Cast: Sara Ali Khan, Varun Dhawan, Sahil Vaid, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav
Director: David Dhawan
BLUF
A railway porter falls in love with the daughter of a rich guy. A marriage broker hurt by the arrogance of the rich father of the bride helps the railway porter scheme his way into marrying the rich bride. How it happens and what ensues after that is what Coolie No 1 story is all about.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
A remake of David Dhawan’s 1995 version of mindless comedy, this original Govinda movie was a genre in its own right. However, they forgot to update the story with the times and the antics fall flat not only for the audience as does the plot. What this new version is just a spanky upgrade to the older version without taking the time to rework the story and the contextual circumstances.
IN THE ZONE
The Coolie No 1 from the ’90s too didn’t have any rationality and was over the top
And yet Govinda made the magic work. In the Govinda genre, the audience knows not to look for logic or reasoning. In the new version, Varun. establishes his suitability to continue with the Govinda tradition well beyond doubt. Infact Varun is good looking, quick on his feet, a brilliant dancer and an overall performer. His comic timing is great and even though the script is outdated, he makes it cool. Sara is another story in making. She seems still uncomfortable with the camera compared to Varun; she falls short. Looking like the candy floss that the script thought of her as, she is good at the dances but doesn’t do more than that for the movie.
David Dhawan is directing a movie in 2020 thinking its still 1990 and that is a failure.
Even really great actors like Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Sahil Vaid and Javed Jaffery are failed by the script.
The remix of ‘Husn Hai Suhana’ is magnificent. The rest is as insipid as the movie. The cinematography by Ravi K Chandran is terrific, and it gives the movie a colorful look. But everything becomes a damp squib because of the lacunae in the script.
FWAR
This is a movie to watch for Varun Dhawan and his immense versatility. Period.
WHAT WE LOVED
Varun Dhawan, Husn hai Suhana
WHAT WE MISSED
Script.