Watching this latest launching pad for another star son, presented as a youthful love saga, I strongly felt that perhaps we are now into a completely different era which is far away of those eternal love stories of the past. The emotional depth found in the adorable romance between the lead pairs of that golden era is lost somewhere in the materialistic development around and today a love story has to be served like a complete entertainment package, forcing everything into the script ranging from action, songs, dance & drama to six packs, naval shows and hurriedly edited sequences with more than one sub plots.
Another remake of another South Hit PARUGU (Telugu-2008), HEROPANTI has been made with slight changes suiting the Hindi belt. But it actually walks on exactly the same pattern followed by South cinema, in which they mix more than 2-3 interesting subplots into one script and have a separate focus planned for both before and after the interval, intelligently. So in here too the couple actually meets just before the intermission and its probably the first Hindi love story in which the wooing act commences in the second half.
Beginning with a typical marriage sequence and many clichéd insertions later, it simply reminds you of few recent films like CHENNAI EXPRESS, SON OF SARDAR, RANGREZZ and more. The hero's gang of friends starts overacting from their first scene itself and one doesn't get impressed much till we have an well executed chase & escape, action sequence towards the mid. Despite having few weird scenes, the film actually makes a greater impact post interval with an emotional climax again reminding you of DDLJ along with a lengthy duration which could have been shortened by at least 12-15 minutes.
To put it straight, HEROPANTI is purely made keeping in mind the non- stop entertainment more suitable for single screens or smaller centers and has enough action & drama for that particular target audience. Hence it cannot be treated as an awfully made film, delivering nothing. However it's the writing which remains uneven throughout offering some really strange sequences as well as dialogues. For instance, it seems really silly to repeat the word HEROPANTI every 5-10 minutes by various artists in its initial hour. Prakash Raj coming on to the road with a bottle as a drunkard didn't really suit his own persona. A party song comes from no-where in the film all of a sudden and a particular dialogue truly left me confused saying,
"Jo Dost Kameeney Nahin Hotey, Wo Kameenay Dost Nahi Hotey!!!!!!"
Also another verse in the song "Rabba" really forced me to look into the lyrics writer's name i.e. Kausar Munir and he writes,
"Chakhna Bhi Chahun, Rakhna Bhi Chahun, Sabse Chhupa Ke Ussey!!!!!!" And that is supposed to be a love song
.really!
Musically, HEROPANTI does have some peppy tracks like "Raat Bhar" & "Whistle Baja" with the famous signature tune from Subhash Ghai's HERO featuring Tiger's father Jackie Shroff, fondly called as Jackie Dada. Moreover the encouraging part is that here we don't have a 5-6 songs thrown in every 12-15 minutes into the film as per the routine. The cinematography captures the action sequences and landscapes superbly. Plus the background score manages to build up the energy level to a large extent.
In the performance section, Tiger Shroff confidently displays his well learned skills in Gymnastics & Martial Arts and makes a decent impact. He puts up a notable show as an actions hero for sure but remains average only in the acting department frankly. Having said that he is certainly not an extremely poor actor as was being predicted and made fun of in the social networking sites before the release. Still, his chocolate (girly) looks, not suitable for variety of roles, are sure to prove as a big limitation in his career without any doubt. Also I would not be able to call Tiger's dare devil stunts as something first of its kind on the screen, since just last year we saw Vidyut Jammal coming up with a much better stuff in his COMMANDO (2013). But since he is not any star-son with a solid backing, so many would not even recall his name & the film unfortunately.
Kriti, who has earlier worked in a Telugu hit looks really gorgeous and plays her given role with an extreme ease as well as confidence. With a highly likable screen presence, she is sure to win many hearts post HEROPANTI and also would be the one who will get the maximum benefit from the film in the coming months. Sandeepa Dhar is fine as Kriti's elder sister (who also strangely vanishes towards the end) and the supporting cast has some mixed performers ranging from bad to average.
Coming to the other big name in the film, Prakash Raj, the seasoned actor once again delivers a 'seen before' yet thoughtful performance of a father who is confused from the rebellious choices made by his two daughters repeatedly. Though this particular section of the movie (the last 15 minutes) could have become its major highlight, if handled more sensitively, yet I loved the important question raised by a caring father of a girl to her chosen boy as, "What exceptional qualities she sees in you which I am unable to see or find?"
Summing up, no doubt HEROPANTI is just another average package of entertainment in a pure South style with all routine stuff. Still, it remains one step ahead than many careless entertainers such as R
RAJKUMAR. To give you a clear indication we earlier used to make HERO and now it has all gone down to HEROPANTI.
