Fukrey Hindi Movie Review

Hindi Cinema is coming up regularly with “little” pleasant surprises. A new genre of unpretentious desi humour in the midst of a metro world is slowly crawling in and making a legitimate space of its own. Films like Vicky Donor with minimal expectations deliver sufficiently and thus leave a lasting impact. They keep you engaged with a freshness for about two hours and that is more than what you can often ask for in mainstream cinema. Add to this the feel and energy of young guys on the prowl with a warm and endearing camaraderie in the post Dil Chahata Hai scenario and go to listing films llike Rock On, Kai Po Che, 3 Idiots, Rang De, Zindagin Na…. Fukrey may not make to the top but has that raw energy and a fresh look at life’s clichés that makes the film worth the watch.
Hunny (Pulkt Samrat) and Choocha (Varun Sharma) have been chronic students in school and are willing to do anything to finish school and go to Bishop College. There ambition is far from academic. It is the gals there and the related freedom that they conjure up for the dream. There is also Lali (Manjot Singh) a local Sardarji who is a regular at the Gurudwara praying for admission in the same college to ensure he gets even with his girlfriend who has just walked out on him. In the college we have the unsuccessful musician Zafar (Ali Fazal) who is with his guitar and his unfulfilled dreams. Notice the four guys are strangely connected with the same college and thus their paths are bound to meet. The initial catalyst is the college watchman Pandit (Pankaj Tripathi) who is their ticket to get into the college both literally and figuratively.
The story is kick started with the guys on the respective individual tracks before the four meet up to translate their dreams into reality and take on the adventurous route of betting. Unfortunately with not much cash on hand but with disproportionate demand for the same they move to meet up with Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chada) who is into drugs sex and other illegal activity. While Zafar has been in love with Neetu (Vishaka Singh) a lecturer at Bishop, young Lali also has a soft corner for her. Hunny is in love with Priya (Priya Anand) his neighbour with whom he communicates from his roof top with kites. Choocha is a compulsive dreamer and invariably he dreams of various animals attacking his buddy Hunny and he being the saviour. Hunny has an uncanny knack of interpreting the dream numerically and based on this they do betting in a clandestine centre. The four decide to translate this skill set to raise the moolah. The plan goes awry. But they have to succeed or they get sucked into the vortex even deeper. Watch the film to know how they deal with it and their goofed up strategy.
While the film maker Mrigdeep Singh Lamba shows the understanding of energy and timing for a script of this kind, it is doubly encouraging that the film is just fun loving and falls short of being preachy. He understands Delhi and the people there and without making too much of a fuss, knits a gumptious tale around them. He gives just enough life to each of the characters, who walk in with their warts and leave an indelible mark. The high point in the film is the uninhibited performance from the cast. Ali Fazal and Pulkit Samrat deliver just what is right. Vishaka Singh has a radiating warmth and hopefully we will get to seeing more of her in our cinema. Pankaj Tripathi adds a lot of vigour and credibility to his role as the safari suited Delhite. Richa Chadda as the foul mouthing lady is amazing and authentic. The best is however the innocent Manjot Singh and Varun Sharma. It is not very often that you get to seeing such warm and fresh talent at their gullible best. Watch the film for just them if nothing.

L Ravichander.