Khoobsurat
Year: 2014
Director: Shashanka Ghosh
Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Ratna Pathak-Shah, Kirron Kher

Let me confess that I don’t really find Khoobsurat as cute and adorable as it is generally perceived to be! By the way I am talking about the original Khoobsurat (1980), which was directed by the great Hrishikesh Mukherji and which is still remembered for Rekha’s feisty performance. But notwithstanding my feelings, that original has gone on to acquire an all-time classic status. 

Now Anil Kapoor and his daughter Rhea decide to remake it with a total Disney makeover, a tale of a commoner falling in love with a prince! How does the experiment work?

What’s the plot?

A happy-go-lucky loudmouth sports physiotherapist (Sonam Kapoor) keeps failing in her relationships, thanks to her unpretentious ‘Do what you feel like’ approach. Her over-the-top Punjabi mother (Krron Kher) still firmly believes that there is a prince waiting somewhere for her daughter. That fantasy suddenly starts looking possible when the girl is invited to treat an ex-ruler of an erstwhile princely state. Upon her arrival, she finds a sprawling palace and a dysfunctional royal family – a bossy, disciplinarian queen (Ratna Pathak-Shah), a wheel-chair-bound king who doesn’t have the will to get well, a submissive teenage princess and a jet-setting business tycoon prince (Fawad Khan). With her impulsive acts and straight talk, the free-spirited new entrant creates shockwaves in that staid royal household run like clockwork with a truckload of rules and regulations. The queen is aghast at this irreverent girl’s repeated misadventures but the rest are simply smitten by her; and that list of admirers includes the once-aloof business-minded prince, who is already engaged to other girl (Aditi rao-Hayderi)! Will the fantasy turn into reality? Will the proverbial unequals come together despite all their differences?

What’s hot?

·        A fluffy lighthearted tale of fairy-tale romance.

·        Lavish production values.

·        Pakistani actor Fawad Khan delivers an impressive, measured performance. Judging by the reactions, he has already become a new Bollywood heartthrob.

·        Sneha Khanwalkar’s music is a robust mix of classic Rajasthani folk music and contemporary tunes.

What’s not?

·        Sonam Kapoor is quite irritating while playing the bumbling bubbly girl. To be fair to her, when she does her mellow, sensitive act, she is appealing.

·        Ratna Pathak-Shah and Kirron Kher – the other two ladies expected to carry the film on their shoulders deliver unconvincing performances. The same can be said about Ali Reza Haideri, who plays the incapacitated royal.

·        The predictable storyline needed some novel sequences to spruce up the romance and comedy but that doesn’t happen.

Verdict

In a way, the 2014 Khoobsurat has very little in common with the 1980 original. Except for the basic theme of an iron-handed matriarch running a rule-bound house and being challenged by a spunky outsider girl, the two films chart totally different courses. So even if you liked the original Khoobsurat, don’t go in expecting to see its modern reprise.

The new film definitely pales in comparison in terms of performances. The original portrayals of Rekha, Dina Pathak and Ashok Kumar were just too good and reprisals by Sonam, Ratna Pathak-Shah and Ali Reza Haideri are simply no match to them.  But still despite its shortcomings, the new Khoobsurat is a well-made entertainer, which has its moments of fun and Fawad Khan!

Rating

2.5 stars