The glimpses of a clumsy murder mystery or crime thriller were right there in the trailer but MALANG strangely turns out to be not even that almost ruining its potential premises.
Beginning like a taut ‘who-dun-it’ thriller (with a well shot sequence), it surprisingly wastes the entire first half in its unconvincing romance and average songs focusing on the cinematography, locations, costumes and style, before delivering something interesting (post interval) trying the damage control. In fact, the final 40 minutes of the film make you wonder that didn’t anyone tell the makers that there was almost nothing in the first half of their film projected as a chilling suspense crime thriller?
As a director, Mohit Suri has always made films remaining in the dark zone with many negative characters taking the limelight. The same continues in MALANG too but this time they don’t turn out to be that engaging or entertaining, failing to create the tension required in a crime thriller. The twists in the script don’t give you a shock and nothing brings you on to the edge of your seat giving you the return of your money spent. The only merit in the direction remains the pace of the film wherein something keeps happening after the initial dull moments focusing on the songs and romance.
Malang also becomes a disappointment as the exciting cast fails to bring in any novelty in their portrayal with Aditya Roy Kapur being more interested in style, showcasing his well-toned body and more importantly, Anil Kapoor largely remaining wasted trying hard to bring in some humour quotient in the otherwise dull narrative. To be fair, only Kunal Khemu gives you something to watch as a performance (like an ever-dependable actor) and the hot Disha Patani expectedly keeps brightening up the screen with her eye-candy presence at intervals keeping you hooked on to the visuals. Among the songs only the title song serves the purpose with a catchy phrase along a routine kind of dramatic background score.
If truth be told then MALANG seems to be the case when the writer-director couldn’t find a foreign film to take their inspiration from and thus made one, mixing many similar Hindi films (of his own) with quite a few sequences giving you the feeling of Deja-Vu. Yes, at times that kind of "Khichdi" also turns out to be delicious, but this Mohit Suri dish is almost tasteless not worth trying on the big screen. So, you can try if you wish for Kunal and Disha in particular only when it releases at the online portals.
Rating : 2 / 5
Tags :
Malang Review by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, New Hindi Films Reviews by Bobby Sing, New Bollywood Movies Reviews by Bobby Sing
