Dharma Productions P. Ltd. and UTV Motion Pictures’ Gippi (UA) is a film about adolescence. Gurpreet Kaur alias Gippi (Riya Vij) is a young girl, slightly over-sized, and, therefore, the butt end of jokes in school. Shamira (Jayati Modi), a rich and bright girl, particularly hates Gippi and pokes fun at her, calling her fat and a loser. At home, Gippi is being raised by her single mother, Pappi (Divya Dutta). She has a younger brother, Booboo (Arbaz Kadwani).
Gippi has a crush on Arjun (Taaha Shah) whom she meets at the engagement ceremony of her father (Pankaj Dheer). Although Arjun is much older than her, she still loves him dearly till she realises that he shares no such feelings towards her.
One day, in a showdown with Shamira, Gippi inadvertently accepts her challenge to contest the election for the school head-girl. But, of course, Gippi stands a remote chance of winning the election because Shamira is far more popular and even brighter than her. All the same, Gippi jumps into the fray. Does she win?
Sonam Nair’s story about school girls and the travails of the growing-up years is quite frivolous. Even her screenplay is a little too childish and not just because it tries to co-relate things which aren’t truly co-relatable. For instance, looking hot and sexy is hardly a pre-requisite for a head-girl but that’s what the screenplay would have the audience believe. In fact, it is quite a given that a studious type of girl may be the more appropriate candidate for a head-girl. It is co-relations like the above which give the viewer the impression that the writer has not researched correctly. Even if the writer were to argue that today’s generation is vain, well, the argument still doesn’t make the drama palatable. The angles of the single parent and the second marriage of Gippi’s father have been added for the emotional quotient but Sonam has not been able to tug at the viewers’ heart-strings even in that track. Another drawback of the film is that almost every character in the drama, especially Gippi, talks at such a slow pace that it hardly looks like a youthful film. Frankly, the story and the screenplay look more suited for an episode of a television serial. Also, at the end of the film, the audience gets up with an incomplete feeling. Sonam Nair’s dialogues are alright and suit the age of the characters.
Riya Vij does an ordinary job and seems to lack the fire and the drive. Her voice is a terrible letdown. Divya Dutta performs ably and lives her character. Doorva Tripathi is natural as Aanchal but her dialogue delivery is not very clear. Arbaz Kadwani does fairly well as Booboo. Jayati Modi exhibits the right attitude. Taaha Shah looks charming and acts ably. Mrinal Chawla (as Kabir) and Aditya Deshpande (as Ashish) are effective. Pankaj Dheer is alright in a special appearance and so is Raqesh Vashisht as the chemistry teacher. Anah Talwar (as Tania), Avanti Talwar (as Sonia), Ayesha Goswami (as Titli), Ashna Pahwa (as Mini), Ulysses Mendonca (as Jai), Shaurye Chakravarty (as Veer), Bruna Drummer (as Jennifer), Farida Dadi (as Sister Maria), Sushma Kaul (as class teacher), Khurshed Lawyer (as Maths teacher), Nandita Bandyopadhyay (as Hindi teacher), Shilpa Mehta (as Biology teacher), Sonam Nair (as Moral Science teacher) and the others fit the bill.
Sonam Nair’s direction, limited as it is by her script, is ordinary. Her narrative style is such that the drama unfolding on the screen doesn’t ring true and fails to move or involve the viewer. Music (Vishal-Shekhar) is quite dull and has limited appeal. Lyrics, penned by Anvita Dutt and Vishal Dadlani, are okay. Background music (John Stewart) could’ve been better. Anshuman Mahaley’s camerawork is quite good. Sets (Sabrina Singh) are appropriate. Yashashwini Y.P.’s editing may be okay but the pace of the film is painfully slow.
On the whole, Gippi is a childish take on adolescence and will face an uphill task at the ticket windows.
Released on 10-5-’13 at Regal (daily 1 show), Inox (daily 5 shows), Metro Big (daily 4 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by UTV Motion Pictures. Publicity: good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.