2014 Mini-Reviews: Charisma

… and not much else. But sometimes that’s okay.

Main Tera Hero

Just like it says on the tin, folks.

Certainly this is the least interesting of the Student of the Year kids’ sophomore choices. But it’s the most fun, that’s for sure. Main Tera Hero is one of the more straightforward movies than most of the others I’ve watched this year. (Straightforward in the sense of narrative substance, not in the sense of who loves who and who was pretending to love who and who was pretending to be who because that approaches Housefull 2 levels of ridiculousness.) Varun Dhawan seems, unsurprisingly, bred to star in his father’s movies. He dances, (So much pelvic thrusting, you guys. So much.) he grins, he struts around and nails the physical comedy effortlessly. I’m not saying he’s the second coming of Govinda, but his loveable machismo is pretty damn endearing.

Varun and Ileana don’t have any particular chemistry, but they play well off each other, and I enjoyed her feigned melodrama as much as I did in Phata Poster Nikhla Hero. Nargis Fakhri is surprisingly bearable, to my shock. Her character is kind of a dip, but so is she. It all works out. The plot is both standard-issue Bollywood comedy and far more complex than I want to explain here. It’s really just a vehicle for Varun’s waggling pectorals and over the top dance sequences.

Total Siyapaa

Not actually the siyapaa (“mess”) that I was expecting from the reviews. Certainly if you are by some freak of nature immune to the considerable raw charisma of Ali Zafar, this movie would be unwatchable. (Also, I would feel very sorry for you.) It’s one of those slapstick, madcap comedies that just doesn’t really coalesce into an actual story, but that’s okay. I found it worth a one-time watch.

The story takes place over a single evening, when Asha (Yami Gautam) brings her Pakistani boyfriend Aman (Ali Zafar) home to meet her crazy Punjabi family. As you might imagine, there are many hijinks to be had. Kirron Kher is always a delight as the overdramatic filmi maa, but Anupam Kher as Asha’s father who’s struck with amnesia after being hit on the head with frozen soup is way too close to his crazy-haired character in Beta to be funny.

I was expecting more from an Ali Zafar soundtrack, but there are only a few songs and the picturization of Palat Meri Jaan in particular is completely uninspired.