Hawaizaada is jingoistic, melodramatic, naïve, and often illogical. It might have worked as a quirky flight of fancy, but Puri and his characters take things way too seriously, robbing the film of that very sense of awe and wonder that it so badly needed. It’s an interesting idea that never takes flight.

This could have been a greatly imaginative flight of fancy, but it is anything but. For a film that is about the joy of flying, Hawaizaada fails to sprout any wings. And it is so utterly stuffed with leaden passages in its unbelievably stretched running time, that it bored the bejesus out of me.

Vibhu has designed Hawaizaada to be an all-purpose vehicle that has romance, comedy and drama . But the writing is flat and the telling, clumsy. Ayushmann, who is in nearly every frame, trembles with fervour. Mithun matches him. The respite here is Pallavi Sharda, who lifts this film.

Hindi cinema feeds us enough fiction for us to expect a completely true story told with hundred per cent accuracy. So the factual question marks are not entirely what we fault ‘Hawaizaada’ for. True or not, it was a good subject that the director had his hands on. But sadly, ‘Hawaizaada’ limps a bit too much to even come close to convincingly recreate the life of a man who dreamt to be the first one to fly.

While the background score of the film is as uninspired as its screenplay, the many songs are generic at best.

Hawaizaada, in the end, is a flight of fancy that fails to take off.

Hawaizaada has a lush texture and the manner in which director of photography Savita Singh uses light, shade and visual depth is outstanding.

Much as Hawaizaada is the cinematographer’s film, it also gives the production designers much scope to push the boundaries.

You know that the makers have their heart in the right place because of the scale on which they have mounted this drama. The sets and VFX deserve a mention. However, you come back a tad disappointed because unlike Shivi who managed to put the wind beneath his wings, the film itself doesn’t provide even surface-level thrills.

Hawaizaada turned out to be a sheer disappointing watch. It has a yawn-inducing storyline which makes it difficult to watch even as it drags for over two hours. It is low on historical knowledge and even the execution is not top notch.

Hawaizaada supposedly based on the exploits of an Indian pioneer called Shivkar Talpade, is a long, exhausting and excruciating account that leaves you running for cover by the end. This flight of fancy never takes because the screenplay is all over the place. It attempts to integrate romance, adventure, science (pseudo), singing, dancing and all the ingredients of a typical Bollyood film.

So much of money wasted in trying to tell a simple tale which required temerity not timidity.

Even though records say otherwise, one wants to believe in Vibhu Puri’s fairytale-like story of an Indian being the first to envision and fashion a ‘machine’ that we can fly. With such a background, this had the potential of being a moving, patriotic film.

Lost in Translation is what best describes Hawaizaada best. What started off as a biopic turns into a sobbing love tale that you wouldn’t want to watch. Read up on the scientist instead.

The film is a straight one time watch. There is nothing exceptional or starry that would keep you glued to your seats. It is worth a watch for people who are more interested in knowing about Shivkar Talpade than people who just want to have a good time.

You only wish some of this grandeur could have been transported to give the fine Marathi biopic Harishchandracha Factory some of the scale it deserved to compete at the Oscars in 2010. I suspect that local, indie success was an inspiration for green-lighting this one (I’m just trying to figure out what could have led anyone to pump in crores into this unbearable bore). Who knows, they’ll probably send this one to the Oscars too. But what’s the point. Ancient Indians had won several Academy Awards during the Vedic Age anyway!

So many negatives makes it difficult to take Hawaizaada seriously as a liberally-altered biopic. Honestly, I got onto the plane, but after a few minutes, I was frantically looking for a parachute to escape.

Debut director Vibhu Virender Puri was probably attempting— as one can see from the visual splendor, shots of magic realism, and wry humour— to make a Wes Anderson-meets-Sanjay Leela Bhansali style epic. But barring the film’s story and a few immersing scenes, all you have is characters you don’t emotionally invest in, bizarre dialogue, and a lifeless romance. That’s unfortunate indeed, as this story was rich with possibilities.

…the only thing that works for Hawaizaada – something different was attempted. Despite all its pitfalls, Hawaizaada attempts at telling the story of a carefree, wayward, rich, spoilt brat who is also smart and sharp when it interests him. And he went on to fly a plane. Patriotism and national pride aside.

…difficult to take Hawaizaada seriously as a liberally-altered biopic. The premise was promising, but the film never soars dramatically.

It breaks my heart to see so much money, time and effort being spent on building such massive gorgeous sets for a film that doesn’t have much to tell.