Mission: Lost

Jasmine Singh

Jiska kaam usi ko saaje...the old saying lays out an important lesson - stick to the field of work you are best at! Yo Yo Honey Singh, singing, music, rapping...you are definitely good at it. Zorawar...acting? Singing is a better idea!

Directed by Vinnil Markan, Punjabi film Zorawar, which was being touted as Yo Yo Honey Singh’s comeback in a ‘different’ kind of role, is like a mission that lost track within two minutes of its launch; a mission that moved at a snail’s pace only to gather speed towards the end; a mission that ended after a painful journey.

Coming back to the word different, Zorawar being a different film, and Honey’s role being different...by now, we all know (especially the movie buffs) that the word different stands for either ‘same or boring or confused’. Zorawar justifies all the three different meanings of being different!

The film’s story, written by Sagar Pandya is also like a ‘mission’, but this one’s lost in Durban! The director, Vinnil Markan has unduly stretched certain scenes and left many questions unanswered, which leaves you with one question — what’s happening Yo (we mean bro)?

The film picks pace only about 10 minutes after the second half. You haven’t still gone far when you realise what the director has done. He has in fact given a balanced treatment to both the halves — both have been stretched to boredom. That feeling of pace in the second half is nothing but a mirage. You have started hallucinating!

Now, if you want to get over this hallucination, you need to ask yourself a few questions. (This exercise will keep you from going into a deep slumber). One, you could ask, what role Pawan Malhotra played in the Punjab chapter of the film? Two, Pawan Malhotra, who was apparently following Mukul Dev, is seen as an intelligence man in Durban? Two, who is Amit Behl in the film? Why did he save Mukul’s life?

Now for the actors in the film, or let’s say, a film which has a music video feel to it. Yo Yo Honey Singh can act, as we said, but singing is a better idea! Mukul Dev has gone full-length to justify his character. Achint Kaur, who plays Honey’s mother, is good. She is nothing like the Punjabi mothers we are used to watching! Pawan acts really well; his acting in Zorawar reminds us of his work in Punjab 1984, same–to-same. Bani Judge, an undercover agent-cum-lady don, is interesting even though she gets to say only three-four dialogues. Amit Behl, a don who wears leather outfits throughout the film, exposes good amount of fat! Parul Gulati, whom we see in the first half, goes missing for a long time, before re-appearing for a song and the climax!

The songs are typical Honey Singh ishtyle. Both romantic and party numbers have the same feel and beat - of a mission that couldn’t end on a winning note.