Movie Review - Ungli

Thumbs Up for this UNGLI

DIRECTOR: RENSIL D’SILVA

GENRE: DRAMA, COMEDY

STARRING: EMRAAN HASHMI, RANDEEP HOODA, SANJAY DUTT, KANGANA RANAUT, NEIL BHOOPALAM, NEHA DHUPIA, MAHESH MANJREKAR, ANGAD BEDI

FINAL VERDICT: ***

                                                                           

 

“Jab ghee sidhi aur tedi, dono ungliyon se nahi nikalta; tab beech ka raasta apnana padta hai.” Wielding the middle finger and mouthing these words, Abhay (Hooda) indeed packs a punch. These words make a lot of sense and make us ponder about the corruption aspect in our nation.

There have been several films in the past that have dwelled upon the topic of corruption, and the path used by the ‘stupid common man’. Ungli succeeds in showing the corruption from the profundity. Ungli is about four friends (Hooda, Ranaut, Bedi, and Bhoopalam) who form a ‘rebel gang’ of sorts, in order to tackle corruption. How they go about their job and deliver justice makes the movie an interesting watch for sure. A retiree not getting his due pension; the famous ‘chamchagiri’ done on the city walls by the netas; the nexus between the training school chaps and the RTO officials are some of the issues which have been highlighted in the movie.  

Enter Emraan Hashmi, and there is that dose of liveliness. Hashmi is effortless as always and his dialogues are a treat for every B town lover. Its his style and panache which makes him a heartthrob. But regrettably, Hashmi has been under utilized in the movie. If you expect that Hashmi is here to steal the show, then you’re horribly mistaken. Like the Ungli Gang, the movie is also a complete team work, and everyone chips in with their roles.

Sanjay Dutt plays ACP Kale, but is disappointing. There were disturbing things going on in Dutt’s real life while filming the movie and that is pretty visible in his reel life. Dutt is nowhere near his best,  and his part turns out to be damp squib. To make things worse, the dubbing for Dutt has been pathetic. In one of the scenes, it is clearly evident that some amateur mimicry artist is dubbing for Dutt. That is a big let down.

Talking about let downs, Angad Bedi is another victim. His over acting in certain scenes dampens the mood. The dialogues in some cases are those typical double meaning one’s which make sense only to the writer, Milap Zaveri. Zaveri day by day is falling into an infamous stereotype. He started the trend of double meaning dialogues with Shootout At Wadala; followed it in the creepy Grand Masti and now in Ungli. It’s time that Zaveri changes his style.

Hooda is great as Abhay, the journalist. Neha Dhupia, who is rarely seen these days, is pretty good as well. Kangana Ranaut though has been criminally wasted. After doing a critically acclaimed film like Queen, one wouldn’t expect Ranaut to do the role of Maya. But the girl from Himachal defies  logic and does the role. Her screen time is negligible.

The positives of the movie are in its locations, music and the storyline. The bottomline lies in empowering the common man and that has been shown well. When you associate Emraan Hashmi in a film, the music is bound to be awesome. Ungli too follows the trend. Dance Basanti and the title track are catching and groovy.  The locations cover the suburban parts of Mumbai and the Bandra Worli Sea Link has been shown on several occasions.

However, Rensil D’Silva could have easily made it better. Its an honest attempt on a sensitive issue nonetheless. There was always the scope for improvement in the movie. To make it in a better way, more issues of corruption could have been shown.

Anyways, its an entertaining flick with a social message and is bound to be liked by the viewers.