Pooja Entertainment And Films Ltd.’s Rangrezz (UA) is the story of friendship, love, betrayal and revenge. Remake of the Tamil hit, Nadodigal, it is about three friends risking their lives to unite their friend in matrimony with the girl he loves.
Rishi Deshpande (Jackky Bhagnani), Pakya (Vijay Verma) and Vinod (Amitosh Nagpal) are bosom pals who live in a middle-class locality of Bombay. Rishi may have done anything else in life but he has enrolled to join the police force because he loves Megha Joshi (Priya Anand) whose father (Shirish Sharma) will not give her hand in marriage to him if he does not take up a government job. Rishi’s sister, Venu (Sakhi Gokhale), loves Vinod but she does not tell her family about it as they belong to different communities.
One day, Joy (Raghav Chanana), a childhood friend of Rishi, comes to Bombay from Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh. Son of a politician-mother (Lushin Dubey), he is mentally so disturbed that he attempts suicide. He then reveals to Rishi and his two friends the cause for his despair – he loves a girl, Jasmine (Akshara Gowda), whom he can’t marry due to parental opposition on both sides. The friends take it upon themselves to help Joy. The four leave for Lalitpur and plan out a strategy to kidnap Jasmine and get her and Joy married. Since Jasmine’s father (Pankaj Tripathi) is also a very influential person, his men beat up Rishi, Pakya and Vinod but they somehow manage to kidnap Jasmine and get the two lovers married. However, they pay a heavy price for it. Pakya is so brutally beaten up that he loses his hearing power, and Vinod has to get his right leg amputated as a result of a truck crushing it in the mini riot that breaks out when the kidnap drama is on. Besides, the matter reaches the court.
Anyway, time passes by. Rishi, Pakya and Vinod now start helping the dhaba owner (Bachchan Pachera) who had helped them in their time of need. Two years later, the three friends get the shock of their lives when they realise that their sacrifices had gone in vain. What is the shocking thing they learn? What is their reaction? Do they leave it at that or do they go further into the turn of events?
The story (Priyadarshan) has a certain freshness about it but the screenplay, written by Mushtaq Shiekh, is so melodramatic and long-drawn that the youth may actually end up not identifying with this story about youngsters. The entire kidnapping drama is so heavy-duty that it greatly appeals while it lasts but the realisation then dawns on the viewer that it was too far-fetched. And the reasons for this realisation are two-fold: the intensity of love between Joy and Jasmine is just not established except through dialogues; secondly, the bond of friendship between Rishi and Joy is also not established for the audience to feel elated that Rishi and his friends had done so much for Joy.
The shocking twist in the tale after two years looks contrived because the screenplay writer has chosen to simply not weave a drama around it. Again, showing the three friends pursuing the matter even after the shocking twist looks a bit too much, if only because the twist in the tale was not pre-planned. Frankly, it is after the shocking turn of events after two years that the intensity and, if one may say so, futility of the kidnapping drama hits the viewer, reducing its impact. For, it occurs to the audience that a more subtle drama could have saved the leg of Vinod and the hearing power of Pakya.
Although the film is about youngsters, there is too much depression in the drama, something the youth will not approve of. The entire track of the outburst of Megha’s father right at the funeral of Rishi’s grandmother, as also his attempted suicide looks too contrived and, again, just too melodramatic to ring true.
On a broader level, the film about love is devoid of romance, has very little comedy and does not touch the viewer on an emotional level. Therefore, although some individual sequences do hold the viewers’ attention, the drama loses its impact in totality. That’s also because the audience is never able to completely sympathise with Rishi and his friends because their way of handling the situation doesn’t seem to be the best or the only way. The second half does not have the excitement of the pre-interval portion. Dialogues, penned by Manisha Korde, are good at places.
Jackky Bhagnani does justice to the character of Rishi Deshpande and acts well. Priya Anand is good but she hardly has anything to do. Vijay Verma stands out for the wonderful portrayal of Pakya’s character. He is first-rate. Amitosh Nagpal performs ably as Vinod. Raghav Chanana looks handsome in the role of Joy but gets very limited scope. As Jasmine, Akshara Gowda is quite alright. Rajpal Yadav is fantastic and his few comic scenes come as a very welcome relief. Lushin Dubey deserves distinction marks for her acting as the venom-spitting and manipulative politician-mother of Joy. Pankaj Tripathi stands his own as Jasmine’s father. Sunil Sinha, Sona Nair and Sakhi Gokhale provide the desired support as Rishi’s father, mother and sister respectively. Shirish Sharma is effective as Megha’s father. Milind Wagh also stands his own as Vinod’s dad. Milind Pathak has his moments as the carpenter. Rishikesh Deshpande is okay in the role of the hotelier in Goa. Bachchan Pachera leaves a mark with his restrained acting. As his assistant, Hardik Sanghnani is also good.
Priyadarshan’s direction is good but, unfortunately, like the script, the narrative style is of the kind which will not appeal too much to the youth of today, especially those living in the cities and frequenting the multiplexes. Music, composed by Sajid-Wajid, is nice. ‘Dil ko aaya sukoon’ has lilt and melody. ‘Shambhu Shiv Shambhu’ is energetic and inspiring. The ‘Govinda’ song is for the front-benchers. The ‘Gangnam style’ song (composed by PSY) is already a hit. Lyrics (Sameer) are meaningful and appealing. Song picturisations (Prasanna Sujit and Kala Master) are effective. Sundar C. Babu’s background score may be loud but it is also very effective. Santosh Sivan’s cinematography is splendid. Whether it is capturing high-voltage drama in the precincts of a temple or on the streets of a small town or in the lashing rains of Bombay, his camerawork is absolutely stunning. Action scenes, composed by Mafia Sasi and Allan Amin, are raw and remarkable. Sabu Cyril’s sets are authentic. Editing (Suresh T.S.) could’ve been crisper.
On the whole, Rangrezz is a film about the youth but its scripting and making will not appeal much to the youngsters. Given the dull initial it has taken, it faces an uphill task at the ticket counters.
Released on 21-3-’13 at Inox (daily 1 show), Metro Big (daily 1 show) and other cinemas and on 22-3-’13 at Regal (daily 1 show), Eros (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Pooja Entertainment And Films Ltd. thru August Entertainment. Publicity: good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.