It loses steam at the halfway mark when the laughs suddenly dry up.

On this one-liner of a plot, Rajkumar Santoshi has built a two-and-a-half-hour film which is meant to make us laugh, but ends up making us groan instead.

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is intermittently entertaining. If you are undemanding or a Shahid Kapoor fan, you might enjoy it.

‘Phata Poster Nikla Hero’ has several themes that are similar to ‘Andaz Apna Apna’, but its slapstick is not as sharp. ‘Phata Poster…’ misplaces its funny bone and begins to wobble when it’s barely half way, and though it tries to resume the gag, it’s just not up for the task. Which is not to say that ‘Phata Poster…’ is not fun or funny. It is. In parts.

Regardless of Phata Poster Nikhla Hero’s uneven pace and indecisive disposition, Shahid Kapoor, armed with a kooky grin, gives it his best shot.

Stay away from this film if you value your time and money. And if you still insist on giving it a shot, do remember that there is no refund on the ticket. That is what you will be asking for well before the joke winds up.

I haven’t really enjoyed the film after a certain point and that makes me benevolent enough to mark them judiciously. PPNH has a mangled up, messily fabricated screenplay with actors who remain overtly ordinary. I found converging into an insipid and dull affair. Honestly Shahid could have been more suited had he found more compatible co-actors but with limited versatility this is all he could manage. I found the film snail pacing its way towards a less magnanimous and more exhausting climax than one would have expected. For the laborious work in the first half I am giving the film 2.5/5. If you are leading a very monotonous life and cinema is your only respite, then this would be recommended to you!

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero looks like a film of the 70’s and 80’s – very little logic, lots of melodrama, plenty of songs and a climax that looks like it was written using the Andaz Apna Apna template.

This movie is supposed to be a comedy, though it’s cacophony for the most part with assorted dons, fake cops, real cops, and general unexplained madness.

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is a caper comedy that rides on pop culture and, in full awareness, cliches…
Essentially a gimmicky two-star film that entertains in bits, a half star extra for Salman Khan’s epic, self-deprecating cameo.