Low on logic, and high on opulence, Farah Khan’s movies thrive on songs and dance, and rides purely on Shah Rukh Khan’s shoulders. Happy New Year (HNY) is one of the most-hyped and highly-expected Bollywood movies of 2014. Ever since director Farah Khan announced it in October 2012, the film has been creating buzz all over the media for all good reasons. After a long wait, it has been finally released in theatres overseas on 22 October and today in India.
Written by Farah Khan, HNY is a heist drama film that revolves around the story of a team of six losers, who participate in a dance competition to rob the greatest diamond. Mayur Puri has penned the dialogues for the movie, which has been produced with a whopping budget of Rs 150 crore by Superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gauri Khan.
All know that Farah Khan’s films are festive and celebrate all things Bollywood the colour, the feverish dance moves and hyperbolic emotions.
But it looks like she has made a slipup with Happy New Year despite her reunion with King Khan and her Om Shanti Om Deepika – SRK Jodi. Picking the latter was a great choice but she has not made any effort make the optimum use of the collective potential of her ensemble cast (Boman Irani, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah and Jackie Shroff).
HNY is a thriller mixed with enough much dancing. The movie first introduces a jobeless college graduate Chandramohan Sharma, also known as Charlie, (Khan) who looks after people with deep wounds. His father (Anupam Kher) runs a business by creating robust lockers. He is baffled by an evil businessman Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff) and is arrested for a robbery he didn’t commit. Thus Charlie’s idyllic life is shattered building up revenge for Grover.
Charlie gets an opportunity to bring down Grover when he claims on television that he is the custodian of precious diamonds worth billions of rupees. This tempts him to rob the diamond and so he puts together his ambrosial team.
Shah Rukh Khan calls them Charlie’s Angels are a bunch of buffoons, who are exceptional at cracking codes (Irani), hacking (Vivaan Shah) or being a doppelganger of the evil guy’s son (slum-dweller Abhishek Bachchan). They are clumsy are in need of a crash course on competency and team work.
Forget about stealing diamonds these wannabe crooks doesn’t even know how to steal a safety pin from a supermarket. To get near the Diamonds they take part in World Dance Championship in Dubai, the place where the diamonds are parked. Dreaming about opening up a dance school for children, Mohini, who is bar dancer shows up for training them after a series of failed dance lessons. Padukone is good and some of HNY’s sparkling moments feature her.
Since they were wronged in the first place, this splashy drama shows every muddy deed by the heroes is justified as some purging event in their lives.
Rather than of justifying their intent and rolling out conduct certificates, the makers should have been more focused in making the heist more exciting. The camera lovingly captures Khan’s eight-pack abs and is a glorious tribute to Khan’s studied theatrics.
Bachchan Jr as the uncouth Nandu and Irani as the ageing Parsi bachelor are captivating in parts, but the simplistic story lets them down. Khan is in familiar territory and has the tendency to ham things along. The film juxtaposes famous dialogues from his previous blockbusters such as Chak De! India and Om Shanti Om are juxtaposed in this film.
The robbery and its build-up should have been made better, but their fooling around takes up a lot of screen time making it a tedious watch. “You may find yourself laughing at some of their antics, but HNY proves that nothing spectacular comes out of mixing gang robbery with grinding hips” says a source.
The team enjoyed an enviable conflict-free camaraderie during filming, but only a slice of can be made out on screen. It’s got a few silly jokes, but they are too few to transform HNY into an engaging watch.
The scene set in Dubai is spectacular and awes trucking. If Khan’s oiled abs are full on captured, the scenes against the backdrop of Atlantis, The Palm, the fountains at the Dubai Mall and ice rink among others, are no less gleaming. A must watch if you love King Khan and Dubai.
Happy New Year Trailer
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STAR CAST
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DIRECTION
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PLOT OF THE STORY
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MUSIC
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DIALOGUES