ओय तेरी, लाल

ओय तेरी, लाल: My quick take on “Lal Singh Chaddha”

The floating feather metaphor which was so beautifully used in the original Forrest Gump, summed up the very essence of the award-winning movie that ‘one has to flow with the flow and enjoy every moment one is subjected to; LSC also starts the movie with the same floating feather. But the difference here is that the feather takes an eternity to land, subjecting the audience to slumber, this labored start warns us about things to come. When you start a movie with a disclaimer which is nearly a 10-minute bhashan and follow it up with never-ending credit (maybe the makers were confident that no one would stay back to read credits in the end, hence they pushed it in the beginning) then half of my interest in watching this movie had ‘gone with the wind’ 😁.

This remake can serve as a guide to ‘Adapting Hollywood classics for dummies’, if in original ice cream cone is shown, then adapt it with क़ुल्फ़ी, change chocolate to गोलगप्पें, rock n roll king is changed to king khan, height was when shrimp farming is changed to चड्डी बानियाँन industry😳.

On the performance front, movie is watchable initially I.e when we get to see young LSC and his lovely chemistry with his mother Mona Singh. On lighter note, Lal Singh Chaddha is watchable till he is in his chaddis😁. Once he grows up then Amir spoils the show with his goofish expression and irritating grunts. He literally carries forward his PKs alien expression. This is where Tom Hanks scores over Amir, he does not have to do any goofhish mannerism s, someone had to explain to Amir khan that there is subtle difference betwween a Low IQ guy and a fool. Maybe Rowan Atkinson would have done better justice to the role than Amir khan.

The extra long screenplay covers landmark events of our country starting from 1983 world cup wins to the latest स्वछ भारत अभियान, maybe he could hv added few more events to make it into a आज़ादी का अमृतमहोत्सव documentary😁. In this process LSC got overstretched and lost its sheen. It looks more like catering to Amir khan’s alter ego ( मेरी तो लाल करने की है) than attempting a serious adaptation, the end product looks more like a parody than an adaptation.

In the climax , LSC is shown running all over India for nearly five years and then suddenly he stops running. When asked why he ran all these years, he says he dosen't know 😁. Maybe if someone asks Amir now, on why he worked on this projecct for 14 yrs and made such a long movie, his answer will be same ‘I Dont know’ and if you ask me as to why I sat through this ordeal, then my answer will be same ‘I Don't know 😁.

There is an attempt to rake up ‘Aman ki Aasha’ by showing our bhaichara with neighbors in a subplot, which in my view was unnecessary and found it insulting to brave hearts who have done supreme sacrifice during the Kargil conflict.

In my view, watch Forrest Gump instead and wait for LSC to hit OTT platform which I guess will be coming soon.