Total Dramebaaz

Our lives would be so dull if we simply played our parts in fulfilling our destiny and saying all the things we were meant to say and doing all the things we were meant to do. What makes life such a beautiful journey is the little drama we add to it. The minor misunderstandings, the little conflicts, the uncalled-for reactions - they are all responsible for what we make of what life throws at us. And Rohan Sippy's Nautanki Saala is just the celebration of that drama. It is a carnival of nautanki.

The film opens with Ram Parmar (Ayushmann) at a therapy session with his shrink, telling her about a Chinese proverb which translates into, 'We are responsible for the lives of the people we save.' Having stopped a stranger named Mandar Lele (Kunaal) from committing suicide, RP (as Ram likes himself being referred to) feels obligated to also save Mandar from the wreckage of his own broken heart. A comedy of errors, the film unfolds with its heightened sense of drama into an innocent, unintended love triangle.

A refreshing romantic comedy, the film's strength is in its well-crafted screenplay, with its characters and properties perfectly placed in the narrative. Uneasy hilarious moments create a comic tension, like the scene where a snorty Mandar, just rescued from committing suicide, is introduced by Ram as his old buddy to his fiance. Or sometimes it's just the situational humour of a Hospital receptionist with a heavy accent, and on other occasions, puns that have some thought put into them.

Rohan Sippy, who has made the underrated comedy Bluffmaster, has a similar approach to this film and captures humour that is present in the script. Nautanki Saala is therefore as much a writer's film as the director's. Nipun Dharmadhikari's screenplay in his maiden film as a screenwriter has the singularity and grip that'll make you remember the movie for a long time.

Seemingly lengthy at over two hours, Nautanki Saala has a smooth narrative and the only element that prevents the film from becoming something greater than it is, is the casting. Apart from the male leads, and a superficial cameo by Abhishek Bachchan, the ensemble should have been chosen more extensively. The three leading women in the film, Pooja Salvi, Evelyn Sharma and Gaelyn Mendonca are a serious drawback to the overall ambience of the film. There is just too much effort and too little expression in their performance.

A decent comedy by all means, Nautanki Saala runs a little deeper with its Ramayan metaphor and motifs like the Shiv dhanusha and Ram's ring which Hanuman delivers to Sita. Embedded without losing the fluidity of the main plot, these little things make your overall viewing experience more meaningful.

All in all, the film entertains you and once you have seen it, you might forget those little jokes and the romance; but there's something you take back with you - the feeling of satisfaction that your inner Dramebaaz has been acknowledged.

Rating – 3 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on April 13, 2013