Rating: **
A few things that we have learned about conmen from Bollywood films – One, the most effective weapon in their arsenal is their charm. It can take them through a con job like a hot knife through butter. Two, a corollary of the first rule; their victims are invariably gullible people who will quite easily fall prey to their charm. Three, a change in costume after every job is mandatory. Even if you still end up looking like your original self. And four, the conman walks away from the crime in slow motion, with a fast song / theme music playing in the background.
Our Ricky Bahl, played by Ranveer Singh, too falls into this stereotype. All his victims are young, impressionable girls (why only girls?) who along with their families are willing to invest lakhs into whatever scheme he cooks up. In fifteen years, he has duped thirty girls already. That’s when three of his former victims gang up and decide to out-dupe him by planting a decoy.
Three of his shenanigans are nicely told. One before the credits, one in the normal course and one in flashback. The first and the funniest features Parineeta Chopra as a spoilt Delhi PYT. Dipanita Sharma is good too as the high flying yuppie and the architect of the revenge plan. By comparison, Aditi Sharma as the
conservative Muslim is much more subdued. This film must have set the record for the maximum number of Sharma’s in the cast. Anushka Sharma as the decoy is the third out of the four lead actresses to share this common last name. There’s more. Parineeta Chopra’s father is played by Shireesh Sharma. And of course, the film’s director is Maneesh Sharma!!!
The first half of the film is breezy. And Ranveer is good as he dons various personae to trick his victims. His mannerisms in each role are visibly different, lending credibility to his con act. Indeed, the first half brings with it the promise that you are going to be taken for a roller coaster ride. For not only has Anushka Sharma been introduced just before the interval but the masterplan is about to unfold. So it’s highly disappointing when the second half fails to live up to expectations. Unimaginative and anti-climatic, there is no chemistry between Ranveer and Anushka, a factor that saw their earlier Band Baaja Baraat through. The end is a damp squib because writer Devika Bhagat seems to have run out of ideas. Interestingly, Habib Faisal, who wrote Band Baaja Baraat has been credited with ‘Additional Screenplay’. What’s that? Do we ascribe the better scenes to him?
The music does little to differentiate this film from many others that have come this year. It has been 12 hours since I have seen it and I am already forgetting parts of it. Catch it when it releases on DVD. It’s not worth the price you pay for your ticket.
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