Possible ‘Hate Story’ intent but in effect not coming close even to that low ask. There’s in fact a little too much promise in the marketing and precious little in deliverance!

Rensil D’silva (infamous for Qurbaan) gets into the all-in-one act with dialogues, story, screenplay and direction credited to him so there isn’t much cause to blame anyone else for the sloppy misinformed plotting. Also the lack of cohesive reasoning is unpardonable. Deepa Bhatia, editing expert extraordinaire does her best to make the film racier and more exciting but the narrative just doesn’t have what it takes.

A legitimate inspiration, Vishesh Film’s Hansal Mehta directed ‘Citylights,’ repackages the 2013 Sundance premiered, British-Filipino Indie production ‘Metro Manila,’ written and directed by Sean Ellis. Set within an Indianised setting and rewritten to suit the milieu in Rajasthan and Mumbai, it loses most of its charm in the bargain.

A quirky, distasteful title alone does not make a film hit. Production houses like Balaji Motion pictures should have known that. This kind of putrefying titles might gain a bit of curiosity but without the content to match that expectation, there’s no chance of recompense.

There is very little balance achieved in the telling and for people unfamiliar with the culture and rituals of the bygone era, everything on view may appear far-out and fanciful. In terms of technology being used, this is a first, no doubt, but it doesn’t come out as exciting or completely entertaining.

If this movie was an all-out actioner like ‘Raid’ or any of the Bruce Lee, kung-fu, Karate movies, it would have been a dream debut at least for Tiger. ‘Heropanti’ as is, where is, just doesn’t engage or entertain, sorry to say!

What’s interesting though is the impeccably portrayed milieu, the familiar sounding familial interactions, the ensemble assemblage of quality actors and by and large, a distinctive intention to stay away from the superficial and the formulaic.

At 97 minutes the film is powerful, engrossing and completely captivating. And it’s all because the central character is so completely assured of her ability to get women to become more proactive in their own defense. It’s inspiring and truthful and even manages to question Sampat Pal’s own beliefs on testy matters that involve her family members. Sampat pal of course, comes out smelling like roses and why not? She is after all the queen of the Pink Brigade!

Jimmy Shergill, who gets lumped with an ineffectual role, is the only one who stays on the credit side of things here. A back-story that bears close resemblance to the one in ‘The Conjuring,’ can do little to justify or elevate things. The ‘item number’ is shabby and the production design quite sub-standard. You just have to go with the flow I guess. Most horror aficionados would. I am not one of them. For me, this script is simply lacklustre. No scares, no jumpy moments just a lot of set-up and ketch-up!

Adhyayan’s third Bollywood film , this time directed by his father Shekar Suman, is a bad copy of the Hollywood supernatural/Thriller film ‘Awake’ starring Jessica Alba. There’s not much room for rapier wit or exciting, riveting drama. The treatment is severely lacking in smarts. Just goes to show that even a bad Hollywood flick can look good when compared to its re-envisioned Bollywood take!