Movie Review: Lafangey Parindey

Yash Raj Films’ Lafangey Parindey is the story of One Shot Nandu (Neil) and Pinky Palkar (Padukone). They live in the backstreets of Mumbai and are friends. While Pinky dreams of winning a reality dance show on television someday, Nandu whiles away his time with friends Chaddi, Diesel and Gulkand. When he is not playing carrom with his friends, he is in the boxing ring. His mentor
is Usmanbhai (Piyush Mishra), a common criminal.
One day, Nandu and sharpshooter Anna (Kay Kay Menon) are escaping in a car when Nandu accidentally knocks down Pinky,
who loses her eyesight in the accident. With Anna dying thereafter, nobody except Nandu knows that he is responsible for Pinky’s accident.
Soon, Nandu ends up becoming her dancing partner. He learns dancing on skates, at which Pinky is adept, so that he can be instrumental in the realisation of Pinky’s dreams. But just before the final round, the two part ways. What happens thereafter is revealed in the climax.
Gopi Puthran’s story had the germ of a hit, but his screenplay leaves a lot to be desired. For one, a film in which one of the protagonists is blind should have been high on emotions, but Pinky seems to be confident and unperturbed even after she loses her eyesight, and the audience doesn’t feel enough sympathy for her.
A basic question is neither answered nor addressed: why doesn’t Nandu confess to Pinky that it was he who knocked her down? After all, it was an accident! Even if he feared retaliation, the audience should have been shown his dilemma. Although the film is about Pinky’s dream of winning the reality show, the climax veers from the show to Nandu and Pinky’s love story.
All in all, the film is low on sentiments, doesn’t strike a chord with the audience’s hearts, and leaves them unaffected for the most part.
Padukone does a fine job and makes the otherwise dull movie watchable. Her skate-dances (choreographed by Bosco Caesar and Sandro Guerra) are excellent. Neil looks good with his muscular physique and does a fair job. Two departments in which he needs to improve are voice modulation and dancing.
Of the three friends, Namit Das (Chaddi) is the best. The other two — Viraj Adhav (Diesel) and Vinay Sharma (Gulkand) — make decent acting debuts. Piyush Mishra and Kay Kay Menon are good.
Manish Chaudhary, as police inspector Keki Sethna, leaves a mark. Sandesh Yadav is effective as his deputy.
Pradeep Sarkar’s direction is not as sensitive as was the need. A film about a dancer should have had super-hit music. R Anandh’s compositions are nice but not excellent. Swanand Kirkire’s lyrics are far better.
On the whole, Lafangey Parindey doesn’t connect too well with the viewer. Great music and strong emotions could have done the trick. As it stands, it will prove to be a loser in spite of a moderate budget.
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Deepika Padukone
Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Source: (wateen.net)
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