Aagey Se Right

wogma rating: Add to 'must watch' list ^(?)

quick review:

Following a gun is brings roars of laughter. The wit is completely enjoyable and so are some of the performances. Padded with the usual spoof-material, only a little funnier.

Director: Indrajit Nattoji

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Kay Kay Menon, Vijay Maurya

Running time: 120 minutes

Genres: Comedy, Crime

More Movie Info

A mega-bomb blast is hatched in the heart of Mumbai. There are jihadis involved. And such a serious issue is completely ripped apart with laughter from the audiences. That is exactly how lightly this unlikely subject of terrorism is dealt with in Aage Se Right. The title would be meaningless without its logo. A straight run into a no-entry lane is what this film is all about. To start off, there's a terrorist (Kay Kay Menon) and a cop (Shreyas Talpade) both of whom are the least suitable in their professions.

It's a spoof from the first few sequences. You can sense something is off from the darkest possible ambience created in the first scene. My usual complaint with spoofs is that in the name of being satirical they tend to do the same things that they are spoofing, only more exaggeratedly. Both the writer and director refrain from doing that and that a HUGE bonus for the audience.

Of course, they haven't been able to avoid it completely. To start with a few jokes are predictable. Then, stereotyping of people from various regions of the country has been done ad nauseam in Hindi films. There are coincidences that are not anywhere close to reality in Mumbai. Also, there's this film set whose crew is the most annoying. Add to this flashback, character transitions, token roles to women, some bad animation, and a clichéd climax - could be all in the name of satire, but it didn't entertain nor did it make a point. There's the customary joke on the targe of every third film these days - media - it receives another thrashing in the same old way.

Enter creative dialogues. Aage Se Right has the most hilarious lines I've heard in a real long time. A couple of them made me burst out into laughter and the rest of the time I had a wide grin across my face. The situations added to the scope for dialogues. The entire idea of having a Mumbai underworld Don teach a pure Urdu speaker the Mumbaiya dialect of Hindi under the name of "correct" language was hilarious and didn't get tiring till the end.

And add to this the little things happening in the ambience - sign boards, costumes, mobile phone ring tones colors used - all that contribute to the humorous vein. The contrast between rough and gruff Mumbaiya and the ultra-clean albeit outdated soft Urdu is unmistakable. The comparison of how the underworld organizes itself with that of the corporate world is comic. I also enjoyed the analogy of Dinkar Waghmare's (Shreyas Talpade's) character to superheroes.

It's always fun to see Kay Kay Menon switch to comedy in an otherwise serious role. But in this one, he is a complete laugh riot. And that too completely utilizing his perfect diction. Can you miss the character's frame of mind with an actor like Kay Kay. Cool clown, Shreyas Talpade has timed his lines perfectly. Though the script requires him to be a little loud, he manages to annoy only when the co-character in the frame needs to be annoyed. The balancing might have been a tough one. A couple of other character actors have done well too, but the rest is just going through the drill.

It's been a while since I've enjoyed a spoof so much. The constant stream of funny quips and Kay Kay Menon were the main contributors. It is a good weekend watch, not necessarily a rush to the theaters for the not so keen but certainly a cool DVD watch.

- meeta, a part of the audience

23 reviewers^(?) - 1 yays 3 so-so 19 nays

Warning: clicking on "full review" will take you to an external website that could contain spoilers.

Thumbs up, by Ankit Ojha, Planet Bollywood : ...UTV Spotboy continues the tradition of picking up wild directors; this time with Indrajit Nattoji who comes up with one of the zaniest and more bizarre comedies of 2009.... full review

So-So, by Sonia Chopra, Sify Movies : ...The film is humorous throughout.... full review

So-So, by Janhvi Patel, StarBoxOffice : ... Shenaz Treasurywala looks angelic but she cannot dance even though she is a bar dancer.... full review

So-So, by Avijit Ghosh, Times of India : ...The star of the film, though, is Vijay Maurya.... full review

Thumbs down, by Martin D'Souza, AOL INDIA : ....Though funny in parts, the film fails to hold your imagination for long... full review

