Movie: Happy New Year
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone,Abhishek Bacchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah
Genre: Drama
With a Diwali night spent covering my ears with a pillow and holding onto my shivering dog (Iam neighbour to 50 year old ‘big boys’ who enjoy bursting loud-raucous crackers till wee hours of the morning), I woke up to Farah Khan’s Happy New Year. After a horrendous night, I forced a smile on face and a little jig in my step, as I hopped-and-skipped my way to see the touted block buster of the year. A glittering star studded cast, trailers screaming of peppy songs, Farah Khan’s enticing choreography, Shahrukh’s 6 pack abs (or was it 8?!), a promising plotline- this movie was to have it all. But then it’s the rule of life- you cannot have Diwali every day, but nightmares, oh! they follow you around mercilessly. So for me, it was jumping from the frying pan right into an iron hot pan!
Charlie (Shahrukh Khan) puts together a team of losers – Jackie (Sonu Sood) a deaf ex-army man , Tammy (Boman Irani) an expert safe cracker, Rohan (Vivaan Shah) a hacker and Mohini (Deepika Padukone) a bar dancer. They have to participate in a World Dance Championship because that’s their key into Hotel Atlantis in Dubai, where world famous diamonds are to be kept under the security of Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff). But it isn’t just about robbing the diamonds; Charlie, Jackie and Tammy have their personal intentions as well. Will these losers become winners? Because, you know, ‘kismat bhi badi kutti cheez hai…. saali kabhi bhi palat jaati hai.’
Sigh! So I am going to list down a few things I didn’t mind about the movie and some other things I very much minded about the movie:
Firstly the things I didn’t mind, a) The songs are peppy and you will undoubtedly tap your feet along with the songs; b) The dance costumes are loud and colourful often brightening up the otherwise dull scenes (and as a dear friend pointed out, some of them are borrowed from brother Sajid Khan’s movie, Housefull. Now that’s what I call being economical!); c) Deepika is truly a treat to watch on screen. She is graceful, elegant and despite the director’s best efforts, saves her character from becoming a cliché’; and d) The entire robbery scene was exciting. Though a bit over the top and obviously impossible to execute, I personally found it fun to watch.
Now the things I very much (VERY MUCH) minded, a) This movie will be remembered for Farah Khan’s worst choreography till date. Though, initially the script demanded so, later even the supposedly good ‘performances’ were despicable. The best dance moves in the whole movie was Prabhu Deva’s 10 second cameo; b) For a good part of the movie, Shahrukh Khan looks painfully old with his rugged looks. And with a young and pretty Deepika romancing him, it just seems like she has a thing for old men; c) Most of the dialogues are twisted from other movies (supposedly to make them funny) and are not even worth a giggle; and d) Sentiments are pretty misplaced and scattered. Best was an untimely introduction of patriotism that had me go WT*!
Now, to be honest, the whistling and hooting crowd besides me seemed to be enjoying even though I looked visibly bored. If you are to take my word, Happy New Year fails to deliver on all its promises and is waste of your money. But as I know half of you will still want to see the movie; so go, watch and share with me your feedback. I just hope for a better Diwali gift from Bollywood next year.
My Verdict:**
