Not so Lafangey, Parindey

The Prelude

It being a Friday, I ended up being in the local coffee bar next to work and was sippin’ on some very soothing red wine, when Jo and me decided to catch up on Lafangey Parindey. Now with two of those red things down my throat and up my head, I really didn’t mind looking it up 🙂

The Premise :

The movie begins with the introduction of the main characters, Pinky the skater (The simple yet beautiful Deepika Padukone ) and One Shot Nandu, the boxer (the goodlooking Neil Nitin Mukesh) ; both living in a small chawl like establishment, namely a “Vaadi” in local terminology. Pinky is the ambitious dancer, who wants to get away from the small life and prosper through dance; while Nandu, is the direction less and kind boxer who is happy, getting his moolah through boxing and sitting aimlessly on the top of a train carriage most nights. He fights for a local don (Piyush Mishra, quite clichéd and resembling Sharat Saxena from Ghulam) though and is at his mercy for his well-being.

While assisting his senior (Kay Kay Menon in a small cameo), Nandu causes a freak accident which renders Pinky nil-sighted for life. A guilty Nandu then helps Pinky get into form even with her blindness by making her dance in a reality show called India’s Got Talent and Pinky in turn, helps him become a better person, not to mention her dance partner and also an avid skater.

Needless to say, that the other elements in the movie (the inspectors for example) make things sour for the happy go lucky couple. Small things get the couple back and all’s then well in paradise.

The Conclusion

All through the movie I kept wondering, why did Pradeep Sarkar choose a title called Lafangey Parindey? We have seen roadside romeos and gali ki chokris in previous movies as well.. but how would these characters fit the title? Lafanga is the Hindi word for a rogue, which I don’t think any of them were and just because they skate (in mid-air) would they call them Parindey? Strange. A title like Alhad Javaani wouldn’t fetch public attention, would it? Anyway.

Coming to the story, it was surprising that the person who directed quite a classic like Parineeta would come up with such a shoddy framework of a movie. I ain’t no critic, but I think in his pursuit of making a shorter movie, Mr. Sarkar made the story look highly clichéd and something that is being told through ages. I mean a Tum Bin, made on very similar lines had a better story telling nature than this one. Confused, I say.

Deepika and Neil make a good on screen pair though. Pinky’s bold nature coupled with Nandu’s shyness makes up for some very charming moments. But that’s about it. In a patchy story, there is not much that one can do, can they?

Piyush Mishra has been thoroughly wasted, in terms of footage. He could have been a little more cruel and the story could have been given a mild yet sad twist. Atleast that would have made for good viewing.

To sum this up, my rating of the movie would be 2 on 5 and my request to you would be to watch this movie on Home DVD. Considering Kites was aired on TV within two months of its release, this would take just a month, I believe. 🙂

And if you have the money and have nothing to do on a weekend, just like me, keep in mind, that you don’t regret it later 😉

Cheers.