Thumbs down, Apun Ka Choice : ...its gags fail to work after a while because the story gets too convoluted in the crowd of characters... full review

Thumbs down, by Khalid Mohamed, aslibaat.com : ...Also, the cutie’s attempts to bone up on Urdu and the terrorist’s acquaintance with Bambaiya lingo could have been absolutely hilarious... full review

Thumbs down, by Roshni Mulchandani, Bolly Spice : ...I'm not saying that ASR is terrible, but it is a bit off track... full review

Thumbs down, by Shweta Parande, Buzz18 : ...Kay Kay is at his usual best as the terrorist who falls in love and ... full review

Thumbs down, by Udita Jhunjhunwala, DNA : ...Talpade and Menon make comedy seem easy. But director Natoji's inexperience shows.... full review

Thumbs down, by Deepa Garimella, fullhyd.com : ...It's like a comic strip - a comic strip makes you smile inwardly, and if it's forceful enough, makes you smile outwardly too, but it requires an enormous amount of wackiness if it has to make you actually chuckle.... full review

Thumbs down, by Martin D'Souza, Glamsham.com : ...t is wild and whacky no doubt but the story is not sustained... full review

Thumbs down, by Rajeev Masand, IBN Live : ...an occasionally comical chase movie where a series of coincidences take the screenplay forward to its predictable, limp climax.... full review

Thumbs down, by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM : ..., the story is so fragile that it runs out of breath when stretched for 2 long hours.... full review

Thumbs down, by Gaurav Malani, indiatimes : ...The shoddy screenplay of the film wanders as aimlessly as the gun keeps hanging around, giving no sensible flow to the narrative... full review

Thumbs down, Indicine : ...Good first half, pathetic disastrous second half.... full review

Thumbs down, by Ashok Nayak, Now Running.com : ... But about 30 mins into it, it falls so badly, you wonder if the first 30 mins and the last 90 mins were directed by different individuals.... full review

Thumbs down, by Joginder Tuteja, Now Running.com : ...One also wonders what made Mahie Gill sign this film.... full review

Thumbs down, by Hanumant Bhansali, Radio Sargam : ...The songs don’t fit in the movie ... full review

Thumbs down, by Esha Razdan, real bollywoood : ...Debutant director Indrajit Nattoji proves his humorous-prowess through the witty well-written dialogues... full review

Thumbs down, by Raja Sen, Rediff : ...It feels bad to write off a film that shows off some slivers of genuine wit. ... full review

Thumbs down, by The Thirdman, Upper Stall : ... can’t even say runs out of steam for there is no steam built up to begin with.... full review

Twitter reviews for this movie are not available.

2 readers - 0 yays 1 so-so 1 nays

So-So, by Consumer Goods

Nay! Thumbs Down, by JJ : outright bad

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Warning: this section has some details that could distort your experience while watching the movie. I strongly recommend reading this only after you have seen the movie or if you have decided not to see it.

Plot Summary

Jaanu (Kay Kay Menon) is a Jihadi who is in Mumbai to blow up a huge gathering of cops. Dinkar Waghmare (Shreyas Talpade) is a rookie cop who is forced into this profession of saving the world from criminals. Will this unlikely cop keep his comrades from being torn into pieces.

What Worked

The satire in the titles.
The slo-mo imitation of the lead pair running to each other.
References to Mughal-e-azam, Karma, Main Hoon Na, Mission Kashmir.

What did not

Note: This section simply lists the things that I did not like in this movie. This is not the overall impression about this movie. Please read the full review here

Are the police inspectors so well-trained to handle security arrangements without instructions from the head of security?
Gambling theme for a police function - didn't quite get it.
The Shreyas Talpade-Mahie Gill combination.
The Mahie Gill song.

Parental Guidance:

Violence: Gunfights all over the place. And mention of bombs and terrorism.
Language: Alludes to abusive language quite often.
Nudity & Sexual content: There's a dance bar scene. Otherwise it's pretty clean.
Concept: Mainly, a spoof of all terrorist films. So ends up becoming a love vs. war theme too.
General Look and Feel: Its light and comic.