When an Indian film maker tells you
that he is inspired by a film from France and this is a product of such
inspiration you know he is at least honest in compare. So, first a minor salute
to Rohan Sippy for being honest about his source. The premise is experimental
and imaginative. The takes its principle characters around a play that is being
staged and plays their life on a parallel. While the goof up on stage makes for
interesting humour the real life happenings give you a birds eye view of
contemporary metro life and its bizarre possibilities. Both layers are treated
with style if not with robust punch. That is a stance, a decided choice and so
be it.
Ram (Ayushmann Khurrana) is living with his girlfriend Chitra (Gaelyn
Mendonca). The story is as related to his Shrink. Ram on a monsoon night saves
Mandar (Kunal Roy Kapur) who attempts to kill himself by hanging on to a tree
on the road. Mandar is a looser who has just been given the boot by his lady
love Nandini (Pooja Salvi). He gets the guy home and goes about rehabilitating
him and weaning him away from the idea of suicide. This surely does not find
enthusiastic support beyond a point from Chitra. Ram also meets up with
Mandar’s grandma (Sulba Arya in a brief hamming moment). Ram next targets
meeting up with Nandini who is a florist who is now in an affair with Loli
(Ruffy Khan).
Ram is busy doing a play Ravan Leela and decides to cast Mandar in the role of
Ram to ensure that he has not only found a replacement for the role but also to
ensure that this would boost up the confidence of Mandar. Strangely he gets
completely involved in all this and the thin dividing line between roll play
and real life suddenly disappears. Nay it takes a U turn and often returns to
haunt the author with his own creation. Resultantly Ram falls in love with
Nandini who begins to reciprocate with enthusiasm, and while Mandar is on a
come back trail, Ram looses his balance and guilt gnaws at him. In the
meanwhile Chitra walks out on him and the film. Briefly stated Ram looses his
lady love, his girlfriend and his friend all in a just a few weeks. Life is
about saying sorry and mending fences. With this gyan from the Shrink how he
goes about making amends is what Nautanki Sala is about.
Wonder what hang over Rohan has for Kim. Both his heroines have astriking
resemblance to the two earlier Kims of the industry (for memory: Naseeb and
Mohabatein). While Gaelyn Mendonca resembles the former Pooja Salvi resembles
the later. The similarity is not just in the looks and thus you wonder why an
intelligent guy like Rohan would cast such non-descript persons for the roles.
Apart from the dare and heterodox of Rohan Sippy, the film completely belongs
to Kunal and Aayushmann. Kunal as the unkept looser is hanging around with such
disdain that he gives the film a high de3gree of credibility. Ayushmann proves
that his debut was not just beginners luck. The guy has not just tremendous
screen presence but he backs it with good talent and understanding of the
media. Surely the symbiotic faith between him and the film maker shows good
results. The film is surely watchable for him and him surely.
In case you are unwilling to accept experiment and receive a film that for all
its flaws is interesting stay away. Otherwise go for it. The film is not just
interesting but a subtle step forward in the context of Bollywood.
L. Ravichander.