‘Shehzada’ Review: Kartik Aaryan-starrer Is a Royally Painful Massy Film
'Shehzada', starring Kartik Aaryan, is the Hindi remake of 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo'.
Kartik Aaryan in a still from Shehzada.
(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)
Shehzada, the Hindi remake of the Allu Arjun-starrer Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (AVPL), opens like a crime thriller - a stormy night, the sounds of a baby crying echo in the halls of a hospital (and you have to suspend belief already to believe it is one).
Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon in a still from Shehzada.
Valmiki (Paresh Rawal) receives news of his son's birth and soon after finds out that his employer (and former friend) Randeep Nanda (Ronit Roy) is also father to a son.
Due to a tragedy of errors, Valmiki exchanges the two kids, committing more than one crime in the process. His son is raised in comfort and luxury by Randeep and his wife Yashu Nanda (Manisha Koirala) as Raj (Ankur Rathee) and he brings up their son with limited means as Bantu (Kartik Aaryan).
In AVPL, the two kids Bantu and Raj both have well-explored inner conflicts. Bantu is the charming, plucky, and doesn't shy away from a fight and yet, his entire life is bogged down by his father's hatred. On the other hand, Raj is coddled to the level of incompetence and is also weighed down by legacy.
A still from Shehzada.
In Shehzada, Raj is infantilised to such an extent that his rightful complaining sounds like someone whining that they were gifted a Rolex when they asked for a Cartier. He is written purely to be juxtaposed against Bantu's masculinity and be ridiculed.
The adapted screenplay is credited to director Rohit Dhawan while the original story and screenplay are written by AVPL director Trivikram Srinivas.
The story sidelines everyone that isn't Bantu. And yet, Manisha Koirala, Paresh Rawal, and Ronit Roy all stand out because they're all seasoned actors who can and do rise above the cards they're dealt.
Sunny Hinduja and Manisha Koirala in a still from Shehzada.
Kartik Aaryan seems right in his comfort zone with the brash character that performs one action set-piece after another with ease. The action seems out of place, however, with little else to support the camp that is being attempted.
Kriti Sanon is a big shot lawyer Samara who is impressed when a man whose feminism begins and ends at "no means no" (like the film's) prattles off legal codes. But if Harvey Specter can do it, why can't she?
However, Samara vanishes from the film as soon as her work (as a love interest) is done. She does Bollywood female lead things like have a job that she can't be seen doing, group yoga, group drive-a-bicycle-with-flowers-in-the-basket-ing.
Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon in a still from Shehzada.
Even beyond this, the plot has more holes than the blocks of cheese Jerry (the mouse not the Good Luck Jerry one) runs through.
If one were to look for the silver lining (the performances aside), the film is everything a mass entertainer is - if you're completely willing to leave logic at home. But how much does that really count for? Personally? Not much.
Rating: 1.5 Quints of 5
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