Review: ‘Bangistan’ is Less of a Satire and More of a Flat Tyre
Riteish Deshmukh and Pulkit ‘Wannabe Salman’ Samrat fail to entertain.
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Stutee Ghosh tells you if Bangistan is worth watching.
Bangistan isn’t an easy film to watch. For starters it can instill in us an inescapable desire to bang our heads against the wall. The resultant pain a welcome respite from the numbness we have been wallowing in for almost 2 hours.
Made by debutant director and a former film critic himself one would have imagined Karan Anshuman to have understood the travails of cine buffs and go easy on us. But as things stand he seems to have crossed over completely to that forbidden land of flat jokes and shoddy screenplays.
Hindu-Muslim brotherhood and how all religions teach us the message of love are subjects that have already been explored and with brilliant results in films like OMG – Oh My God and PK. While the theme might be stale, brilliant writing and interesting characters could still have saved the day. But these are departments on which Bangistan fails miserably.
The film starts on a promising note. We see the Imam and Shankaracharya making a Skype call and talking about how Pope Ji is following them on twitter. Further we explore Bangistan – a fictional country with Hafiz Bin Ali (Riteish Deshmukh) to the north and Pravin Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat) in the south. We also meet the 2 extremist groups with Militant mindsets – Alkaam Tamaam and Maa ka Dal. Except for a very interesting double role by the talented actor Kumud Mishra everyone else is forgettable; everyone except Pulkit Samrat. With his schizophrenic, wannabe Salman personality he makes us ache for an Arshad Warsi to come and rescue us! While a couple of scenes strewn around invoke laughter, the forced puns and exaggerated wordplays do little to lift our spirits. Riteish Deshmukh clearly tries hard to find his footing, Jacqueline Fernandez is in a tiny role with an unnecessary song thrown in but its Pulkit’s overacting that seems to have thrown everyone and everything off balance.
Post interval we reach Poland, the venue for the International Religious Conference which looks more like a tacky fancy dress completion. The climax is finally thrust upon us that entails long boring speeches and some bizarre turns. All in all we are happy when we see the end credits but my suggestion would be that avoiding it altogether might make you happier. Still go for it if you are in a particularly forgiving mood. I’m going to give it nothing more than 1 AND A HALF QUINTS OUT OF 5.