Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon in a still from ‘Shehzada’ | Photo Credit: T-Series Films
a tired remake of telugu blockbuster Ala Vaikunthapremuluprince What it sets out to do: Entertain. Basically, it’s a ‘Manmohan Desai meets Davy Dhawan’ kind of masala recipe, but in the hands of director Rohit Dhawan, it tastes rather generic and ordinary.
The original Telugu film ran on an emotional premise of Trivikram Srinivas’ story, rooted in the social divisions of centuries and of course, Allu Arjun’s seductive swag. Both are in short supply here as the internal logic doesn’t hold and Rohit fails to make us suspend disbelief after half an hour. Valmiki (Paresh Rawal) swaps his newborn baby with his mentor Randeep Jindal (Ronit Roy) so that his boy can lead a luxurious life. However, things don’t go according to plan, if any, Bantu’s (Karthik Aryan) genes cannot be subdued by Valmiki’s taunts.
We can see through the regressive undertones where manufacturers favor pedigree over the nature versus nurture debate and the charioteer in the name of performance. The ribaldry and social insensitivity of the idea have been toned down, perhaps not to offend multiplex audiences, but in the process, it turns prince in a toothless animal. The rest two hours are spent predictably on the antics of a selfless boy with a golden heart, drawn from a series of pan-Indian hits of yore.
Shehzada (Hindi)
director: Rohit Dhawan
moldCast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Manisha Koirala, Paresh Rawal, Ronit Roy, Sachin Khedekar
Order: 142 minutes
Story: A middle-class man exchanges his newborn son with his master’s son so that his son can lead a luxurious life. But things don’t go according to plan when her master’s son becomes invulnerable to her taunts
Hussain Dalal’s dialogues do not pack the hard punch that we would expect from a product from the house of Dhawan. Whatever fun is in the lines has already been squeezed into the trailers. Kartik has chosen the wrong vehicle to enter the world of mass entertainer. She’s not bad, but here she is troubled by a script that expects her to leapfrog without signing the film. panchnama of his friend image. He is stuck somewhere in the past.
It could still have been saved if the skits in between were funny and the songs and dances – which were the highlight of the original and the reason for the presence of a female lead in the film – added some value to the proceedings. The music doesn’t grab our senses and Kriti is completely wasted in a sketchy role that offers her lots of legroom but little.
Ronit seems to have walked straight off a daily soap set and tries his best to inject some melodrama and dollops of grace into the proceedings, along with Manisha Koirala. However, they cannot save this prince from pointless fun.
Shehzada is currently running in cinemas