Official adaptation of a novel with the same title penned by Anuja Chauhan, it would be really interesting to know that how and why the makers even thought of converting the novel into a film with such a ‘non-film’ content matter. May be they had got the stars, their dates and desperately needed a story/script which they found instantly available as a book called THE ZOYA FACTOR. The story had cricket, fantasy and two lead roles, which perfectly suited the requirement and hence the film was made without giving it a second thought.
A mix of fantasy and reality is an interesting concept or genre, but it does well when it doesn’t lead to something bizarre making fun of the real life situations or characters in an outrageously ridiculous style. Unfortunately THE ZOYA FACTOR doesn’t take care of this important factor in its execution and presents the game of Cricket and its national players both on and off the ground in an absurdly silly manner.
In 2007 a similar genre film revolving around an early teenager and his magic bat was made titled CHAIN KULLI KI MAIN KULLI. It was highly inspired from an English film LIKE MIKE (2002) and was more like a children’s sports film with the elements of both fantasy and comedy revolving around the kid and his entry into the Indian Cricket team. The film wasn’t successful at the box office but it at least was well aware of its specific genre, subject and target audience.
However in the case of THE ZOYA FACTOR, the way it portrays cricket on the field, the team, the committee members and their interaction with ‘the lucky girl’ – it seems the makers were not really aware or didn’t even care about their target audience. So it’s like a film had to be made as a quick project and it got made on an easily available storyline in the given time frame.
This most probably seems to be the case, as the end product neither has any appealing content (including music) for the youngsters nor the grown up fans of the game, made with a vague approach. It’s neither a black comedy nor a white and doesn’t have any entertaining narration too pointing towards the menace of superstition. Moreover the romance also falls flat due to several clichés thrown in missing the novelty factor.
Coming to performance, Sonam Kapoor is just there repeating what she has been doing in her earlier films and Sanjay Kapoor, Sikander Kher, Angad Bedi, Manu Rishi and more remain unable to rise above the casually written script. Directed by Abhishek Sharma, THE ZOYA FACTOR begins as a fresh breeze but loses all its beauty and charm as soon as the focus shifts to the game.
However, only one man still successfully manages to keep you connected and he is Dulquer Salmaan, who is the solo reason the film can be watched once, but only on the online portals and that too when you have nothing else to do. In fact this is one of those films that deserved a straight online release instead of troubling the exhibitors.
Rating : 1.5 / 5
Tags :
The Zoya Factor Review by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, New Hindi Films Reviews by Bobby Sing, New Bollywood Movies Reviews by Bobby Sing, Hindi Films Based on Novels, Hindi Films based on Indian English Novels, Films Inspired from Books
