Review : Shehzada : Moderately entertaining!

South movie remakes are crowding in the Hindi film industry. The latest being #Shehzada, headlined by #KartikAaryan, #AlluArjun starrer hit Telugu movie “#AlaVaikunthapurramuloo”. It reminds of 90’s masala movies and has been shot in the similar fashion. Though Shehzada has comedy, action, romance and emotional drama it fails to connect with the audience. Director #RohitDhawan ’s direction has a lot of influence of his dad #DavidDhawan’s films.

The story is about two babies born on the same day being interchanged by one of the child’s father. Valmiki (Paresh Rawal) is working with Randeep (Ronit Bose Roy) who is a business tycoon. Valmiki is always jealous of him because both of them had started their careers at the same time. Both of them become fathers on the same day. But Valmiki exchanges babies thinking that his son would live like a prince aka Shehzada. After a gap of 25 years Bantu (Kartik Aaryan) who actually is a son of the business tycoon but raised in modest circumstances by Valmiki. Bantu goes for an interview in a law film whose boss is Samara (Kriti Sanon). Initially she rejects him but when he wriggles her from a tight spot she hires him. Both start romancing each other. In the meanwhile Raj (Ankur Rathee), son of Rajdeep and Yeshu Nanda (Manisha Koirala), returns from abroad. Nandas decide to marry him off to Samara. Now what happens to this unusual love trainable forms the crux of the story.

Shehzada being a remake a lot of people are aware of it’s plot. With this movie the lead actor Kartik Aaryan has turned producer too. The screenplay is patchy and the film is a bit lengthy (142 min). The happenings look quite passé. The first half is quite pacy but the second half drags till the fag end of the movie. The film has periodical doses of comedy, action, melodrama but none of it is outstanding. The movie lacks a powerful antagonist. Music is good and remix of Salman Khan’s ‘Character Dhila’ is well choreographed. Kartik Aaryan’s swag is the highlight of the film and his performance during the emotional scenes too is effective. Kriti Sanon and Manisha Koirala have limited screen time and they deliver whatever was expected of them.

Rajpal Yadav’s cameo is passable. Ronit Bose Roy and Paresh Rawal have performed nicely. Sachin Khedekar as a Nanu is pleasant.

Overall, Shehzada is a one time watch for the family audiences.

***