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Simran Movie Review: Kangana Ranaut is effortless in this film that merely flirts with brilliance
Kangana Ranaut’s Simran is a one-time watch.
Mediocre is a term that one wouldn’t easily associate with either Kangana Ranaut or Hansal Mehta. But unfortunately it is one of the many things that Simran is; this particular bit about the movie supersedes everything else. It’s a beautifully shot film but the plot, despite being innovative, is frankly too convenient. In its bait to pepper the story with breeziness, the writers – Kangana and Apurva Asrani, forget to layer the leading lady Praful Patel’s personality enough. There is no depth to her, her reasons are far from being well etched out. That, along with the very fact that Simran is a loosely edited film works against the multiple plusses of it.
As it is expected to do by design, the film rides entirely on the brave shoulders of its leading lady Kangana Ranaut. She is impressive, rendering more meat to her part than the written word calls for. She is goofy, adorable, reckless, aimless and yet utterly charming. The film’s most enjoyable scenes is where she raises a toast to Las Vegas, a city that calls for you to live life on the edge. She gets into the very skin of Praful Patel – a 30-year-old Gujarati housekeeper at a hotel, whose few wrong choices lands her at the mercy of money lenders. To cough up a large sum she gambles at a Vegas casino. To pay off the debt, the only option for Praful is that she must rob banks without thinking about the consequences.
Kangana, thankfully, finds a dependable cast to bank on. Starting with the unusual Sohum Shah, it is safe to say that the supporting cast was cleverly chosen. Together, Ranaut and him make for a well-paced, punchy first half. By intermission, you’ll find yourself invested in the story which usually for film critics is a risky zone. Like always, the feeling is a mere prelude to a disappointing second hour. The pace falls, the choppy editing is glaring at our faces and it’s hard to wrap your head around how conveniently the story is finished off. In fact, one of the major problems in the film is that none of the robberies seem believable. They are conveniently done. It is difficult to believe that an amateur robber does a good job of easily scraping through each of them without many hiccups
Yes, Simran at many places requires you to suspend your belief and surrender to the story they have to tell. For most part, Ranaut manages to keep you well occupied to be able to notices the flaws but then, an actor can’t cover what doesn’t fall under the purview of her job. The direction felt limp at places; especially the shabbily done chase sequence was a downer. There is too much romance between Praful and her suitor, which seemed out of place and needless. It breaks the tautness of the material and the rhythm of the story. The bad guys (moneylenders) are never fearsome and are reduced to caricature figures who fail to evoke any fear.
Simran has so much going for it that you really want to like the film, root for Praful, draw satisfaction from a stellar performance of a fine artiste like Kangana. But then, something doesn’t work for the film. Unfortunately, it’s a great one-time watch which makes you wish that the makers had fine-tuned it enough to propel it towards a huge success!
We rate it a 55% on the movie meter
