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	Releasing On - 26-04-2024

   Shahid Kapoor bursts through a giant poster of Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahaani. He flies into the scene. He bashes up a gang of goons. And he doesn’t even break into a sweat. Over the top and completely ridiculous is Phata Poster Nikhla Hero (PPNH). Nothing wrong in having a film that’s not too serious. But even parodies need a story. It doesn’t help when the story runs its course in 20 minutes. The film though stretches its premise with many a gag to two-and-a-half hours. The songs jump into the narrative like special appearances. And Rajkumar Santoshi, it seems, has made a film for an audience that’s incapable of maintaining any kind of focus.

  Unless you have zero attention span, you can’t miss the gross disconnect between what Shahid Kapoor does in PPNH and what his director is trying to do. The lead man sees a chance to impress a section of viewers who enjoy air-borne action and campy humour. So he throws the kitchen sink in his attempt to be comic. And he dances like a dream. He fights just as good too. He’s the sole reason you can sit through this movie. But Santoshi, on the other hand, can’t seem to move out of the Andaz Apna Apna (AAA) template. AAA was a classic. We all know it. But how many times can the same gags makes us laugh? Irony is Salman Khan makes a special appearance in PPNH. A few seconds of his improvised humour are far more amusing than the entire film.

   The film beautifully deals with despair, loneliness and unrequited love. The Lunchbox is also an ode to Mumbai. You catch glimpses of the jam-packed local trains, the over-crowded busses and the busy roads. It shows you how delicate relationships and bonds are formed amidst the hustle bustle of the city so well known to us. The films also makes you nostalgic. The characters of the film ache for Doordarshan’s Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and sing songs from Saajan.

   Shahid Kapoor plays Vishwas who dreams of being a movie hero. But his mother wants him to be a police officer. Vishwas gets an interview call from the Mumbai police. But when he arrives in Mumbai he dedicates all his energies to becoming an actor. The premise could have been explored with so many more possibilities. But that doesn’t happen. The story is relegated to ’70s style lost and found theme. And by the end the hero, heroine, bad guys and extras are all out to save the world from a terrorist attack. You can’t update 40-year-old filmmaking formulas by adding a modern bio-weapon terrorism plot.

   The highlight of the first half of PPNH is the chemistry between Shahid and Ileana D’Cruz. Here you have two good-looking actors complimenting each other perfectly. Their comic timing together is impeccable. But there’s nothing for them to do beyond the frivolous comedy of errors. The sentimental mother and the ‘I’ll do my own thing’ son track between Padmini Kolhapure and Shahid doesn’t work either. PPNH could have been funny. Shahid gives physical comedy and high-flying action his best shot. But at the end this movie just seems like a sorry rehash of what the director has done before.