A review of a new Punjabi film is here at BTC as this thankfully rises above the level of an average family comic drama, offering you a fairly enjoyable time and a praiseworthy lead performance in return of your ticket bought.
So even though the film hasn’t got any great stroyline or an outstanding execution, it still works as the director Manav Shah, the dialogue writer and the lead actress together have done some effective hard work on their key character that turns out to be exceptionally great, resulting in an entertaining film.
This one immensely likable, stand-out character has been brilliantly played by Sonam Bajwa and she is outstanding in her portrayal getting both the body language as well as the much required local accent quite well. The accent first looks like forced but then you don’t mind the effort being made as the character grows on you successfully making the desired impact. To be fair, Sonam single handedly lifts up an otherwise average film, which keeps struggling at times without her presence in many important sequences throughout.
Thankfully for a change here we do not have a Punjabi Jatt but a Jatti ruling the screen moving away from the typical characters Punjabi cinema heavily relies upon. Stumbling in the beginning, the film gets on track once Sonam as Babbu Bains enters the screen and from their onwards one keeps looking out for her in each and every scene expecting more fireworks.
Giving you the actual picture, ARDAB MUTIYARAN also seems to be a film written in a short time joining various plots taken from several other films missing the now almost extinct ‘emotional depth’. Along with the ‘must have’ songs and routine background score, it features a few over the top acts too, but the end product still manages to keep you entertained mainly because of Sonam killing it as the ‘female loan recovery agent’ and a decent support coming from B. N. Sharma, Sudesh Lehri, Upasana Singh, Ninja, Mehrene Kaur and Ajay Sarkaria in his debut.
Becoming the most famous, successful and in-demand actress of Punjabi Cinema, Sonam is the new-age girl who very well knows how to carry and use her glamorous persona both on and off the screen creating more fans. And she is also the one who actually deserves a break into the mainstream Hindi cinema more than anyone else.
Coming back to the writing, Punjabi film writers keep writing under a heavy influence and awe of Hindi Cinema and they continue to do so very cleverly in ARDAB MUTIYARAN too. This time their inspiration of the characterization seems to be Rekha in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s KHOOBSOORAT but the major inspiration comes from Vijay Sadanah’s SAU DIN SAAS KE (both films from 1980).
Hence if you are true movie buff and a writer too, then watch all the three movies to get how a clever and likable mish-mash is done rehashing the old stuff.
Having said that, since the film belongs to Sonam Bajwa, so the review should also end with a strong mention of her, who visibly saves the film from becoming another average attempt. Interestingly, the last Punjabi film review at BTC was also of Sonam's GUDDIYAN PATOLE (doing a somewhat similar role) and the jinx gets broken by another film of her after months.
Rating : 3 / 5
