Fukrey: A cliche story with a few light moments

Despite its funny moments, Fukrey leaves you wanting more.

ABU DHABI:

Four Delhi students looking for an easy way to make big money entrap themselves when they strike a deal with a lady gangster.

Co-written and directed by Mrigdeep Singh Lamba, Fukrey paints a new coat onto some overdone clichés. Although it has its funny moments, Fukrey at the end will leave you thinking that something is missing.

The story kicks off with two schoolgoing boys, Vikas Gulati aka Hunny (Pulkit Samrat) and Dilip Singh aka Choocha (Varun Sharma), who daydream about landing an admission in one of Delhi’s biggest colleges. The two continuously fantasise about their after-school life, and how they will impress girls by making a grand entry on horseback.

Hunny is a heartthrob and wins peoples’ hearts with his boy-next-door looks and charm, while Choocha is more of his sidekick — a dimwit whose ‘dream’ gives birth to a mess. Choocha brings the humour element in the film, but it gets a bit annoying at times and makes you want to smack something across the screen to make him stop cracking stupid jokes.

The Hunny and Choocha duo has a unique gift — Choocha dreams and Hunny interprets those dreams, a winning combination. This results in the two often winning easy money. Then come the other two ‘fukrey’ — Lali (Manjot Singh), a Sardar who comes in contact with Hunny and Choocha to get a seat in the same college, and Zafar (Ali Fazal), an aspiring musician whose music fails to impress the mainstream industry. In the background of his struggle, he has a hospitalised ailing father to pay for.

The need for money brings these four men to the gangster Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadda). A meeting inside Bholi Punjaban’s gym, full of mirrors, gives way to a comedy of errors, which ends up involving Zafar’s ex and Lali’s finance teacher, Neetu (Vishaka Singh) and Hunny’s love interest, Priya (Priya Anand).

The one-liners and funny moments in the storyline make it worth watching. However, as one would have expected, after seeing co-producer Farhan Akhtar’s name in the trailers, the movie does not live up to the expectations of Dil Chahta Hai or Luck By Chance.

The cast, which comprises debutants or second-timers, makes the movie a heart-warming and light comedy, with undertones of Delhi Belly and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! Bholi Punjaban’s entry picks the story up from the slump it went into right before the interval, but it’s too late to work in the movie’s favour.

The fear of losing the bet to Bholi Punjaban and getting caught brings all the characters to a moment of self-realisation that they were doing something wrong in order to attain money.

Fukrey is a fun ride filled with a madcap script. It’s not the sort of movie you would plan on watching with friends. However, if you happen to stroll into the cinema, you will surely come out smiling.

Verdict: The storyline is cliche, but the execution is pretty strong, making the movie worth watching. Rating: 3.5/5

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2013.

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