Short Kut - The Con is On: Movie Review

Gaurav Malani / INDIATIMES MOVIES / Updated: Jul 8, 2019, 15:48 IST

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Director: Neeraj Vora
Cast: Arshad Warsi, Akshaye Khanna, Amrita Rao
Rating:

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There is no short cut to success is what this film intends to convey taking a very long route. Sadly, at the very outset, producer Anil Kapoor attempts to take a shortcut by choosing to (officially) remake a Malayalam film Udayananu Tharam (Mohanlal, Sreenivasan) which in turn is a (unofficial) spin-off on the Hollywood flick Bowfinger (Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy).
The film is Indianized with an additional sub-plot of how a non-actor (Arshad Warsi) turns an overnight superstar by stealing the script of an assistant director (Akshaye Khanna). Ironical that a film that centers on stealing of a script is itself a take-off of another film!

More irony unveils as the film goes on to highlight the significance of terms like script, storyboard, Stanislavsky and world cinema in filmmaking while actually giving no regards to any, indulging in self-mockery. Akshaye Khanna��s writer��s block appears more as if he��s stuck up in solving some math numerical. Every time he gets an ending to his story, he screams out saying ��I got my climax��, which sounds suggestive with cheesy connotations.
The derived screenplay is patchy and its shows as writer Neeraj Vora struggles to script weak characters and weaker conflicts. Picture this �� the assistant director gets married to superstar Mansi (Amrita Rao) and his chawl neighbours gift him a palatial flat. The graph goes flat as the story turns towards matrimonial disharmony with Mansi soon giving up on her chauvinistic husband.
The silliness continues as Akshaye discusses business on a condolence meeting with the wife of the bereaved. Since his producer is dead, the chawl residents agree to invest in his film. If funding his film was that easy, one wonders why he had to struggle for a producer since start. So the production team which has more producers than actors reaches foreign shores where Akshaye starts a film with superstar King Kumar (Arshad Warsi) who continues to remain a non-actor. What follows is nonsense and noise ��produced�� by a troupe of Gujarati stage actors who believe in getting theatrical and loud at every opportunity they get to mouth a line.
Director Neeraj Vora tries too hard to make you laugh with his regular brand of sad jokes which fall flat. Composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy try too hard to come up with peppy tunes which only sound lousy. Chunky Pandey tries too hard to play an acting teacher but needs lessons himself. Amrita Rao tries too hard to look hot but lacks oomph in every possible angle. Arshad Warsi doesn��t have to try too hard to look like a non-actor though. Akshaye Khanna believes screaming and shouting accounts to performing. Siddharth Randheria tries too hard to pass off as a cheap substitute for Paresh Rawal but is unbearably annoying. Ali Asgar tries too hard to play Amrita Rao��s brother but appears more like her stalker.
To cut a long story short, this commotion doesn��t account to comedy. Cut every possible path, short or long, leading to this film.
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