Film review: Shaandaar is contrived, random, ridiculous and anything but fun

Even though it is supposed to be a fairy tale, the plot in Shaandaar is too unrealistic, predictable and drags in parts.

Shaandaar stars Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor. Courtesy Empire International Gulf and Fox Star India

Shaandaar

Directed by:

Vikas Behl

Starring:

Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Pankaj Kapur

One star

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Vikas Behl, who directed one of the best films of last year,

Queen

, has come back to the big screen with a 'destination wedding comedy' which is anything but fun.

Contrived, random and ridiculous with a smattering of unfunny jokes,

Shaandaar

stars Alia Bhatt as Alia, a know-it-all adopted 'orphan', Shahid Kapoor as the wedding planner Jagjinder Joginder, Pankaj Kapur as the protective father Bipin, Sushma Seth as the matriarch of the Arora family, and Sanah Kapur as Isha, the fat bride who is being married off to a Sindhi groom as part of a business deal between the Arora family and the Fundwanis.

Sanjay Kapur, who plays the head of the Fundwani family, tries to bring in the laughs with his OTT Sindhis love bling act, but fails miserably. His younger brother, Robin Fundwani (Vikas Verma) is a protein-shake guzzling, ab-obsessed gym bunny who is set to marry Isha, despite not being happy about his XL-sized bride.

Shot in UK, the cinematography is probably one of the few things that cannot be faulted, along with the music and the styling. Bhatt and Kapoor make a sizzling pair, and share great chemistry. Pankaj Kapur plays the protective yet henpecked father with restraint, and Sushma Seth who plays the strict know-it-all matriarch, infatuated with the hot wedding planner is hilarious - and the only character who brings in the laughs.

Everything else in the film works against it.

Even though it is supposed to be a fairy tale, the story is too unrealistic, predictable and drags in parts. Some of the sequences and song placements seem too random, along with a few characters (like the twin cousins), who added nothing to the story, but were put in merely for laughs, fall flat.

Sanah Kapoor cannot act, and really needs to take lessons from her father if she is serious about a career on Bollywood. The director tries to play with magic realism to add to the 'fairy tale' theme of the film, but couldn't even hold the attention of the children in the theatre.

The only thing Shaandaar about the film is its title.