Watch ‘Nautanki Saala` only if you really want to.

Nautanki Saala is a small-budget entertainer which entertains, but with mild doses of disdain. Watch this film with a light heart, and don’t expect to get either blown away or emotionally drained by it.

NAUTANKI SAALA! is uncontaminated, witty and amusing, offers an interesting premise with plenty of good laughs. A lightweight fare that caters to cineastes with an appetite for contemporary cinema, this movie ought to be on your ‘to watch’ list for sure!

Nautanki Saala! has all the ingredients of a peppy, amiable comedy but this soufflé doesn’t quite rise.

Rohan Sippy’s creation shows so much promise and has several moments (even if most of them are featured in its trailer). But the plot seems better-suited for a sitcom episode. As a film the nautanki stretches for too long, saala.

This is no Shakespearean act, but there’s enough drama, demons and devtaas to rival our desi phantoms of the operas.

The film deserves full marks for intention, if not for execution. But give me Nautanki Saala! any day after the merciless assault of Himmatwala and Chashme Baddoor!.

Sippy has a feel for staging scenes, and some are laugh-out-loud. The idea that true love can be found through such a random route is also nice, and lends the film a pleasing slightness. But the nautanki in this film is an on-off thing. I wish there was much more of it.

Sippy never brings the lightness of touch needed to pull off this kind of film. Like the title suggests, it’s all empty theatrics. And wait, the film also has the unique distinction of capturing one of the longest on-screen smooches in a long time.. shot in such excruciating close-up that you might throw up your lunch.