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Movie Review: How khoobsurat is Sonam and Fawad’s fairytale ‘Khoobsurat’ ?

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Remake of legendary Hindi classics is tough, for the times have changed and so has the audience. Further, the makers reel under the pressure of maintaining the magic of the original movie if not doing it better.

The 1980’s movie Khoobsurat, being filmed by veteran director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, dialogues being written by Gulzar and Rekha being the female protagonist must have been altogether a tough job to reproduce in a remake for a few movies old director Shashanka Ghosh.

diva
With remakes and loosely inspired movies, comparisons generally happen. ‘Sonam v/s Rekha’.

The Plot

Sonam Kapoor plays the character of a modern day physiotherapist, Dr. Mrinalini Chakravarty (Mili) working with the KKR IPL team when she gets to know about her next assignment which is to treat an old royal Maharaja Shekhar Rathore of some distant place in Rajasthan. As Mili reaches the palace, she is mesmerized by the royalty and exquisite beauty of the place although being super clumsy as she is, she finds herself completely out of place in a strict disciplined atmosphere of the house.

The Maharaja who survived an accident a decade ago has lost the ability to walk and desire to live. Hence, the entire business is handled by Yuvraj Vikram Rathote (Fawad Khan). Meanwhile, Rani Nirmala Devi (Ratna Pathak Shah) is the in-charge of upkeep and  maintenance the decorum of the house.

What follows is Mili’s quest to instill the strength back into the Maharaja facing challenges of a dis-interested patient, strict disapproving Rani Sa and a cute prince charming Vikoo betrothed to Kiara (Aditi Rao hydari) already.

The Positives

  • Sonam Kapoor has come out of the ‘pretty face’ image she was accused of taking an advantage of in her earlier works and has delivered a powerful performance. Her eyes do all the talking, and her care-free attitude clumsiness and innocence is loved on screen. The way she calls her mother by her name ‘Manju‘ through out, is quite cool.
  • The debutante Fawad Khan is a promising new face. The chemistry of Fawad and Sonam is sizzling, watching them together on screen is a visual treat.
  • The movie’s strength lies in the female stars who’ve added life to the movie being Kirron Kher (Manju,Mili’s mother) and Ratna Pathak Shah. Kirron Kher is all about a loud mouthed Punjabi mother with an amazing comic timing and some very funny Punjabi dialouges. Ratna Shah plays her role of a haughty, disciplined and classy queen with utmost elegance. Had it not been for these two veteran actresses, the movie would’ve lacked the humor well appreciated.
Manju
Kirron Kher playing ‘Manju’ skyping her daughter Mili (Sonam) in a funny still from Khoobsurat.
  • The story line is well conceived and told in a way that’s completely believable. The love hate relationship of the main duo is picturized well with appropriate camera work and right frames.

The Neutrals

  • The music of the movie is very catchy. Songs like ‘Naina’ are being loved and ‘Engine ki Seeti’ and ‘Meri Maa ka Phone aaya’ have already been atop all chart-busters lists. Even the number ‘Abhi to Party shuru hui hai’ composed by Badshah is being liked, but the music would go stale soon.

The Negatives

  • The movie offers little space to Fawad Khan who plays a grim prince at first and confused lover later, the actor has much more potential (evident from his role in Zindagi Gulzaar Hai) which the movie plainly fails to explore.
  • The movie has some weak areas that could’ve been worked upon to make them more humorous. The face off between the mothers and Mili’s kidnapping scene are few examples in this regard.
  • There’s an overload of clumsiness in Sonam who crashes into every possible pole, overload of similar dressing styles (particularly Fawad’s character) and an overload of accents (calling names such as ‘Mounjoo’ and ‘Prawteek’)

The ‘Khoobsurat’ Message

Khoobsurat quietly gives out  a khoobsurat message to live life the way you want to, not changing yourself according to anyone around. It also suggests to let go of the past and embrace what is to come with open arms and heart leaving no regrets for future.

The ‘Khoobsurat’ Fact

The character of matriarch Nirmala Devi which is played by Ratna Pathak Shah in the movie of 2014, was played by Ratna’s mother Dina Pathak in the original movie back then in 1980.

The Official trailer of Disney’s Khoobsurat 2014.

Mridul Sharma is a final year B.Com (Honors) aspirant from DCAC, a patron of meaningful cinema and good soft music and has deep love for writing. He is more of a poet, feels whatever he writes and writes to understand what he feels, a little better. Currently, the Associate Web Editor at DU Beat, he is looking forward to his final year and can be contacted at [email protected]

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