Unintentional lampooning of a classic

Johnson Thomas

This ‘desi Don Corleoni and Robin Hood merge’ may summon up linkages to the Francis Ford Coppola classic The Godfather but it’s all to do with the similarities in plot points and nothing to do with either superior scripting, treatment or finesse.

So don’t even think comparative because this film under review is so muddled in tone and tenor that the viewer would be hard pressed to figure out whether he/she is watching a comedy or a drama. The film is obviously intended as a drama, the half-hearted scripting or the caricaturist set-up doesn’t warrant the tag of a satire for sure. 

Nunnu (Jimmy Sheirgill) a criminal and racketeer reigns over Thakurganj like it is his fiefdom and contrastingly, his younger brother, Munnu (Nandish Sandhu) an idealistic small time entrepreneur who runs a coaching class, abhors violence. Their mother, widowed Sumitra Devi (Supriya Pilgoankar) has long since reconciled herself to her older son’s infamy and has even begun to see ‘goodness’ in his criminality - while revelling in its unending benefits. And Munnu’s so-called rejection of violence only constitutes a token verbal resistance to his older sibling’s aggressive antics. So, even the allusion to Deewar seems like sacrilege.  

Nunnu owes allegiance to Guruji, Baba saab (Saurabh Shukla), a kingmaker who cultivates henchmen like notorious Bhadri (Mukesh Tiwari) and sharp-shooter Bhalla (Raj Zutshi), in order to stay above the game. Bhadri and Nunnu are competitors for Baba saab’s affections and the escalating war between them eventually puts the entire set of criminal vermin in Thakurganj at risk.  

Dilip Shukla’s scripting is largely hollowed out with neither the characterisations nor their respective motivations making much sense. The script relies on ‘types’ and they play out in indistinguishable routines that hope to mirror the ‘classic’ but never really amount to any laud worthy sequence. Manoj K Jha’s helming is also entirely tangled. The nuances are lost in the disorderly dog-eat-dog set-up and eventually leaves the vigilante justice endgame to seem more appropriated than organic. 

New broom SP Suraj Pratap’s (Pawan Malhotra) unjustified sermonising and Sharbati Devi’s (Mahie Gill) post-climactic widowhood drama take the cake though. Despite Saurabh Shukla, Jimmy Sheirgill and Nandish Sandhu’s earnest attempt to lend validity and grit, this unlettered attempt at drama is more apt for ridicule than awe!