Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Deepika Padukone, Piyush Mishra and others
Rating: ***
“Vaat lag gayi.” “Dimaag ka keeda.” “Duniya ko yeda banate hain.” If you thought you wouldn’t get to hear these dialogues in the ‘multiplex age’, you should watch Lafangey Parindey. It takes you back to the Hindi films of yore, to a simpler form of storytelling and characters that are real and lovable, yet capable of doing the extraordinary.
So our hero is One Shot Nandu (Neil). He’s called so because he can knock a guy out with a single punch — even when he’s blindfolded — making his opponent fly several feet in the air before hitting the ground. Our heroine, Pinky Palkar (Padukone), is blind. But you can bet on her to dance like a dream.
Watching Lafangey Parindey requires you to stop questioning what’s happening on screen after a point. But then, our films are a lot more enjoyable when seen with some suspension of disbelief. Especially, when they are packaged as well as this film is.
Nandu and Pinky are residents of Tilakwadi. Nandu fights for money, and aspires to be like Anna — Kay Kay Menon in a short but important role — who is the right-hand mank of Usmanbhai (Mishra). Nandu and Anna are sent out on an ‘assignment’ in which Anna gets killed, and Nandu knocks over someone while escaping in the car.
The person he knocks over is none other than Pinky, who lives in the same locality as him. Pinky, a skate-dancer aspiring to win a competition — India’s Got Talent — is rendered blind due to the accident. Nandu, guilt-ridden, takes it upon himself to help Pinky win the tournament in spite of her disability.
There is a parallel track of a police officer investigating the incident in which Anna gets killed and since Nandu was the one present with Anna on the day he died, the cops close in on him in their bid to get Usmanbhai.
There is a lot happening in the film. There is the track of Nandu feeling responsible for Pinky’s blindness and wanting to do something for her, there is the one about Usmanbhai, then the love story between Nandu and Pinky, and finally the dance competition itself. But all of these have been woven into a seamless screenplay by Gopi Puthran that helps the story progress effortlessly and keeps you hooked.
The dialogues, by Puthran, are entertaining. Recently, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai gave you a taste of dialoguebaazi after a long time, and this movie takes that forward. And while they have a tapori element to them – which will be lapped up by the masses – the film has a certain kind of sophistication as well, which makes the wordplay palatable to all.
After a long time, you see a film that has drama, comedy, action, romance, emotions and songs, and that makes Lafangey Parindey a complete package – paisa vasool, if you may. And such a film comes with its drawbacks.
Nandu, bloody and battered in each fight, looks fresh like a daisy right after every time, and Pinky’s recovery from a girl who has been in a life-changing accident to a confident achiever is a bit too hurried. The cop’s turnaround in the end seems a little too convenient as well. And was it so important to make Juhi Chawla, Shiamak Davar and Jaaved Jaafery , act that fake as judges of the dance competition?
But the film’s plusses are definitely greater than its shortcomings. For director Pradeep Sarkar, Lafangey Parindey is a sort of a reply to critics who ripped apart his last film, Laaga Chunari Main Daag. Here, he displays a sensitivity you got to see in Parineeta and he shows that he can shift genres while keeping a firm hold on the medium.
With writer Puthran, Sarkar has dished out the kind of film that cuts across age and class barriers and can be enjoyed by all. The music by newcomer R Anandh may seem mediocre otherwise, but the songs are very enjoyable when seen in the context of the film.
Sarkar deserves credit for extracting great performances from the cast, too. As is the tradition in his films – both Parineeta and Laaga Chunari… were woman-oriented – Deepika gets the author-backed role and doesn’t disappoint. She brings a certain sense of innocence to Pinky Palkar, who is a firebrand otherwise. She doesn’t want you to sympathise with her blindness, and you don’t. The scene where she’s getting used to her disability, only to reach home and call out to her ‘Aai’ in sheer desperation, works due to the heartwarming presentation and Padukone’s portrayal of the girl’s helplessness.
Neil Mukesh’s seems to be an inspired bit of casting. He is supposed to look tough, emote less, look awkward while dancing and generally be wooden in his appearance. Irrespective of whether it’s deliberate or just something that comes naturally to him, Neil fits the character of Nandu to the ‘T’. Piyush Mishra as Usmanbhai and Manish Chaudhary as the cop are both high-calibre actors and display that in their performances. The supporting cast of Namit Das, Viraj Adhav, Vinay Sharma and Palomi all contribute beautifully to the film.
Lafangey Parindey is more conventional than groundbreaking, but highly watchable nonetheless. In these times of ‘propah’ characters and experimental filmmaking, it reminds you of a time when films were made purely to entertain. Watch it to enjoy the old-world charm of the masala Hindi film.