Diwali is the time for firecrackers, and the loudest of them – the bombs - are considered obnoxious and bad for everyone’s health. Well, “Happy New Year” is the biggest but pleasant bomb of this festive season – and entertains from first frame to last in a blast of masala peppered with the rousing emotions of righteous revenge.
The festival, commercially, has been hijacked by King Khan oftener than not, and seven years after the last mainstream Diwali blockbuster that was “Om Shanti Om,” the Khan trio of producer Gauri, her husband Shah Rukh and director Farah return – together – with this new and scrumptious feast of manoranjan that would have made Manmohan Desai and Nasir Husain hug the last mentioned lady and crow, “Attagirl!”
All the right ingredients used by the masterchefs of entertainment in Hindi cinema are there in perfect proportions – the long film does not seem lengthy either! – and so heist, revenge and all emotions pertaining to family, parents and romance come in, apart from the male bonding. The music is there, but except for three nice songs – and “Radhe Radhe” visually, it could have been much better.
Another compulsory ingredient is illogic – integrated so seamlessly that we simply do not care, like the drawing of the wall of bricks being kept ready, and the economic status of protagonist Chandramohan Sharma, a.k.a. Charlie (Shah Rukh Khan) who finances such a huge international operation to avenge his father (Anupam Kher) being framed by tycoon Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff).
Charlie has waited years for revenge and the first half-hour works like a crackerjack thriller, laced with Farah’s brand of inimitable humor as the team is put in place one by one. Throughout, the director dots the movie with her quirky, sometimes farcical but usually witty or hilarious humor. Indeed, there’s never a dull moment in the script, right till the classic Farah brand of end-titles. Yes, we nitpick about a small aspect – the color scheme in the titles and end-titles needed better contrast for us to read the zooming names in quick time.
Charlie’s (he is a professional boxer) team, like him in a way, are losers. They include a retired safe expert, Tammy (Boman Irani) and a half-deaf ex-bomb squad member Jagmohan (Sonu Sood). The villain has a son named Vicky and so a look-alike imposter has to be found in the earthy Nandu (both roles played by Abhishek Bachchan). The youngest member is hacker Rohan (Vivaan Shah) and the way to Dubai where Charlie plans to take revenge is through a world dance competition, and so a Maharashtrian bar- dancer, Mohini (a tribute to Madhuri Dixit’s cult “Tezaab” persona) is needed.
Mixing a dance competition with a heist film and incorporating revenge, romance, comedy and everything else, needs a master at the helm, and Farah Khan reasserts her credentials with total command on her craft, cinema, cast and crew. Now which was that aberrational movie she had directed? Was it “Tees Maar Khan?” Memory eludes us – now!
On the flipside, besides the music, Farah stretches a couple of sequences by some minutes, reminding us of her brother Sajid’s movies where such moments abound (Sajid also plays a cameo incidentally). The Vishal Dadlani-Anurag Kashyap sequence is SRK’s usual salaam to gays and is only mildly amusing. And in some shots, Deepika looks over-made-up.
But we loved the carefully crafted idiosyncrasies of all the principal players – like Tammy’s bag that contains incredible things (including a huge cake for emergencies!), Nandu’s penchant for puking (correctly nauseous – ha ha!) and Jag’s pathological hatred for anyone who abuses mothers.
On the assets side are also the lavishly filmed dances and the well-filmed locations (Manush Nandan), the background score (John Stewart Eduri) and above all the smart-aleck, witty, ‘rapchik’ yet intense ‘dialogues’ by Mayur Puri, which is a force that breathes life into each frame.
The performances are immaculate, as always, under Farah’s stewardship and by the chosen actors themselves. Shah Rukh Khan is back in total form, something that we found a shade compromised even in “Chennai Express.” He is intense, correctly romantic and correctly angry. Deepika Padukone has a briefer role than in her recent outings, but shines with her sincerity even in a stereotypically linear, Hindi film heroine role. Vivaan has nothing much to do.
The acting honors, otherwise, are shared by the two Iranis who essay son and mom – Boman and – in a brief but superb cameo – Daisy Irani. The former outclasses all his co-actors, the latter is awesome whenever she comes on screen. Boman aka Tammy, you may take a great bow!
Of the others, Abhishek Bachchan and Sonu Sood are extremely good in their roles, and Jackie Shroff underplays his suave villainy perfectly.
Go for the film that has been rightly released on New Year in Diwali. In commercial terms, this one’s gonna be the biggest phataka of them all.
Rating: ****
Red Chillies Entertainment presents “Happy New Year”
Produced by: GAURI KHAN
Directed by: FARAH KHAN
Written by: FARAH KHAN, MAYUR PURI & ALTHEA KAUSHAL
Music: VISHAL-SHEKHAR
Starring: SHAH RUKH KHAN, DEEPIKA PADUKONE, ABHISHEK BACHCHAN, SONU SOOD, BOMAN IRANI, JACKIE SHROFF, DAISY IRANI, VIVAAN SHAH, Sp. app.: ANUPAM KHER, MOHAN KAPOOR, DINO MOREA, PRABHUDHEVA, SARAH-JANE DIAS, MALAIKA ARORA KHAN, ANURAG KASHYAP, VISHAL DADLANI, SAJID KHAN, ANUPAM KHER & GEETA KAPOOR