Movie: Heropanti
Director: Sabbir Khan
Cast: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Sandeepa Dhar, Shireesh Sharma, Samar Jai Singh and Prakash Raj
Rating: **
Had Sabbir Khan, the maker of the disastrous Kambhakkth Ishq, also an uncredited remake of Kamal Hassan’s Pammal K Sammandham, focused less on the waxed chest of Tiger Shroff and even a tenth of it in the story of Heropanti, he would have had a passable product in his hands. Tiger Shroff, a trained gymnast in reality is also extremely confused in prioritizing his attention from the stunts , the dances, his essential strengths and later moving to show some promise with his acting. His eyelids beat just for a formality and so are his acting skills, a trailer of veins for what is to supposed to be a feature film dubbed as an extravagant launchpad for him into Hindi cinema.
While the original, a remake of Allu Arjun’s Parugu is no means by a classic, this surely seems one after the mediocrity that Heropanti showcases. For an actor who’s flaunting his body more than his ability to emote, it’s sadly a wrong choice of a film. He’s surrounded by Kriti Sanon who is close to her male counterpart’s perspective of wooing people with their physical aesthetics. For a debutant, she is comfortable with the camera and shows little nerves. Prakash Raj, the only credible performer among them all gives the cast enough chance to stand up to his repertoire or even a few miles away from it, but none of them here really are interested.
The story takes place in a fictional town Jatt Land, where a Son-Of-Sardaar like setting is on-board and a one-man army rules the roost. The residents measure a person’s manly potential by the amount of murders they have committed and a woman meanwhile doesn’t have much character beyond her kitchen or her dishes. The film has an uncanny energy when it takes off. It is non-sensical but nevertheless has its instances of fun. Just when the lead actor wants to utter ‘Sabko Aathi Nahi Aur Meri Jaathi Nahi’ to their friends who are in the captor’s court and the troop that necessarily feels that tickling each other is a sign of a close equation, you don’t know what to label this as. He then falls for a girl but still loves his body and his ingrained heroism more.
The film is as much Prakash Raj’s and his inability to let her daughter slip from his arms. The conflict point is the battle between his personal honour, essentially the insecurities and wanting the best for his daughters lives. The daughter has all the burden on her head in not disappointing the possessive father and getting her ambitions fulfilled. This is a solid idea for a narrative to be surrounded by, but this is a debut film for god sake. The actor is under immense pressure to get a good balance of fights, some melodrama, a romantic track and dance numbers to prove his worth.
The patch of wood written on Tiger Shroff’s face doesn’t quite change throughout the film, not even when he pleases a girl, lends an arm to his friend, warns an antagonist or wipes him off. Commercial films demand a live-wire hero to get momentum. There’s some need of a wild energy, such as a Varun Dhawan in a Main Tera Hero who instills life and some naughtiness in whatever he does with that deserved larger-than-life charm. Heropanti misses that sorely and goes so wayward in its result that even Prakash Raj is made to look a buffoon in an inconsistently moulded script. The movies stays very loyal to Parugu but isn’t even worthy of half the brownie points that the former scored. For once, a near-by movie goer’s yawn looked a befitting response for the film.
Review by Srivathsan N. First published in Cinegoer.net
