This movie is not just about a Shah Rukh Khan fan. It is also for a lot of his fans, who have been pining to see him the way he is in this film. After a considerable gap, the real SRK is back with a fabulous combination of two roles; one playing a young, ebullient fan reminiscent of his vulnerable younger days and the other playing the superstar that he’s today, with the charisma and power of his personality all intact.

What doesn’t work for the film is the constant onslaught of in-film marketing. Though it is done pretty cleverly at some points, too much is always a bad thing. The other thing is that the plot tends to get unnecessary gimmicky at points. Also, one wishes that the other characters like Kia’s mother (Swaroop Sampat) as the liberated woman who runs 5 NGOs and Kabir’s father, Mr. Bansal (Rajit Kapur as a successful businessman) were not confined to such tight boxes.

The movie is so busy falling over itself to look stylish and slick that it forgets to focus on the emotional aspect altogether. There is zero connect between the two central characters, Rocky and Naomi, and the script goes haywire at many places, but the director was evidently concentrating on making the movie look cool by getting the cameras go back and forth with heavy doses of flashbacks and slow-mos drizzled in between.

Watch this. It might remind of your own family issues and make you a bit squirmish but is also largely feel good and entertaining.

The film with its tongue firmly in its cheek content, gives a timely, strong message of how blind faith and mob mentality can be easily manipulated by anybody in this country. No business like god business, says Dhamroo in a matter-of-fact manner. Even though this business will continue thriving in this country, kudos to Tiwari for saying it as it is through this film.

The script holds a lot of interest but the patchy, amateur execution kills it. In his attempt to give it a Hollywood thriller kind of treatment, debutant director Shawn Arranha goes haywire with the camera angles and shots, and never finds his foothold back. What he ends up delivering is a lot of unintentional amusement — nowhere close to the ‘stylish’ film it is intended to be.

One must admit here that Jha surprises with his ease in front of the camera and decent acting abilities, but quite often the camera focuses a little too indulgently on him. Jha yet again successfully revisits the world he’s so familiar with, the rampant hooliganism, the fascinating and colourful lingo that we are all familiar with, largely thanks to Jha’s earlier films. At two hours forty minutes, the film is a bit too long and tends to get predictable at many parts.

The film holds a lot of promise but doesn’t really live up to it. A more clear-minded script as well as a steadier hand at direction would have done wonders to this film. However, Singh scores as he makes soul stirring music (composed by Ashutosh Phatak) an intrinsic part of the film.

Credit goes to Mehta and writer Apurva Asrani for etching out his character with such precision. Rajkummar Rao, who has successfully adapted the Malayali accent to suit journalist Sebastian’s role, lends good support. The admirable ease with which they relate to each other shows us the magic that can happen when two good actors come together on screen.

Even as I am writing this review, I still have a lump in my throat. Such is the power of humanity, kindness and good cinema. Please don’t miss this one.