welcomed him with open arms and waited for the gifted director to serve up another different and delightful offering.
But, though Shaandaar might be fresh with regards to the visuals, wonderful it is not. Starring Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Pankaj Kapur, Sanjay Kapoor and others, Shaandaar comes across as a fairy tale trying its best to be accepted by adults.
Alia (Alia Bhatt), the apparently adopted daughter of business magnate Bipin (Pankaj Kapur), is an insomniac, who spends her nights reading and accumulating knowledge on every subject under the sun (or rather, the moon!).
When Alia and the family head off to Europe for the destination wedding of Bipin's eldest daughter Isha (Sanah Kapoor), little do the father-daughter duo realize how the trip is going to change their lives? Of course, the marriage is a mere business deal orchestrated by the autocratic but bankrupt matriarch Kamla Arora (Sushma Seth), who mutters dialogues lifted straight from the Dil Dhadakne Do script where Anil Kapoor justifies wedding off his son to the daughter of a potential financial backer.
While at the peaceful European countryside, Alia develops a romantic relationship with Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor), the wedding planner, who too can't seem to sleep at nights. The two insomniacs manage to have the time of their lives, while matrimonial politics continue in the background.
Shahid is decent in his role as the street-smart JJ while Alia is blessed with that cuteness generally associated with puppies and kittens. Pankaj Kapur is reliable as always while newcomer Sanah puts in a sincere effort, leaving the hamming to Sanjay Kapur and the rest of the cast. Karan Johar is naughtily witty in his cameo and we hope to see more of him on the silver screen.
Bahl, who had enthralled us with Queen, fumbles the ball here on various occasions. Indeed, the director seems to favor gimmicky situations over logic- Shahid Kapoor, despite being an urbane wedding planner operating in Europe, doesn't know what insomnia is and pronounces it as 'Ín Somalia'! Such jokes do not entertain but merely confirm our qualms that the director is taking his audience for granted. Of course, because Isha is getting married to a Sindhi boy, there are dozens of Sindhi jokes, which again seem to be aimed at making up for the lack of a solid story.
If that was not all, there are many animated scenes, which make the movie seem very imaginary and fake, like a fairy tale written by a kid pretending to be an adult.
At times, the film gets real creepy-like when the family members start giggling and laughing in relief when they discover that their wheel-chair bound matriarch has died a sudden death. Sure, she was an autocrat, but standing around her corpse and chuckling merrily seems absolute disturbing.
The music is quite enjoyable and might be the only highlight of the movie.
In general, it is worthy to watch once for some different and delightful offering.
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