Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan, Gulshan Grover, Rahul Bose, Raghuvir Yadav, Ram Kapoor, Late Mukul Dev, Suhail Nayyar, Supriya Pilg...
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sara Ali Khan, Gulshan Grover, Rahul Bose, Raghuvir Yadav, Ram Kapoor, Late Mukul Dev, Suhail Nayyar, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Brijendra Kala, Smita Tambe
Directed by: Akash A Kaushik
Music by: Sachin-Jigar
Director Akash A Kaushik, who also has written the story, makes a film that has humour quotient in abundance but runs out of gas by the time the film ends. It was a neither here - nor there kind of a film. What could have turned out a full on spoof falls flat with chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and the Pakistani bashing. The dialogues, also credited to him, is excellent but only in the comedy parts. He has also used a lot of retro songs - the Khalnayak’ signature tune and ‘Julie I Love You’ stand out. When the film takes a serious turn post interval, that is where the trouble starts for Kaushik. The viewers get confused keeping a track Bilal / Vikrant. It’s difficult to decipher which side he is on. Plus there are far too many twists and turns and double-crosses which one loses track of after a point. One credit to the director is that he has managed to extract some maddening performances from the Late Mukul Dev and Rahul Bose. Kudos to the three of them.
Vikrant Thapar (Ayushmann Khurrana)married to Yamini (Sara Ali Khan) is a brilliant spy who works for the CTS (Counter Terrorism Squad) and is on the verge of divorce. But unknown to everyone, he is actually a Pakistani spy Bilal Ahmed who has infiltrated successfully the higher ranks of the CTS. He reports to Lt. General A Q Niyazi (Ram Kapoor) who is also looking for a promotion as Pakistani General Mohammed Ali Mir (Gulshan Grover) is due for retirement. Vikrant meets with an accident and on waking up, he finds out that he has lost his memory. CTS members inform him that he is a true patriot of India and he goes all out against the cross-border terrorism. This upsets Niyazi and the entire Pakistani establishment and terrorism squad. What follows forms the rest of the story.
Ayushmann Khurrana, as always, delivers a free flowing and good performance. Sara Ali Khan is let down by writing but whatever she has, she does well. The late Mukul Dev (as the terrorist Azhar Maqsood) is simply fantastic and so is Rahul Bose (as M D Burman, the head of CTS). They are the real surprises of the film. Both bring the house down by their respective performances. Suhail Nayyar (as Dhruv) has a very meaty role and is very effective. Gulshan Grover and Ram Kapoor are good. Sandeep Anand (the house help Shambhu / Tariq) is entertaining. Smita Tambe (as I S Holkar, Vikrant’s immediate boss) is wonderful. Brijendra Kala as Srivastava, boss of Yamini is okay. Raghubir Yadav and Supriya Pilgaonkar are wasted in inconsequential roles.
Sachin - Jigar’s music is catchy with ’Choozay’ and ‘Bhootni Ke’ both well picturised.
Go and see the film for it’s quirky comedy and the performances of both Rahul Bose and the late Mukul Dev.
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