“Pagalpanti” Review: “Falls Short Of High Expectations”

Pagalpanti boasts of an ensemble star cast which includes John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Pulkit Samrat, Ileana D’Cruz and Kriti Kharbanda. It is an out-and-out comedy entertainer, so it is advisable that you keep your brain and logic at home before heading off to watch the movie in theatre. STARBIZ reviewer watched the film a couple of hours ago and this is what he likes and disliked about it.

Story: Raj Kishore (John Abraham) is an unlucky man. Fortune never favours him. Destruction follows whenever he goes. In London, Raj befriends Junky (Arshad Warsi) and Chandu (Pulkit Samrat) and the trio tries their hands in various business ventures. However, as ill luck would have it, none of their businesses works. In the process of making money, they end up damaging the prized possession of a gangsters’ family. Gangsters Raja (Saurabh Shukla) and WiFi Bhai (Anil Kapoor) hire three of them in a bid to recover their damages, oblivious to the fact that more destruction is in store for them. What happens next forms the crux of the story.

Critical Analysis: Pagalpanti is a slapstick comedy which lacks logic. But the main problem is not its illogical, brainless storyline. What is more problematic is the fact that nothing is coherent here, from screenplay, to dialogues to the entire narrative. It seems like that the writers have pieced together some lame jokes to extract laughter from the audience, which does work at times but not always.

Writer-director Anees Bazmee is known to have directed more than half a dozen blockbuster comic-capers over the years. Some of his memorable films include No Entry (2005), Welcome (2007), Singh Is King (2008) and Mubarkan (2017), but unfortunately, Pagalpanti will not find a place in this list. It could have been a far better film had some extra hard work put into writing.

Coming to performances, John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Arshad Warsi and Pulkit Samrat do justice to their characters. They get some terrific dialogues and one-liners to make you laugh, and look thoroughly convincing in their parts. As far as Ileana D’Cruz, Kriti Kharbanda and Urvashi Rautela are concerned, they are reduced to looking pretty and do not get good lines to leave an impact. Only God knows why actresses do not get good comic roles in Bollywood!

Final Verdict: Though Pagalpanti is a masala film, the humour here is not very palatable. The film might do well in single screens than multiplexes. If you can sit through an incoherent comedy film, you can give it a try. I am going with 2.5 stars.

Movie Credits

Banner: T-Series Films, Panorama Studios
Director: Anees Bazmee
Cast: John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Pulkit Samrat, Ileana D’Cruz, Kriti Kharbanda
Runtime: 149 Minutes
STARBIZ Rating: 2.5 Stars

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