Cheat-chat works

Mona

A battle between haves and have- nots, dreams of material things, to aspirations of making parents proud, director Soumendra Padhi’s ‘Farrey’ runs parallel between two worlds. But more than showing opposition, the teens in these two worlds join forces to achieve their dreams.

Salman Khan’s niece Alizeh Agnihotri (daughter of Atul Agnihotri and Alvira Khan Agnihotri) makes a promising debut with ‘Farrey’ (chits used in cheating). The story explores an intelligent girl Niyati (Alizeh), living in an orphanage for young girls run by a kind couple called Warden and his wife (Ronit Roy and Juhi Babbar Soni). Niyati bags admission on a scholarship in the country’s most expensive school, along with another deserving student Aakash (Sahil Mehta).

While Niyati befriends the rich and spoilt gang, Aakash manages to be content with his job as a delivery boy after school. It’s till Chhavi (Prassana Bisht) and Prateek (Zeyn Shaw) convince the duo, by hook or by crook, to help them pass exams through cheating. Close to two hours, the film explores the young wandering into a world of hi-tech cheating methods, the challenges they face and the moral dilemmas, if any, they harbour.

On the strong side, the film is able to hold the attention of viewers and keeps a decent pace. One is engaged in the couple’s devotion to raise adopted girls to the best of their ability. Niyati’s tryst with wealth builds another interesting peg. Actors deliver convincing performances. Alizeh gets a strong character to play in her launch film and an able director in Soumendra Padhi (‘Budhia Singh: Born to Run’ and ‘Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega’ to his credit). She delivers fairly well. Ronit Roy and Juhi Babbar Soni play endearing characters and give fine performances. The young cast impresses. Prassana Bisht as a rich daughter, under pressure to match her Stanford-going brother Aadi and to win the attention of her parents, gives a compelling performance. Sahil Mehta as Aakash, a boy trying hard to break free from the vicious cycle of poverty, too, delivers well. The production value is high and the party scene pretty pish posh, bearing Karan Johar’s stamp.

The loopholes in the script, based on Thai film ‘Bad Genius’, are the weak point. The story is about school-going kids, but they are rarely seen to be studying. Also, the character development towards the end is rather forced.

That aside, depicting a tightrope walk between what’s right or wrong, ‘Farrey’ makes for a decent one-time watch.