Noor Hindi Film Review

It is an all fizz no drink pre-interlude story of an aspiring journalist Noor (Sonakshi) who is frantically trying to discover herself and a soul mate for herself. All of twenty eight and on her birthday, she gives the viewer an insipid leak of her biography as a journalist who has two friends Zara (Shibani) and Saad (Kannan Gill). Obviously Barkha is who she wants to be. We have all the predictable predilections in place. Add to it the stereotype character: an ambitious intelligent gal so glasses are on, she is constantly tripping over herself to establish she is shabby and has a poor dress sense (so tailor made for Sonakshi!). She is self-righteous, loitering in a platonic relationship living life king size with I world problems; has an indulgent Dad (MK Raina), a shabby room in a suave flat, an indulgent boss Shekar (Manish Chandra), a boring job…. She meets her knight in shining armour in Ayan Banerjee (Purab Kohli).
All is fine and linear with a nag in the pre-interval narration till Noor accidentally finds herself doing a story about a great medical initiative only to realise that it is a cover up for a dirty scam dealing with a sale of kidney by the leading doctor. The first victim is none other than the brother of her domestic help Malti (Smita Tambi) She fights to expose the story only to be cheated on the way.
She loses on multiple counts and the accused is acquitted and she is defeated. It is here that she realises that she is not just amateur in the big game and big bad world , but also that she is a tad selfish who was willing to put to danger the life of a victim at the cost of her career.
She now makes a brilliant ode to Mumbai and posts it on social media which catches like wild fire and then scents success on every front.
Every moment of the film is caught in predictable high voltage dialogue and stereotyping. The filmmaker also goes wrong with his cast. Sonakshi is all fine with the fizz and the aggressive part, but when it comes to drawing enough credibility in the Ode to Mumbai she falls short and her emotive quotient is suspect. It is here that the film falls flat and perhaps the film maker should have gone to a more depth filled actor from the contemporary scene – may be a Parineeti or a Swara Bhakser. Sunhil Bhasker has his heart in the right place and does well to expose the hypocrisy that is the metro of contemporary India. He however gets caught in so many clichés that you wonder if he consciously chose the easy way out. Somewhere in the course of the film Noor declares: I am the idiot and that seems a fairly truthful moment. For all her effort and sincerity, I think Sonakshi fails the film more than anybody or anything else. A true artist in place of a good star could have worked far better for the film and in this judgement the filmmaker goes wrong.
There is also a go at journalists – so pompous, so judgemental, so unaccountable and a rueing factor in contemporary times. Yet you can see the film for the wonderful Ode on Mumbai which should work for any metro. This part of the film nearly makes up for every other shortcoming in the film. There is also an interestingly underplayed performance from Purab Kohli. Noor could have been far better but is still worth a visit.

L. Ravichander.