Fukrey

Rating: 3/5 stars Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

It aims to be another "Dil Chahta Hai" or a "Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara". The glitch is that it tries to rise beyond the limitations of its script with a bunch of actors who are likable and competent performers, but not brilliant artists and bonafide moviestars. Furthermore, the direction though effective, is not astute or shrewd enough to transform a light- hearted screenplay into a memorable film. While *beep* does have some endearing scenes and crackling dialogs, there are also an equal amount of scenes and dialogs that seem puzzled, forced, and deliberately contrived. At the end of the day, its the effervescent, versatile, and gorgeous Richa Chadda who seamlessly steps in to save the day in her somewhat restricted role. Her abrasive lingo and unabashedly brash attitude serves as a perfect antidote to the clueless foursome's pleasantly goofy but sometimes annoying display. Perhaps, if the makers had decided to churn the film within the limitations of the script and talent on offer, it might have been a more entertaining prospect. Sometimes, less too can be better.

Fukrey, directed by Mrigdeep Singh Lamba and produced by Farhan Akhtar/Ritesh Sidhwani is set in the bylanes of East Delhi and is about four youngsters who want to make it big in life - but through adopting shortcuts !Cocky Hunny(Pulkit Samrat) and goofy Choocha(Varun Sharma) are two slackers who want to get into a reputed college with the solo intention of ditching classes and ogling at girls. Accounting-phobic Laali (Manjot Singh)wants to get into this college because her lady love. Wannabe musician,Zafar(Ali Fazal)needs funds for his father's treatment. All of them need fast buck and make a deal with a wicked hustler,Bholi Punjabi(Richa Chaddha) but their adventure misfires big time when Choocha flounders.In this bizarre twist of events, how the band of boys come out unscathed forms the crux of Fukrey.

Much of the film's sheen is derived from its situational humor and Mrigdeep Lamba , who made the horrendous Teen The Bhai, takes a giant leap in direction and writing with a sharp eye for details and getting the nuances of middle-class lifestyle of Delhi-ites right.The narrative is smooth and Lamba infuses some of the ROFL moments when Laali's bike parts are stolen each time outside the Gurudwara or Choocha escapes from Bholi's henchmen. Delhi Belly Dejavu !Choocha's inspection,oops I mean Inception-inspired dreams and Honey decoding them into a lottery number are sheer master-strokes !Ram Sampath's music is peppy and rustic with fresh voices and sync well with the proceedings. Ambarsariya, the traditional Punjabi folk song tops the list, with Sona Mohapatra's mellifluous renderings!

The camaraderie depicted between Honey and Choocha is the heart of the enterprise and will have you in splits. Pulkit is endearing as the jugaadu-dude of the gang.His mannerisms are very typical of a Delhi boy and he gets the act right. Manjot Singh makes a solid impact with his straight-faced humor and impeccable dialogue delivery.Ali Fazal bores a serious look on his face and does justice to his character.Varun Sharma as Choocha is the scene-stealer and the real surprise package. As a debutante , he exudes ample confidence.Richa Chaddha outshines our fukras with her superb act of Bholi Punjaban and once again proves her supreme talent.Priya Anand and Vishakha Singh are adequate, and don't get much of scope in this male-dominated fare.Pankaj Tripathi,as usual,is first-rate.

On the whole, Fukrey is indubitably a fresh wave of comedy with a fitting finale and a justified message to today's youth. I laughed and laughed , until my jaws ached and belly gave pangs.Worth a second time watch !

Rating : 4/5

I saw the movie with High expectations after all the positive reviews and strong box office performance..but to be frank the movie is very loose in its story telling. The reasons that form the base aren't strong enough, also humor is forced at many places.

Negatives: 1) Forced Humor 2) Predictable twists at many places 3) Panditji and Zafar should had been used more in the plans. 4) Pulkit's Love story was totally confusing 5) Overacting and forced humor of Choocha

Positives: 1) Lali was a big plus with straight faced dialogues 2) Pulkit's acting and comedy 3) Druggist's stealing of bike parts and irrelevant response by the same office going man was most funny part. 4)Another sequence again featuring Lali, with Neetu and Zafar was also good

On the whole movie isn't that bad, the second half is better paced and takes the story forward after the dull and monotonous first half.

Its a good one time watch but bear with some irritations at the beginning.

To be honest, this is a wicked kind of film which has an almost non- sense storyline without anything great to reveal and many objectionable insertions in the script too, wrongly representing the younger brigade of the country in a debatable manner. But still it somehow manages to keep you entertained throughout with its shining performances, witty dialogues and hilarious sequences taken straight from the real life which collectively turn it into a winner in the end and you forget about anything else to put the objection for.

