Shaandaar Movie Reviews

As one of the characters quizzes, why must we do every thing out of necessity, why can’t few things done for the fun of it, Shaandaar is simply fun, fun, fun and frothy enough to pull it off.

Must watch movie people! Shaandaar is everything that you need this weekend, so don’t miss watching it in the theaters with your loved ones by your side!

While it does not live up to its title as a package, it fulfils much of the expectations that the audience might have from a film produced jointly by Karan Johar on the one hand and Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap on the other.It brings together two different worlds and succeeds in striking a balance between the two. For that, and for much else, Shaandaar deserves hearty ovation.

…is a feel good movie that will make you leave the cinema hall with a smile on your face, despite its flaws. It will mainly appeal to the youth who seem to be the target audience for the film.

There are a lot of good moments in ‘Shaandaar’ but they are not stringed together as seamlessly as they were in ‘Queen’. I guess, the crux of the issue is that the plot here is not as solid and cohesive as the Kangana starrer. In that sense, nothing feels repetitive in this film, our director shows a very indulgent side of his personality here as opposed to the restraint he had shown in his previous film.

Suffice to say that Shaandaar is no Queen. A fairytale warrants a happy ending. Sadly this one leaves us hungry for something more substantial. It visually stunning but unlike Queen this one isn’t for everyone. Go for it only if you are a Shahid-Alia fan.

A perfect recipe made out of crackling humour, love-teased cameo, family drama and a few ‘wake up’ moments of life. This brings us to the climax of the film which was the best. Oh what a ‘raita failau’ closure Bahl gives to the movie!

Bahl’s scenes are seen falling flat most of the time, and he isn’t even able to whip out something to keep us captivated during the boring parts. He however succeeds in bringing out the best from his actors.

Despite all that, watch this film this festive weekend because it’s been sometime since we saw a KJo embellishment onscreen.

These are small mercies in a wildly inconsistent film that seesaws unevenly between charming and WTF! It’s especially disappointing coming from the very writers and director that gave us last year’s terrific Queen. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Shaandaar has a fun plot. However in his attempt to spoof destination weddings of the bankrupt and the famous, Vikas Bahl, (who also directed that gem, Queen) forgot to take a script along.

The story lacks imagination, the screenplay is shoddy and the dialogues unfunny. Some humour goes unlaughed at and rest goes undigested. For instance, there’s a scene where it is hinted that a respected business magazine takes money to put people on their covers, and another one when a young lad sets his grandma on fire.

Shaandaar is awfully written and indifferently directed enough to put you off destination weddings forever.

Undoubtedly, it is a mish-mash of ideologies, of film-making aesthetics. I cannot shake off the big question mark – why? Why would a perfectly sane director go about doing this? You can’t even call this experimentation because individually every thing that the film does has been done before. Maybe, true to the film’s theme – it was not a film, it was a business deal.

With the kind of technical support it got, Shaandaar would have been a much better film if it had resisted the temptation of being too offbeat.

Watch this one only if you are a die hard fan of Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt or if you have nothing better to do this weekend.

…a non-stop barrage of stereotypes being played for laughs: rich Sindhi men and their love for living life large, grooms obsessed with their eight-and-a-half packs, limp-wrists and fat waists. Where’s the ‘shaan’ in all this?

…relies more on the youthful appeal of its lead actors than a tight screenplay. Sometimes, it pretends to raise an issue, but then shies away from dealing with it. Let me introduce you to the basic premise of the film which mistakes Sindhis for a community of money minded devils.

It looks spiffy and there’s some gloss to like, but overall Shaandaar is pretty much — as Alia calls the fourth finger of each hand — useless.

Vikas Bahl should’ve done better with Shaandaar. The biggest mistake he makes is to not trust his actors. In scenes where he opts for animation, he should’ve just let Pankaj Kapur and Alia Bhatt do the magic. But he doesn’t. He chooses to rely on cheap frills. And no matter how much money you spend padding up gimmicks, they don’t work like the real thing.

Shaandaar isn’t entirely unbearable — at least it saves itself from descending to Welcome Back-level garbage status courtesy a few performances.

With all this against them, it’s to the cast’s credit that Shaandaar isn’t unwatchable. Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt look gorgeous and do their best to keep you entertained with their easy delivery and sharp dance moves. However, the two are entirely unconvincing as a couple, unless love in 21st century India is made up of chaste distances and inane chatter.

Shaandaar is an entertaining film and will be loved by the youth, especially in the cities. It will emerge amply victorious at the box-office on the strength of youth patronage. Business in the good multiplexes will be excellent but that in the lesser multiplexes and less-maintained single-screen cinemas will be below the mark.

Sweet in parts, silly in parts- this film is exactly what the doctor ordered this festive season. A reminder that everyone- gay guys, street-smart orphans, illegitimate children, diffident men and fat girls- can get a happy ending. At least in films!

“Shaandaar” has good locations, jazzy dance numbers and lots of glitz and shine, but if you break down the surface, what stands exposed is its completely vacant centre. It would be funny if it wasn’t such a tragic waste of talent.

The 146-minute movie proceeds in a jerky and slapdash fashion, and only a few sequences hit the mark. Most of the comedy seems to be in the form of one big private joke that does not travel beyond the borders of the set.