Where movies like the Drishyam franchise, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and Hera Pheri managed to capture viewers’ attention, director Rohit Dhawan fails to impress with Shehzada
A still from the film
Film: Shehzada
Director: Rohit Dhawan
Actors: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Ronit Bose Roy
Rating: 2/5
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Movie buffs can pinpoint exactly where a remake is different from its source material, and whether the adaptation is better or worse than its inspiration. That is probably why, when retelling a story, a filmmaker must bring his own unique perspective. Where movies like the Drishyam franchise, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and Hera Pheri managed to capture viewers’ attention, director Rohit Dhawan fails to impress with Shehzada.
The Kartik Aaryan-starrer is the official remake of the runaway Telugu hit, Ala Vaikunthapurramulloo (2020), starring Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde. The Hindi adaptation revolves around Bantu (Aaryan) — born to Randeep Nanda (Rohit Bose Roy) and Yashu Jindal (Manisha Koirala) — but is switched at birth by Valmiki (Paresh Rawal). Jealousy drives Valmiki to switch his own Raj (Ankur Rathi) with Bantu to get an upper hand over Randeep, who soared to success after marrying business magnate Aditya Jindal’s (Sachin Khedekar) daughter.
After 25 years of being ill-treated by Valmiki, Bantu discovers the truth about his identity. In a parallel track, Samara (Kriti Sanon) — his lady love and boss — is engaged to Raj. The core plot of the two boys exchanged at birth is pushed to the sidelines due to the multiple tracks.
Comparisons with the Telugu original are inevitable, but Aaryan puts in a spirited performance. Only, he doesn’t manage to pack a punch in the action sequences. However, there is only so much he can do. Aaryan reminds us of a young Shahid Kapoor doing larger-than-life action in Phata Poster Nikhla Hero (2013). Having said that, it is not easy to overtake Allu Arjun’s swag and conviction, which turned an average script into a superhit that Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo became. While Hegde played a travel entrepreneur in the Telugu film, Sanon’s character has been altered to make her a lawyer. However, the script doesn’t even award her a single courtroom scene to justify the character. Sanon looks gorgeous on the screen, and her on-screen chemistry with Aaryan is easy on the eye. But after a point, Samara disappears from the narrative, save for a family celebration song.
Also Read: Fans of Allu Arjun hail Kartik Aaryan-starrer 'Shehzada'
Roy does a decent job of essaying the role of Randeep, and there is hope to see more of Koirala. Rawal is effective as the conniving Valmiki, though the sinisterness of the character, portrayed by Murali Sharma in the original, appears to be toned down in this adaptation. Rathi is passable as Raj Nanda, and so is Sunny Hinduja as the baddie Sarang. Khedekar reprises his character of the business magnate, with equal zest. Kunal Vijaykar as butler Cadbury and Rajpal Yadav as Inspector Yadav appear to have been cast for forceful laughs.
While Dhawan has tried to condense the two-hour-and-45 minute Telugu original into two hours and 25 minutes, he has edited out some good scenes. The romantic track of the fake son, and the boardroom meeting where Arjun dances to hit songs of other South superstars were interesting in the original. Of course, south director Trivikram’s Telugu film was not a perfect script, but Dhawan has made no attempt to improvise some of the clichéd scenes, reminiscent of the 1990s-themed masala fare. Most of the dialogues have been translated verbatim in accordance with the screenplay, resulting in rather stale fare.
Except for the peppy number, Munda sona main, kudi tu crore di, Pritam’s soundtrack is forgettable the moment you step out of the theatre. And the less said about Character dheela 2.0, the better. The composer’s recreation is not a patch on the hit song from Salman Khan’s Ready (2011).
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