Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma
Director: Sayed Ahmad Afzal
Rating: ****
Filmmaker Sayed Ahmad Afzal's debut film Youngistaan is a love story with Indian politics as the backdrop. Abhimanyu Kaul (Jackky Bhagnani) lives in Japan with his girlfriend Anvita (Neha Sharma) and makes video games for a living.
Soon life takes a drastic turn and you see Abhimanyu sitting by his father's side in an ICU, his father (played by Boman Irani) happens to be the Prime Minister of India. After his demise Abhimanyu is the next best choice of the party to run the country. Everything seems too far fetched but done in a smooth way which doesn't kill the pace of the film and nor makes it boring.
Abhimanyu becomes the youngest Prime Minister and implements most policies keeping the young voters in mind. But what he finds tough is to handle the media coverage of his live-in relationship with his partner. He is labelled by the media as the 'Good Boy Prime Minister'. Anvita is mostly seen throwing tantrums as she now can't live a normal life. Some scenes are actually funny like the one when she and Abhimanyu, the Prime Minister of India are having kulfi in the middle of the night on the streets of Delhi. What's hard to believe is how someone with no experience in politics is the chosen one for the most important jobs in the country.
It's a light hearted film that's not to be taken too seriously and that's the only way one can enjoy this. Since many enjoyed the 2001 film Nayak starring Anil Kapoor where he becomes the Chief Minister of a state for one day and brings in drastic changes then this doesn't look impossible.
This is one of Jackky Bhagnani's best performances so far. The female lead actress Neha Sharma however is not convincing. Best performance is by the veteran actor Farooq Shaikh who passed away after shooting Youngistaan. He plays the secretary to the Prime Minister and is the most comfortable out of all the cast members.
The production quality of Youngistaan is great and that's one of the biggest aspects in making Youngistaan watchable. Bhatt's favourite Jeet Ganguly and some other music directors have given some melodious tracks that definately add value.
The target audience of Youngistaan is the youth and for them this will be an enjoyable ride.