Movie review: 'Heropanti'

The script and the film are on a tumble downhill from the start and ultimately hit the rock bottom of utter nonsense and unintended hilarity

'Heropanti' 
U/A; Action/ romance
Director: Sabbir Khan
Cast: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Sandeepa Dhar

A large Jat family, headed by a Chaudhari (played by none other than Prakash Raj) has got all heckled up because one of the daughters has eloped with her boyfriend on the eve of her wedding day. The family, full of lewd, unhygienic looking men is out to kill the couple.

But the couple has a loyal friend, Babloo (Tiger Shroff), who makes sure that they are not traced. Babloo's Hero-panty gets into a bunch every time he spots Chaudhuri's other daughter (Kirti Sannon), who he has a serious crush on. A promising premise. But from this point on, the script and the film tumble downhill till they reach the rock bottom of utter nonsense and unintended hilarity. How? Let's count the ways.

The script writer (Sanjeev Dutta) and director (Sabbir Khan) are tackling a sensitive subject like honour killing and if they didn't have the wherewithal to understand the depth of the problem, the least we could expect is that they refrained from trivialising it. But no, they go ahead and justify the action of the killers by giving it an emotional twist. Manipulation, anyone? Babloo's vapid punch line 'Sabko aati nahi, meri jaati nahi' seems like a gem among other dialogues, which range from silly to ridiculously silly.

Prakash Raj, whose close-ups fill up the screen more often than they should, hams like there is no tomorrow. For the most part, this actor seems unsure as he oscillates between being the good khap (presumably, there is one in Sabbir Khan's world) and the bad khap, and his expressions go from being angry to emotional to funny. It is tiring to just watch him twitch his eyes.

Tiger Shroff makes a 'dashing' debut as he kicks, jumps and dances with much competence. But alas, as far as his acting chops are concerned, he only has one constant grin to show and that's surely not enough. The malaise of 'don't mind my lack of expressions, while I distract you with my six-pack abs' strikes again. The boy has built his body and he makes quite a show of it too, but then that's about it. Perhaps a more intelligent film would have banked on the boy's strengths, but this one didn't. The film borrows the signature tune from Tiger's dad Jackie's debut film, Hero. This, instead of adding to the film, only reminds you of how wonderful that one was, when compared to this. And it reminds you how charming Jackie still is, in spite of not sporting any six-pack abs.

Kirti Sannon does the de rigueur of weeping and pleading to be rescued and protected in this testosterone driven movie and she does a decent job of it. The real villain of this film is the relentless background music that only gets louder every minute.

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