Malayalam cinema is not the identical as Telugu or Tamil, however Bollywood’s blanket strategy fails to see the excellence in Selfiee, observes Sukanya Verma.
The final time Akshay Kumar appeared on display screen, he performed a film star telling his colleague-on-the-run to confess to his crime after unintentionally bumping off a sort-of fan on the street.
In his newest too, he performs a film star, solely this time he is on the receiving finish of his primary fan’s wrath over a driving license.
The disaster in Selfiee is infinitely smaller in scale, however the media circus it offers rise to resembles the spoofy outcry in An Motion Hero.
As telling that’s in regards to the state of affairs, on the centre of Selfiee‘s fracas is the age-old bond between movie of us and their followers the place the latter’s solely nightmare is their idol turning out nothing like they dream, a situation captured in Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan.
Director Raj Mehta’s Hindi remake of Driving License, Lal Jr’s Malayalam hit penned by the late Sachy, chronicles a no-nonsense celebrity and motorized vehicle inspector clashing over delight and allow.
Malayalam cinema is not the identical as Telugu or Tamil, however Bollywood’s blanket strategy fails to see the excellence.
The place Sachy’s narrative nuances and main man Prithviraj’s superlative complexity elevated its storm in a teacup premise right into a plausible tussle of privilege and entitlement, Selfiee‘s have to increase on an already overstated discord solely highlights the slightness of the issue somewhat than give a glimpse into human fallacy.
Over mat kar, Akshay Kumar scoffs at a man in the direction of the top of the film, which begins with him giving just a little dedication speech to his followers.
The actor’s politics of earnestness — an image-conscious superstar identified to make information for paying the very best revenue tax within the nation, apologising after endorsing dangerous tobacco, selling menstrual hygiene to Nandu and the world, magnanimously agreeing to take solely three fourth area in a film full of girls or saying his determination to surrender his Canadian passport proper earlier than the discharge of Selfiee — makes him tailor made for the half.
Selfiee performs to his self-aggrandiSing imagery and, in contrast to the unique, is a tad sympathetic in the direction of his fan as properly.
In Driving License, the frequent man is made to eat a humble pie at each juncture.
Right here, he will get a second or two of herogiri in Emraan HashmI’s good aleck pores and skin. For all his zeal, Hashmi strikes a bit uppity for the half and can’t fairly pull off a ‘bechara‘.
One other essential change is the celebrity’s predicament.
Within the authentic, Prithviraj’s irritation stems from his private issues and frustration of not with the ability to accompany his spouse overseas for medical therapy. Within the remake, the hero is way much less rankled, his spouse match as a fiddle.
And so, a lot ado about nothing begins when Bollywood star Vijay Kumar (Akshay) arrives in Bhopal for a shoot.
Owing to a bureaucratic glitch, his driving license is not in place, which he urgently requires for filming a automobile sequence and saving the panic-struck producer of his over finances challenge earlier than flying off to the US together with his spouse (Diana Penty, her emerald diamond ring is all that caught my eye) and welcome their child out of surrogacy (Raj Mehta’s superficial preoccupation with fertility continues after Good Newwz, which handled IVF being pregnant).
Hiring a stunt double would have saved him from a world of hassle, however the place’s the enjoyable in that?
Enter his greatest fan and RTO inspector Om Prakash Aggarwal (Hashmi).
Each Om and his school-going son are Vijay’s greatest admirers and seize the primary alternative to fulfill their favorite and expedite his paperwork. However a foolish misunderstanding will get of their method ensuing in a battle of egos.
Fuelling this battle for silly motives is Om’s spouse’s favorite (a spunky however underused Nushrratt Bharuccha), a pale, ageing actor (a droll Abhimanyu Singh) whose tacky comedy observe is forcibly linked into the central plot. Ditto for the bumbling native politician (Meghna Malik) attempting to realize mileage out of Vijay Kumar’s star presence in her jurisdiction.
If in any respect there are any real comedian moments, they contain Akshay and his fidgety, flashy producer Akashdeep whose important different Sheeba performed the Khiladi‘s heroine in his third launch, Mr Bond, which launched in 1992, the identical yr two of the actors Akshay prances round in Selfiee — Adah Sharma and Mrunal Thakur — have been born.
However the Bollywood hero neither ages nor does any incorrect.
He’ll cross all of the assessments.
He’ll reply all questions.
He’ll win over his followers.
He’ll win over his foes.
He’ll have the final phrase.
He’ll even romance a heroine half his age, however she’ll be the one with points starting from flatulence to fertility.
Pose subsequent to him at your individual peril and you will quickly discover out the hero you need is just not at all times the hero you want.
Selfiee Assessment Rediff Ranking:
