Under the flimsy cover of a sports film, “Freaky Ali” is just another Bollywood ‘good guy versus bad guy’ movie. Every character is a caricature and every plot point already seen in a thousand other films. This one doesn’t quite “putt” it.

Though it’s called Freaky Ali, Siddiqui’s Ali is the least freaky of all the characters and his performance is the only reason this film is not a complete washout.

Freaky Ali is a dull fare as it lacks novelty. Furthermore, the audience will feel alienated from the drama as it deals with the sport of golf, which is not at all a popular sport among the Indian masses. It will flop at the ticket windows.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the dark horse of Bollywood. Every time you watch him on screen, he adds a new dimension to his role. From his facial expressiosn to his demeanor, his portrayal of all his roles in is on point. And with Freaky Ali he has proven that he can definitely play all kinds of comical and romantic roles. Amy Jackson and Nawazuddin’s pairing is unique, but it definitely suits the story. Arbaaz Khan was also brilliant and he has managed to make us laugh with his antics. In short, Sohail Khan has made a really good attempt to make his comeback count!

To its credit, Freaky Ali never gets sentimental; whenever there’s a potentially heavy-handed situation, it’s defused with a pun. Sometimes one ends up laughing, even if isn’t clear that this is what the filmmaker intended.

Freaky Ali is predictable to the core replete with every cliché of a typical sports film that you can possibly think of and, is marked by old fashioned story-telling and over the top, slapstick humour. The added layer is also a done and dusted one, that of a poor man taking to a rich man’s game — golf — and succeeding at it at that.

Some of the one-liners land with the same force as Ali’s shots, but the cocktail of wacky humour, sentimental blather and tributes to God, Mom and the Neighbourhood has just too many elements to digest. Nawazuddin Siddiqui lives it up as the hero, churning out punchlines and playing the romantic lead in a creaky fantasy about bridging the gulf between the working class and a rich person’s game.