Movie review: Ghanchakkar

A film that could have been cheeky and fun turns into a yawn inducing fare, all thanks to a lazy, half-baked script and screenplay. 

Film: Ghanchakkar

U/A; Romance-comedy

Director: Raj Kumar Gupta

Cast: Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi

Ratings:

At one point of time in the film, Sanju (Emraan Hashmi) in exasperation starts asking everyone who they are and what they are doing. I wish someone had asked such pointed questions to the scriptwriter of this film as well. With a story that could easily fit into a one-half of an A4 size page, ‘Ghanchakkar’ sadly struggles to find a personality or character for itself till the end.

The hero of the film, Sanju is a master at breaking locks and his wife Neetu (Vidya Balan), keeps him humoured with her atrocious cooking and more atrocious dressing sense. Sanju wants to give up on his bad ways, but ambitious Neetu almost pushes him into doing his last big job that would fetch them Rs 10 crore. Three months and a nasty accident later, amnesia patient Sanju can’t remember where he has stashed the loot, thus inviting the ire of his two partners-in-crime (Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das).

The partners decide to move in with the couple till he gets his memory back. Interesting concept yes, and fun watch too till now. However, the smile that the irreverence of the first half-an-hour brought soon starts fading as the film progressively gets more and more tedious. Emraan Hashmi is superb (and looks quite cool in a pony tail too), as he goes about groping his way through amnesia. Vidya Balan is convincing. While Vidya Balan’s talent is unquestionable, one wonders while playing a boisterous Punjaban, did she really have to burst out of her seams and the 70 mm screen? Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das put in good effort.

The movie begins with a lot of promise, as the contrasting personalities of the laidback Sanju and the loud Punjabi Neetu lead an interesting life together. The big robbery is fun too as it is done in such an irreverent manner, that the masks used by the thieves during the robbery itself provide a few laugh-out-loud moments. To be fair, director Raj Kumar Gupta tries to keep the ongoing bright and interesting, with unique and subtle quirks as he goes about describing the characters of the film in a by the way-manner. But film that could have been cheeky and fun turns into a yawn inducing fare, all thanks to a lazy, half-baked script and screenplay. What a pity. If nothing, this gives us another instance of how a good script is the most important factor for a watchable film.

Source:  http://to.ly/m5O2