By and large, I have enjoyed the brand of films associated with the talented team of Saurabh Shukla, Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak. Yes, they are not meant for masses but they are not some nerdy brain-churning self-indulgent exercises. They are realistic, incisive, intelligent and entertaining. Pappu Can’t Dance Saala is certainly not their best film but is still pretty watchable. It tells the story of two unlikely people thrown together by fate and how they change each other’s perspectives.  

Circumstances force a thirty-plus ultra-conservative executive (Vinay Pathak), who has come to Mumbai from Benares, to share his flat with a twenty-something ultra-modern upcoming model-cum-dancer (Neha Dhupia), who has left her home in Kolhapur. Coming from different cultural backgrounds and holding totally opposite views about life, the protagonists start off on the wrong foot with each other. But slowly through all the bickering and fighting, emerges an understanding and mutual liking. Will it turn into something more serious?

The film begins with a sarcastic take on Mumbai and its ways through the eyes of an outsider coming from the Hindi hinterland. Then slowly it turns into a culture-clash romance. But while writer-director Saurabh Shukla manages to pepper the story with some insightful realistic scenes about Mumbai’s residential colonies, street-side vendors, show-biz and common man, he cannot do much justice to the romantic angle. It comes across as a half-baked, half-hearted and hurriedly wound up affair.

Vinay Pathak may be incredibly talented but now he cannot keep on playing the shuddha Hindi-speaking North Indian simpleton forever. His role, though well-enacted, is a rehash of his earlier popular portrayals in Bheja Fry, Dasvidaniya and Chalo Dilli. Neha Dhupia is good as an upcoming dancer with an attitude but in no way looks and speaks like a Marathi girl from Kolhapur. Rajat Kapoor carries his role with dignity even though it is poorly etched.

Pappu Can’t Dance Saala may just be a middle-of-the road low budget niche-film without stars but still it is a much better watch than many wasteful multi-crore Bollywood multi-starrers.