A flight to nowhere

Johnson Thomas

Shivkar Talpade’s exploits as the first human to fly an unmanned aircraft decades before the Wright brothers may have some veracity, but the way this film, which in a way is a sort of a biopic, plays out, there’s absolutely no way any thinking individual would believe in that impossibility. In fact, one even wonders why Shivkar Talpade (Ayushmann Khurrana) is being credited with the flight when all the work and the meticulous drawings, as shown in the film, are done by Shastriji (Mithun Chakravarthy), a mad scientist, who purportedly used the Vedas and Puranas to support his belief in the ability of human beings to exploit the skies with ‘flight.’
Throughout the film, Shivkar Bapuji Talpade aka Shivvy is portrayed as a dim-witted individual given to childish mannerisms and immature antics. He is even said to have failed the 4th standard eight times (and this is supposedly in the early 1800s). So, by the time he exhibits his mechanic-like abilities with a rare aero-dynamism, it’s already too late and unconvincing. The guy prances about in designer-wear, crinkling his nose and flashing his droopy eyes while singing songs every odd minute and falling instantly in love with the beauteous Sitara Devi (Pallavi Sharda) — and we are expected to take him seriously! Director Vibhu Virender Puri (also credited with the screenplay and dialogues) clearly doesn’t have any objective in mind other than creating a mish-mash of formulaic elements with a rarified flourish and exuberance they don’t necessarily deserve. The production design, sets (Subrato Chakraborty, Amit Ray), styling and costumes are so obviously mismatched that they look like they came out of an indiscriminate selection from a bountiful antique store. Cinematographer Savita Singh goes glossy in her efforts to give us a beautiful blue-tinged picture, but there rarely is any connect with that uncommon imagery. In fact, everything looks so fake and farcical that at no point do we get to believing in this amateurish take on what could have well translated into a momentous historical, which could have validated that far-reaching invention.   
The story could well have been better handled with a much more solid script and due reverential treatment — instead, we have a wishy-washy romance with glossy overtures and reprobate posturing before the final take-off. The Barfi like treatment given to the narrative trivialises the effort further. Ayushmann Khurrana’s exaggerated Chaplinesque effort also appears terribly inappropriate. He is likeable enough though and does well to croon a ghazal with effective pathos. Pallavi Sharda, the Besharam heroine, looks pretty but out of place. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be much ground for this unsubstantiated claim (at least not in this movie). The story about two Indians who made the first flight is now likely to go down as a big joke. Even the extended runtime doesn’t allow for any attachment. Such are the returns from this trivialising pursuit!