Phata Poster Nikhla Hero Review

One Line Review: A lunatic brainsick escapade that can be only quoted as a sheer dopy 'chor police' game.

Positive Points: Shahid Kapoor's superlative performance, A crystal clear family entertainer, Nargis Fakhri's "Dhating Naach" dance moves.

Negatives Points: Haphazard direction, Baseless script, Overly extended storyline, Inefficient comedy scenes at times.

Plot: Savitri Rao (Padmini Kolhapure) lives with her only son, Vishwas (Shahid Kapoor) in a small village called Shirgaon. Savitri, a single mother, earns livelihood by being an autorickshaw driver. She always tells Vishwas to follow the path of truth in his life and she has the dream of seeing Vishwas as an upright police officer one day. Whereas, Vishwas aspires to earn name and fame in the glitzy world of Bollywood and craves to be a film actor. Savitri many times sends her son to give selection test for becoming a proud part of police department and Vishwas purposefully keeps on failing in it, with no intentions to be a police. One fine day, a golden opportunity comes to Vishwas's way that holds potential to land him directly into Bollywood kingdom. He gets a call for police officer's training from Mumbai and Vishwas instantly grabs it within a fraction of second with a wish to climb the ladder of Bollywood by going to Mumbai.

After landing in Mumbai, Vishwas goes to do a portfolio photoshoot in the attire of a cop and he readily invites a further 'jhamela' for himself. He gets mistaken as a super cop by a social worker called Kajal (Ileana D'cruz), because of unknowingly solving some illegal issues that share a close link with an underworld kingpin, Gundappa (Saurabh Shukla). This new identity of Vishwas calls for more and more hurdles, thereby fluctuatig his chances of becoming a film actor. Vishwas's mother gets to know that he has become a police inspector and she plans to visit Mumbai. Now, the rest of the story narrates the way Vishwas's mother's visit to Mumbai turns a nightmare for Vishwas by putting him in a crossfire.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: After some innovative offerings like 'Andaz Apna Apna', 'China Gate' and 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani', the ace director RajKumar Santoshi had come up with a disappointment for the viewers with this film. The film presents a flood of deja-vu scenes that lack novelty. The movie started with a big bang and seemed promising as mind-blowing entertainer, but it soon shown the real colour as soon as it began to unfold the baseless happenings. 'Phata Poster Nikhla Hero' encompasses a very few good and memorable moments like Shahid Kapoor's entry by torning a movie poster (Well, that suits to the title of the film!), then some emotional moments between mother and son and ofcourse, the music tracks like "Dhating Naach" and "Hey Mr. DJ", then the perfect comic-timing of Shahid Kapoor and finally not to forget the juicy cameo done by the heartthrob Salman Khan and his perky comic punches. This chronicle sounds as a bundle of a pool of melodramatic scenes between mother and son and re-union of papa-beta. Though the first half sails well and brings some laughter at the cinema hall, the second half struggles a lot and like a ship without its direction. Eventually, the tale loses its track and goes haywire by bulging strange elements. The other factor to take a potshot about it, is that the film offers some scenes that compels one to take out the brain and keep aside, such as Vishwas Rao fearlessly roaming in Mumbai as a fake cop and that too with a police jeep. The fight sequences in the film full on mirror the trademark Rajinikanth style, with over-the-top jumps and all.

Thanks to the saucy musical delights in the film, as they are the only hope to save the film from drowning. The biggest flaw in the film is that it completely goes offtrack from the earlier scenes of the story and hence, makes the viewers to feel like what the hell on the earth we are watching! Needless to mention that the direction is a loopholes galore this time for such a renowned director, who possesses the identity of being the comedy king. Cinematography, background score and art direction were average. However, it is also essential to note that the film is a pure family entertainer sans any kind of vulgarity.

Performance: Shahid Kapoor re-assures himself as the pioneering beef-cake of Bollywood with stunning looks and impressive comic timing. He shines well as a super cop. Ileana D'cruz suits well as a wallflower in the hero-centric flick like this. The beauty with Bambi eyes, sounds comfortable in her zone, as she plays her part flawlessly. A great applause for Padmini Kolhapure, who is back on the celluloid as the lead actor's mother. Kolhapure made the viewers forget the diference between real and reel, by skillfully essaying her role of a mother.

The supporting starcast like Saurabh Shukla, Darshan Jariwala, Sanjay Mishra, Mukesh Tiwari and others made an honest attempt to bring some comic moments on the screen.

Music: The music tracks came to the rescue after digesting such a tedious tale. The music composer Pritam Chakraborty weaved some colourful tracks like 'Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai' and 'Main Rang Sharbaton Ka' that sounded melodious to hear. The songs taste better if heard without seeing visuals of it. The 'dhinchak' dance numbers like 'Dhating Naach' and 'Hey Mr. DJ' stole the show, snatching whistles and claps. The other two songs 'Mere Bina Tu' and 'Janam Janam' do not seem much memorable and thus, have a short shelf life.

Final Verdict: An inane lackluster narrative proceeding without any logical incidents happening around and can be termed as a mere cat and mouse play . A one-time watch for those, who have nothing to do this weekend. Watch just for Shahid Kapoor's ubercool performance, as he sets the screen on fire with his amazing dance moves. In all, a head-breaking childish play covered in a musical packaging.