Talking about the negative points of the film first, FUKREY has a wafer thin plot as far as the script is concerned and that too, a highly unconvincing one where everyone is just chasing a weird dream of a chubby boy giving them a winning lottery number every morning. Further its weak plot has been stretched too long just to add more amusing scenes in the narration which drops the pace post intermission and then it also ends on a very uninspiring note.

Anyhow the good news is that the merits of the film score way above its weaker points and that is why you cannot condemn the film just for the sake of doing it. Therefore if one is willing to ignore all these preventable flaws, then FUKREY is truly capable of giving you a lot more than expected and you are sure going to enjoy watching it in the theaters along with your school or college group without any doubt.

Mentioning the strong plus points of FUKREY, first of all I was frankly quite surprised to realize that this was from the same director, Mrighdeep Singh Lamba, who earlier gave us a complete non-performer film called TEEN THAY BHAI. Secondly, from the last 5-6 years, Bollywood directors seem to be in complete love with DELHI, its popular lingo used in the small localities and Punjabish style of living, famous all over. Working on the similar lines, FUKREY also makes a noticeable use of the same ambiance and thus has a good share of Punjabi abuses too in its funny dialogues.

In short, the writing here is the biggest strength of the film with real life instances used exactly like we all see in the school & college campuses in Delhi. For example it's a blunt truth that there is a cruel discrimination practiced among the regular and correspondence students in Delhi University from decades. Similarly, almost all the colleges have a strong character of a gatekeeper who doesn't let others come into the premises and is supposed to have a good power on your right to enter through that gate as per his will. Besides, many well conceived sequences are also a sure shot winner in the film (especially for the residents of Delhi & NCR),which include the one featuring the legendary Narender Chanchal's famous tracks being sung in a Jagaran and Manjot's repeated scenes with a dirty beggar. But apart from this flawless realistic writing, FUKREY also shapes up well due to its perfect casting, instantly winning your hearts with their respective acts.

In totality, the film belongs to three boys Varun Sharma, Pulkit Samrat, Manjot Singh and Richa Chaddha alone, who carry the film on their shoulders right till the end and rarely give you some dull moments only in the second half. Where the viewers are simply going to love Varun posing as CHOOCHA, they are immensely going to enjoy watching Pulkit & Manjot together as the ring leaders. Particularly FUKREY should ideally become the much needed jumping board for Pulkit, after his last year's average flick BITTOO BOSS, whereas Manjot is going to find it too hard coming out of his fixed image of doing similar roles, one after another since OYE LUCKY LUCKY OYE (2008). However a related truth remains that despite doing all similar kind of acts, Manjot still very gently manages to make his own mark and doesn't seem to be repetitive. On the other hand, Ali Faizal is the weakest link in the team but then he couldn't do much, since his character was specifically written in that form only in the script.

Post intermission, the film gets a new life with Richa Chaddha entering as "Bholi Punjaban" which actually hides it major flaw of having no interesting storyline smartly. Richa works real hard to be terrific in her 'out of the box' character and she also succeeds in her attempt largely. But still her portrayal remains uneven in the various scenes and also I didn't find any Punjabi dialogues spoken by a character given the name of "Bholi Punjaban". Playing the love interests, Priya Anand looks gorgeous in all her lovable scenes along with Pulkit and Vishakha impresses a lot as the Accounts teacher. Last but not the least, Pankaj Tripathi plays the gatekeeper's role just brilliantly and holds them all together before intermission.

Musically, Ram Sampat composes some good tracks which have been used very intelligently in the film and you don't mind watching them played in their shorter versions like "Ambarsariya" . Yet songs do add to the unnecessary length of the film which should have been avoided to keep it more focused and sharp. Background score maintains the uplifting tempo rightly and DOP captures the essence of Delhi lanes well.

In all, FUKREY is a young film with a sole motive of offering the viewers a good time in the theater along with their friends and its great to see such kind of 'Star-less' initiatives backed by reputed production houses like Excel. The film does have its weak points but they all take a back seat when it keeps providing the much needed entertainment factor right till the climax in a continuous mode. Yes with a healthier storyline it could have been much better but nevertheless is quite enjoyable in its present form too, so go for it and Enjoy!

My family wanted to go to the theatres this weekend and I had to go. They all went to watch the horrendously boring Ye Jawaani Hai Deewani, but I chose to watch this because of all the rave reviews. Let me tell you, the other reviews were correct!

I can't remember any scenes except for a few funny ones, nor do I know any of the actors in this. The plot was wack, and the songs were meh. But, the film was undoubtedly hilarious. There are funny lines, funny situations, and funny actions.

This film is exactly what you want to watch if you want incredible hilarity for 2 hours. You'll go home happy, and you're senses will be soothed. I'll give it an 8/10, worthy of watching in theatres and a few more times later, because it will be just as funny.