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The trailer for Shandaar doesn’t disappoint as much as it perplexes, writes Raja Sen.
It starts with some good ol’ horsing around.
There have been huge expectations from Vikas Bahl’s new film after his last, the insanely successful Queen, and the trailer for Shandaar doesn’t disappoint as much as it, um, perplexes.
Alia Bhatt is pretty, chirpy and pretty damned chirpy -- which basically looks like she could have walked off the sets of Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya -- while Shahid Kapoor looks sharp and carries off a rugged, seemingly effortless charm.
Things bubble along rather pleasingly -- especially when Shahid and real-life father Pankaj Kapur have a fun showdown where they try to out-oye each other as if they were co-hosting Philips Top 10.
But then suddenly there is a golden boot, then a golden suit, a golden family, and golden limousines.
Things clearly go from playful to caricaturish as Sanjay Kapur arrives with a giant, supershiny family and there is talk of a business deal even as banquet tables are set, moustaches are drawn on faces and frilly purple panties appear on dinner plates. This could all be plenty amusing -- sure, in theory -- but it could also well be something from an Anees Bazmee film.
The film, shot with hypercolour glee by Anil Mehta, looks so totally Disney -- the text in the trailer is brought to us via cartoon airplanes and smoke signals -- and this is why it’s hard to know what to expect. Are we in for something self-aware in its cartoonishness, something just plain goofy, or something so slapstick it’s surprising it doesn’t star Asrani, Paresh Rawal and Om Puri?
In another weird aside, the trailer says “produced by Karan Johar and The Phantoms,” as if the men running Ph-se-Phantom are all now The Producers Who Walk. Old jungle saying, guys: take some things seriously. Maybe the credits to movies you’re making.
Still, it’s good to see Pankaj Kapur having fun, Shahid looking more assured, and Alia, effervescent Alia -- even if the film has her intentionally flubbing up her own name.
Shaandaar releases October 22.
Bring it on, Vikas Bahl.