It's a festive mood around with everyone enjoying the extended weekend due to Dussehra. So to cash in on this, we have film makers across industries making a scrabble to display their wares. Prominent among them is Vikas Bahl's "Shaandaar" which has Shahid & Alia as the lead pair. The promos promises it to be a fun filled movie & the chemistry between the duo seems cracking. So will it be the Queen of 2015???

Alia (Alia Bhatt) was an orphan adopted by the millionaire Vipin Arora (Pankaj Kapoor), though it could be more appropriately said that he was a meek simpleton. Even his siblings also belonged to the same category as the reins of the household was in his mother's hands, a wheel chair bound cold hearted Mummyji (Sushma Seth). Though not quite the darling of Mummyji & her foster mother, Alia shared a warm relationship with her rotund half sister, Isha (Sanah Kapoor) whose marriage was fixed with the wealthy Fundwani family. The wedding was planned as an elaborate event which was co-ordinated by the sprightly Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor), who wins the hearts of everyone except Vipin who was insecure of the former's increasing proximity to Alia. How this gala wedding ceremony pans out forms the crux of the movie.

After the brilliant "Queen" which ruled the roost last year, Vikas Bahl is back with his latest venture which however turned out to be a mediocre candy floss. There is a world of disparity between the quality of the scripts & it comes as a rude surprise that it was indeed conceived by Vikas & written by Anvita Dutt. The major flaw of the movie as is evident by now is the lack of a credible plot. It actually seemed like a large cast was assembled & they were asked to perform to their heart's delight with songs inserted in between the proceedings. As a matter if fact, it's the cast which actually made this movie enjoyable at times due to the delightful chemistry between Shahid, Alia, Pankaj & Sanah. In the technical department, Anil Mehta has done a decent job with the visuals while Amit Trivedi's music was average at best.

Coming to performances, Shahid & Alia shared excellent chemistry and seemed to be at utmost ease in essaying their characters. Pankaj Kapoor is an actor par excellence, so in a role that barely challenged him; it was a cake walk for the veteran & the interaction with his real life son made for an enjoyable watch. Sanah Kapoor (who is actually the half sister of Shahid) has done an apt job while Sanjay Kapoor's over the top act which was hilarious at times reminded me of Anil Kapoor. As for the rest of the cast, they were average at best.

Verdict: The film is likely to have a decent opening & will appeal to the teenagers who loves candy floss rom-coms. But even then it will struggle to make waves at the box office & the best that the producers could possibly expect is to break even. From my point of view, with hardly a coherent script on display it's nothing more than a waste of time. In short, give it a miss!!!

Rating: 1/5

Regards...Ben

This film proves that Bollywood has run out of ideas.

Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) is a handsome wedding planner with a pack of wet sawdust for brain, hired by an over-smart, unknown queen for her granddaughter's union with a shirtless jackass. The sweet-toothed bride's sister is Alia (Alia "Aila" Bhatt), an insomniac, out of the world princess whose mysterious absence of lineage is the only source of pride in her as she goes swimming at 4 in the morning and collects her father's animated dreams to stay alive. That Alia has finally found her prince in Jagjinder and would like him to make love to her while she tries to dream a dream munching on a banana is what forms a small part of the rest of the story. The remaining, bigger part is taken by Pankaj Kapur's idiocy, Sanjay Kapoor's ugly tomfoolery, and the writers's butterfly-infested vomit.

The film is basically a fairytale romance with ounces of unnecessary animation all over the place. Glittery butterflies coming out of Alia's dress and making Jagjinder throw away his cigarette, impulsive doses of songs because as it turns out both the central characters of the film cannot sleep at night, and blatant melodrama that is worse that Star Plus soaps - the film is filled with fillers like these.

Then there is a cameo by Karan Johar, and I was done for the day. I don't understand why talented actors like Shahid Kapoor and veterans like his father would sign a project which introduces the characters using ugly cartoons. Ridiculous jokes, mindless slapstick, and a shade of black-and-white fairytale is what all the film is about. Not one character is a real deal, and if we had with us Holden from J D Salinger's classic book "The Catcher in the Rye," he would only have one word collectively to describe the film and its tons of characters: PHONEY.

BOTTOM LINE: Do yourself a favor and skip Vikas Bahl's epic fail, Shaandaar, because in here, the characters stay awake so that we can catch some shuteye. The trailer is misleading; don't fall for it.

GRADE: F

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES (But, do you really want to?)

