PHATA POSTER NIKLA HERO MOVIE REVIEW

Rajkumar Santoshi, the man who helmed popular films such as Andaz Apna Apna, Pukar and Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani has come out with a flick that primarily clings on to humour along with a tiny scoop of sentimental melodrama. Shahid Kapoor and Ileana D’Cruz play the lead pair along with Padmini Kolhapure, Darshan Jariwala, Saurabh Shukla and Sanjay Mishra who form the central supporting cast.
 

When some filmmakers in the industry are on their toes running helter skelter in desperate attempts to come out with novel scripts, Rajkumar Santoshi has apparently decided to stick to the usual ‘template cinema’ that has humour, sentiment, action and music spread unevenly into a very regular and predictable story.
 

The plot revolves around a young individual, played by Shahid Kapoor, who is a movie fanatic and aspires to feature in movies as an actor. However a stereotyped flashback persuades him to take up tests to become a police officer. The entire story pans across his struggle between his passion and his persuaded profession, portrayed in a comical fashion. The initial part of the film is set up in a rustic backdrop after which the story moves on to the urban locales of Mumbai.

Shahid Kapoor is still the chocolate boyish action hero who tries hard to be funny and is successful at certain points. Ileana D’Cruz is as pretty as ever and has presented her character neatly. Padmini Kolhapure plays the character of a sentimental mother who lives with a set of ideologies she fixes for herself. Rajkumar Santoshi has attempted to portray a syrupy mom-son relationship that gets a little superfluous as the movie progresses.

Saurabh Shukla plays a comical villain who has focused more on the comedy aspect than being villainous. His scenes are entertaining and good to watch. The depiction of all the police officers as typical jokers is something that cannot be digested easily. 

The introduction action sequence involving Shahid Kapoor’s heroic move to save a girl from a set of goons has no connection with the story. The only association it has is to the title, “Phata Poster Nikla Hero” as Shahid Kapoor shoots out of a poster before he bashes up the bad guys.  

Pritam’s music is satisfactory. However the portrayal of the songs and their timing is quite unsettling. Nargis Fakhri appears in the item number Dhating Naach which is more or less a number that is not satisfactory. 

Ravi Yadav’s cinematography and Steven Bernard’s editing are pretty up to the mark though not extraordinary.  The director has attempted to stitch in some tricky twists in the movie that are unfortunately predictable. The climax slapstick action sequence that brings in almost all the characters in one location is a safe shot that is stereotyped yet acceptable.

On the whole Phata Poster Nikla Hero is a movie that is less ambitious yet a half calculated move that would have appealed better if it was filmed a couple of decades ago.