(and that’s putting it politely)
Move, groove, wear a bandana, not to worry about your khaana peena, just keep on with the New Age eena meena dikka. Not enough. Truly, if any human being – who’s remotely like Munna boy exists, I’ll eat my hat.
Ding dong, don’t get me wrong though. I’m not asking for a sliver of reality in the Everyday Night Fever on garish display in Munna Michael, directed by Sabbir Khan as if he was tackling a TV dance reality show clocking in at two-hour-20-minute (minus interval and those toothpaste ads) . All I’m pleading, sincerely, is that director saab, don’t treat us – the paying public – like dumbos. We all love cool and compelling dance-cum-maara-maari megathons at the ‘plexes, but this one takes the cake and bakes and how.
Sabbir Khan saab, latch on to a plot – peppered with danceroo interludes – which arouses an iota of interest at least. Here the choreographers, set designers, an armada of music composers and stunt specialists seem to be doing all the work. What was the helmer’s contribution, truly? Filling in the blanks? Come on, a project, any project especially a hyper-commercial one, requires a think tank. The screenplay, if there was one for MM, appears to have been written on a thumb nail. Wail.
Tiger Shroff In Munna Michael
Okay, so the story (heh heh) is attached to an orphan who’s adopted by a down-at-heel chorus dancer (Ronit Roy). The foster dad’s located in the Teen Batti mohalla ( on Malabar Hill, no less) which incidentally happens to be an in-house reference to Jackie Shroff’s humble beginnings in a chawl room above a koyla shop. Waah waah, whatevaah.
Right, so apna Munna boy (Tiger Shroff) is cashews and pistachios about Michael Jackson. Who isn’t? Believe it or not even composer Himesh Reshammiya is or was and had set out to cast himself in a thriller as a Jacko-fan investigating the mysterious death of the pop legend. Count your blessings: Reshammiya’s probe into the tragic end of Jackson sir evaporated into thin air. Poof. Uff, alas and lack, this oddity of an ode to the King of Pop didn’t.
Munna boy is what the Bollywood lexicon describes as ‘bindaas’, doing his full-of –beans strut stuff on Mumbai’s meanish streets. Ring the alarm bells now. A Delhi gangster (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), instead of enrolling in Shiamak Davar’s dance classes, orders Munna beta to coach him in all the wriggle-wiggle moves in New Delhi. That means stray vistas of the India Gate, naturally.
Tiger Shroff And Nawazuddin Siddiqui In A Candid Moment In Munna Michael
The gangster, by the way, is named Mahinder Fauji. And if he has developed this woogie boogie itch, it’s because he’s head over designer heels in love with Dolly, a young woman (the curiously spelt Nidhhi Agerwal) from Meerut. Hello Dolly, indeed.
She dreams of winning the mythical Dancing Star championship and all that jazzmataaz. Hubble bubble boil and trouble ahead. Munna loves her too. Eowww, hence erupts a do-shake-rattle-and-roll-or-die situation. What to do, really?
The second-half has more hips-and-shakes than you can count on your pocket calculator. For an element of unintended hilarity, feisty Farah Khan as a boogie juror fetches up to go “Woweeee”. Zowiee is more like it, because you’re zapped out of your skull, silly.
Relentlessly overlit and bouncily edited, the outcome leaves you gasping for breath. As for the dialogue punchlines, they’re on the lines of, “Main jhagda nahin karta hai, sirf pitta hoon.” (“I don’t get into quarrels, I only beat up people.”). Whoa, take it easy policy please.
Tiger Shroff And Nidhhi Agerwal In Ding Dong Ding From Munna Michael
Of the lead players, the heavily cosmeticised Nidhhi Agerwal is just about okey-dokey. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has his ha-ha moments, but this I’m-so-evil-and-yet-so-cute act is in the imminent danger of becoming a drag.
Undeniably, Tiger Shroff can dance like a dream and execute the acrobatic feats expertly. Your heart does go out to him, since he seems to be on that fast-track of becoming stereotyped. The jury’s still out on his emotive acting abilities.
All seen and endured, two stars go out essentially for Tiger’s high energy and the choreographed set pieces. Sorry to say, but you can’t summon up enough courage to say Munna Boy Lage Raho. Predictability kills, re-invention lives.
Unsolicited suggestion: Give this yawntertainment a miss.
Image Source: youtube/erosentertainment