New Delhi:
Charming, seductive, enigmatic and a bit slow is Randeep Hooda’s latest release Main Aur Charles.
Not a biopic! Inspired by true events and focused on India’s biggest jail break by famous serial killer Charles Shobhraj; the film is fictitious thriller from the perspective of respected Indian cop, Amod Kanth.
It gives a feeling of tribute to many prominent stars of our industry; for instance, Randeep’s hairstyle gives you an insight of Prem Chopra’s glorious hairy days while film takes you back to the glorifying days of Ranbir Kapoor in ‘Bombay Velvet’.
The first half of the film is slow…very slow. Director Prawaal Raman takes nothing less than 30 minutes to establish who Charles is. But it totally justifies why the film has been given an ‘A’ certificate – woman dying in Bikini, for Charles, by Charles and all this in Thailand (you got it).
Now, after enjoying almost 50% of the money spent on ticket in just 30 minutes; the film actually begins. What comes next is like a cat and mouse chase which is intriguing, thrilling and charismatic at several occasions. Wait! Did I mention ‘chase’? Let me correct– it’s like cat and mouse morning walk.
Randeep Hooda nails the character with his mind-blowing English in French accent. Rather, this was his best performance so far. The film on the other hand fails to compliment him much for it.
They say Charles is a writer with no pen, he writes stories with his life and it’s like ready fodder for newspapers. But he says, ‘Bhaago to aise bhaago ki uspe picture bane’. Well, both the things are now a reality.
Prawaal Raman’s film has everything that sells in the Bollywood industry - a charismatic lead character, dollops of sex and perversion, thrilling experience and also run for life. But it heavily fails on recreating the incident which left cops dancing like a doll and that too with a twist.
Richa Chaddha, Adil Hussain and rest characters are used like props to highlight the character of Charles and don’t come up with anything that could be praised or criticised.
The only thing watchable in the movie is Randeep Hooda, who is more attractive than Bikni clad women.
Final verdict: There is drama, thrill and lot of stuff to claim ‘A’ rated film, but still Randeep Hooda must be the reason you chose to watch this film.