Shaandaar is a romantic comedy film directed by Vikas Bahl. Vikas has given hits like Chillar Party and Queen in the past. Shaandaar deserved a much shaandaar treatment by Vikas after his super successful film Queen. It is also claimed to be first Destination Wedding film of Bollywood. The film does use the motion picture in a few scenes where prelude to the plot is set and narrated by Naseeruddin Shah. Though the film starts on a high note of humour, but in the later parts of the film, the fun part falls flat, it fizzles down. The best part of the film is its cast - effortless Pankaj Kapur, spontaneous Shahid Kapur, bubbly Alia, cute Sanah. They definitely bring good moments on screen. I must say that, one can’t just write off this movie. One can enjoy this film in parts for the charm that its actors bring on screen.

The film begins with the motion picture along with Naseeruddin Shah’s narration, which sets the prelude to the plot. Bipin (Pankaj Kapur) adopts Alia (Alia Bhatt) and brings her home. Sushma Seth as Bipin’s mother – Kamala Arora, matriarch of the Arora family, rules the house along with Bipin’s wife (Niki Aneja). Both Kamala and Bipin’s wife are shown to be materialistic in nature. Though Alia is not accepted by both of them, she manages to deal with their hatred.

Alia’s sister Eesha (Sanah Kapur, Shahid’s real sister) is getting married to Robin Fundwani (Vikas Verma). It is more of a business deal for Kamala and Harry Fundwani (Sanjay Kapoor), a merger of two major business houses of India. For Robin and Eesha also, it is just a compromise for family’s sake. Robin is Harry’s brother who is flaunting his 8 ½ packs throughout the movie. Harry glitters in gold, is obsessed with gold. He is getting his brother married to Eesha, since Kamala has promised them the gold which equals the weight of Eesha (she is shown as plump girl). Both the families Aroras and Fundwanis travel for destination wedding. A fairy tale castle (probably in Europe) is chosen for this wedding.

Jagjinder Joginder aka JJ (Shahid Kapoor)’s entry happens in a completely filmy manner, his bike colliding with a vintage car driven by Bipin with his wife and daughters. This encounter, where the real father-son duo comes face-to-face on screen is funny. JJ happens to be the wedding organizer for Eesha-Robin’s wedding.

Alia is an insomniac. It is great to see her chemistry with her on-screen father Pankaj Kapur whom she calls Beeps. He designs dreams for her and alia keeps all the dreams safe in a box saying that she would watch every dream when she would start sleeping. Coincidently JJ is also an insomniac. As can be predicted, in the background of wedding preparations, another love story blossoms between JJ and Alia in a very cool fashion. It is great to see father becoming possessive of his daughter when he realizes that there is another man in her life.

There are certain low points in the movie. Rather entry of Sanjay Kapur as Harry Fundwani unfortunately is a low point, since it breaks the flow of humour tone set up till then. Drag is felt post-interval. Towards the end, the film just nosedives into silly comedy, a beautiful plot is made into a series of silly sub-plots. A scene just prior to climax where a girl speaks up for her right to live, could have been a show-stopper scene, but the way it is handled on screen has trivialized the message.

Certain characters are just added in the film viz. twin sisters, mirroring everything; a small kid with bow and arrow ready to hit the target etc. Anjana Sukhani is just a filler, does not get a single dialogue in the film. Lot of characters viz. Bipin’s brothers except the designer brother gets lost in the crowd.

Harry’s way of identifying with every successful individual as Sindhis (even with Michael Jackson) does not generate much humour. Karan Johar does make a special appearance with ‘Mehandi with Karan’. I am wondering whether these scenes were required at all? Music is average.

The best part of the film is definitely the moments between Alia-Shahid, Alia-Pankaj, Alia-Eesha. And the way, they have handled and ustified their respective characters, is surely going to bring smiles to your face.

How does the story move further? What happens to the destination wedding of Eesha-Robin? How does Alia-JJ’s relationship shape up? What happens when Alia comes to know regarding her biological parents? How does she respond? How does Bipin deal with his daughter Alia’s getting comfortable with JJ? What happens to Kamala’s business deal approach? Who actually benefit in the end?

Shaandaar definitely deserved a much shaandaar treatment by ‘Queen’ director Vikas Bahl. Shaandaar has its own moments of humour to entertain you, though the fun element nosedives into silly comical scenes later. Watch it, if you just want some very light-hearted stuff.

Its nothing but a huge 'MESS' ! And its even more heartbreaking that it comes from the director of Queen !