Many a times while watching a Hindi remake of our own Indian Regional language films, we are forced to think that why the hell this film was made and what was so good in its original that it was chosen to be remade?
UJDA CHAMAN is exactly that kind of a poorly conceived film, which is an official remake of the much appreciated 2017 Kannada film ONDU MOTTEYA KATHE meaning ‘Story of An Egghead’. The original is a light hearted, entertaining as well as a thought provoking, off-beat film directed by Raj B. Shetty, who has also played the lead role of a bald person looking for a girl to get married at the earliest. The film makes us think about the questionable social practice wherein we usually judge the other person more by the way he looks than anything else.
However, perhaps due to the pressure of it being his debut attempt, director Abhishek Pathak simply turns the thoughtful Kannada film into a crude, typical comedy making a desperate attempt to woo the Hindi audience. And in the process, he uses the repetitive Delhi middle class Punjabi family backdrop with all loud, over the top characters entirely ruining the basic premise of the original, which is not even funny for most of its duration.
The lead character enacted by Sunny Singh actually looks like a lost but creepy personality, who fails to establish any favourable connect with the viewers and the same is the case with his family members. Sunny tries hard but the forced writing never lets him emotionally impress and thus the entire theme of the film falls flat.
Thankfully the one saving grace of UJDA CHAMAN happens to be Maanvi Gagroo, playing the overweight girl, who is a complete natural providing some fairly entertaining scenes in the second half.
In all, with a lacklustre execution, screechy background score, forgettable music and confused vision, UJDA CHAMAN isn’t the film or a remake, it should have been with a significant social message for all age groups.
The film doesn’t work but the bigger damage it does is to not inspire its viewers to watch it’s drastically different and outstanding original made with a path breaking vision. So, if you really liked the subject then do watch the actual Kannada film ONDU MOTTEYA KATHE with English subtitles, available at Netflix, Youtube and Google Play for a fees (at the time of writing this piece).
Rating : 1.5 / 5
For friends interested in reading, below is the link of ONDU MOTTEYA KATHE (Kannada) review at BTC.
https://www.bobbytalkscinema.com/recentpost/ONDU-MOTTEYA-KATHE-Kannada20-2166
