Film: Shaandaar
Cast: Shahid
Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Sanah Kapoor, Sushma Seth, Pankaj Kapur, Niki Aneja Walia, Sanjay Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh
Director: Vikas Bahl
It’s impossible to believe that the director who gave us Queen could come up with the utter disappointment and trite that is Shaandaar. Vikas Bahl seems to have this entirely misguided idea that he has his finger on the pulse of the millenial, and in an attempt to speak to them, has created the worst wedding film of the year/decade.
The movie begins with a shoddily done animated bit that introduces the Arora family, headed by who is meant to be an “evil” matriarch, portrayed by the poorly cast Sushma Seth. The Arora family also includes three sons, the oldest of whom is Vipin Arora (Pankaj Kapoor), stuck in a loveless marriage with Geetu (Niki Walia). He has two daughters Isha (Sanah Kapoor) and Alia (Alia Bhatt), who we find out is an adopted orphan. The elder one is getting married, and this upcoming wedding is constantly referred to as the “business deal” that will supposedly get the Arora family out of bankruptcy. This provides the setting for the younger sibling to fall in love with the wedding manager Jagjinder Joginder, played by Shahid Kapoor.
The undoing of the film lies in the lack of focus of the script. While Bahl seems to want to talk about a bunch of issues, ranging from body image, to the frivolous lifestyles of the business class gentry, to unrequited love, to the father-daughter bond; all of it gets lost on the ridiculously lavish set that he’s mounted for no reason, apart from the fact that he got a bunch of people to throw money at this ill-advised project.
The mains star cast bounce off each other’s energy quite well. Sanah Kapoor, in her debut performance, more than sparkles and gives some grounding to an otherwise superfluous film. Alia and Shahid make for a bearable pair. They also thought it would be a good idea to turn Alia into a book-loving insomniac who spouts random facts on cue, harking back to her AIB Genius of the Year stint, which only ends up turning her into an ironic caricature. All in all, the film is only but a shaandaar let down.