In the world of films, we often get to see a bad or misleading trailer causing more harm to a project than anything else. Unfortunately or fortunately FIRANGI comes as yet another example of the same where the film turns out to be much better and far ahead than its unexciting and misleading trailer giving a pleasant surprise.
Yes, it isn’t any exceptionally great film lacking a lot in its presentation, editing and overall impact as any impressive period drama. But at the same time it isn’t any bad or unbearable film giving you the exact picture.
FIRANGI has a fresh, decent plot and a talented cast too resulting in a simple and sweet film that certainly could have been a lot better if the director had taken care of its duration and slow story progression while finalizing the screenplay or at least while doing the film’s final edit. In the present form, the 160 minutes long duration and a slower pace remain the two strong negatives that seriously harm the project.
Taking you back in time in the 1920s, the art direction (sets) clearly display the compromises made as per the budget and the settings strongly remind you of the characters similar to the ones seen in LAGAAN as Bhuvan (Kapil), Gauri (Ishita), Elizabeth (Monica), Captain Russell (Edward Sonnenblick) and voice over of Amitabh Bachchan too. At times the accent becomes the issue as per the characterization and at many occasions (particularly in the first half) it seems to be a Punjabi film instead of Hindi with many regional phrases incorporated in the dialogues. On the other hand there are a few well written sequences too like the one where the Indian King has a fake fight with a wrestler and the innovative climax coming as a big uplifting surprise, once again bringing in the ‘great Indian icon’ into a Hindi film’s fictional storyline post LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI.
Playing the lead act, remaining in almost every scene of the film, Kapil Sharma neither disappoints nor makes any great outstanding impact to be very honest. He is just okay as an innocent British employee and fine in the romantic sequences with Ishita Dutta, who also plays it well as a shy village girl. Monica Gill as the Indian princess looks gorgeous but has a confused accent conflicting with her onscreen character. Kumud Sharma (as the foolish Indian King), Rajesh Sharma (as the girl’s father), Inaamulhaq (as Kapil’s friend), Anjan Srivastav (as a Gandhi follower) and Edward Sonnelblick (as the British officer) along with all supporting artists (many from Punjabi Cinema) play their respective characters in a decent manner resulting in an above average film. However it’s the slower pace and more than required lengthy duration that doesn’t allow you to rate it beyond an average one.
Sharing my personal experience in the theater, the viewers were more than willing to laugh at every dialogue of the man, probably because they were again expecting a comedy film from Kapil Sharma instead of a sweet period drama. But frankly that cannot be accepted as any logical reason to harshly dislike a project which actually happens to be the one ranging between average and above average.
In fact that makes me wonder why many amongst us are so eager to call FIRANGI a bad film, when in reality its far better and ahead of the minimum expectations raised by its poor trailer. Having said that, the film is made by a team actively involved in Punjabi Cinema (including director Rajiv Dhingra), and they need to make a lot of effort coming out of this visible regional hangover, before going for any other Hindi project.
Summing up, if you decide to go for FIRANGI, I can reassure, you will not come out saying that it’s a bad or an awful film at all, provided you are ready to watch a Kapil Sharma film – which is not a comedy.
Ratings : 2.5 / 5 (with additional points for the courage of going against the tide and incorporating an innovative climax)
(Note: The article was first published on UC-News Mobile App in December 2017)
