Poster Boys Movie Review: Bobby Deol Outshines Sunny Deol In This Partly Funny Film

What's It About:

The world turns upside down for the three male protagonists - Jaagavar Chaudhary (Sunny Deol), Vinay Sharma (Bobby Deol) and Arjun Singh (Shreyas Talpade) - when they find out that someone has illegally photo-shopped their pictures on a poster which promotes vasectomy aka nasbandi and circulated it across the whole town. From being alienated by their families to getting ostracized and made fun of by the society, these three men start a rebellion to find out who created this mess in the first place. Fighting against the government and trying to prove their innocence, the trio is confronted by problems at each juncture, but with each other by their side, they somehow manage to own up the courage to fight the battle. Will they come out successful and defeat the corrupt government? Will they gain back the trust and love of their families and dear ones? Well, that's what the story is all about.


A Still From Poster Boys

What's hot

To begin with, the basic plot of the film is hilarious to say the least. Considering how universally judgemental and myopic we Indians are - culturally and otherwise - the basic germ of the idea was too funny to even fathom that it's partially based on a true story.

Then there were some brilliant performances. Bobby Deol may be making a comeback after 4 years, but he outshines his brother Sunny Deol and Shreyas Talpade in many places. Bobby is generally known for playing rich handsome extrovert characters in thrillers, but this was something way out of his league, and the sort of transformation he has brought forward makes me wonder why is this guy seen so rarely doing comedy on-screen. Sunny does have his moments where he is shown as the toughest guy on the planet who manages to break locks, courtroom furniture and pretty much everything just by his sheer force of anger.


Bobby Deol As Vinay Sharma In Poster Boys

The beginning of the film was dhamakedaar with Sunny shaking a leg to the recreated version of the Arjun Pandit (1999) song Oye Hoye Ke Kudiya Sheher Diyan. Not just were Elli Avram's sexy moves able to keep you hooked, Daler Mehendi's powerful Punjabi vocals made you look forward to great things.

Paritosh Painter as the dialogue writer manages to cash in on the popular dialogues and memorable instances from the Deol brothers' hey days. For instance, there's a character called Balwant who crosses Sunny's character and then someone from the henchmen addresses the former in a lung-belching tone as 'Balwant Rai ke kutte'. Also at one point when the government officials request the trio to give them 12 days to assess the whole case, one henchman shrieks out loud 'Taarikh pe taarikh, taarikh pe taarikh'. And above all, once Sunny mentions that he is trying to control his anger and thus doesn't want to hit somebody, and others ask 'Kyun?'. The only answer comes from a henchman who says 'Kyunki jab yeh maarte hai toh insaan uthta nahi, uth jaata hai'. Moving on, for similar reasons, Bobby's character has set his ringtone as the title track of Soldier (1998), which was funny every time his phone rang. It kept reminding audiences of how long it's been that Bobby gave a hit film.

Shreyas as a director had to sensitively portray the plight of the three characters while ensuring the screwball humour doesn't take away from the proceedings. He does fairly well being a first time director.


Shreyas Talpade As Arjun Singh In Poster Boys

What's not

Shreyas, as the actor, has been seen playing similar tapori-yet-funny characters before, which is why there is nothing too much to look forward to.

Shreyas, as the director, could have managed to cut down portions from the screenplay, especially in the first half. If the story was tighter and maybe 20 minutes shorter, it would have been a far better comedy than it actually is now.

Being a situational comedy, there was one specific character of a lady doctor played by Ashwini Kalsekar, which was so over-the-top slapstick, that you might start thinking that why didn't the director slash off the part altogether from the film. Had it been a normal doctor's character with funny lines, it would have been much better.


Sunny Deol As Jaagavar Chaudhary In poster boys

The climax comes when the trio decide to go on a nanga-andolan (nude protest). But when they are actually on stage to do the actual strike in front of the media, the nudity doesn't come out as expected. Sunny doesn't remove a single piece of clothing from his body (except his turban). Bobby doesn't show off his body as he constantly is wearing a vest. On being forced, he strips to his boxers. If there was some skin show, it was from Shreyas. NOT THAT I AM A BIG FAN OF SKIN SHOW, but if you are protesting against the government and threatening them with a nude protest in front of the media, you better do the full monty in order to prove the seriousness of your case. Major let down! This could well be credited to the real-life personas of the Deol brothers who are too shy in person. Forget skin show, they might even feel uncomfortable if asked to give an actress a peck on the cheek.

Apart from the rehashed Daler Mehendi song, none of the tracks are worth your time.

Some of the chroma shots in the climax seem as if they could have been done way better. Maybe trying to be low-budget was an issue. But considering it was Shreyas' first directorial, I decided to overlook it.


Shreyas Talpade, Sunny Deol,Bobby Deol In Poster Boys

Lastly, amidst all the hullabaloo of trying to be funny and making it massy at the same it, somewhere down the line the theme of propagating the concept of vasectomy among the audiences is lost. At the end of the movie you know as much about what nasbandi is as you knew when you began watching the film. So zero points on trying to give out a very powerful message to the aam janta.

What to do

Well, if you are fans of Sunny Deol or Bobby Deol, it will be a fun watch, especially because of the nostalgia attached in the form of old dialogues, songs and their antics. For the rest of you, stay back home and read about vasectomy - will be more enriching than watching this film.




Image Source: youtube/sonypicturesnetworksproductions