Movie Review: You won't regret ignoring the 'Warning'

Star cast: Santosh Barmola, Suzana Rodrigues,Manjari Phadnis, Varun Sharma, Jitin Gulati, Sumit Suri, Madhurima Tuli

Director: Gurmmeet Singh

Duration : 1 Hr 49 Mins

Rating: **

Bollywooder's fascination for Hollywood concepts is by now an open secret, and at times the ideas of going ahead with Hollywood concepts have worked too, but there is no such mandate that, "a dark horse will always win a race". In the recent times with the emergence of numerous novel and captivating genres, our Bollywood men have also developed a fascination for adventure especially the ones pertaining to seafaring.

So far we have seen this seafaring adventure blended with some kind of treasure hunt, but this time "Warning" producer Anubhav Sinha along with director Gurmeet Singh has tried to portray it as a "sea-junket-gone-wrong".

Anyhow, the movie featuring a whole brigade of budding stars like Santosh Barmola, Suzana Rodrigues, Manjari Phadnis, Varun Sharma, Jitin Gulati, Sumit Suri, Madhurima Tulli et al opened with an average occupancy of 7 % at the multiplexes.

The narration of the "Warning" primarily is about a "marine excursion of friends gone wrong", where a bunch of school pals plans a reunion. Within no time after commencement the narration of "Warning" lands in the scenic milieu of Fiji, where Taranjit Singh Bakshi (Santosh Barmola) arranges a yacht trip for all his friends comprising Sabina (Manjari Fadnis) once love interest of TJ but now married, Anshul (Varun Sharma), Deepak (Jitin Gautam), Aman (Sumit Suri) and Gunjan (Madhurima Tulli) and yeah Sabina's lil daughter Sara.

But the hell breaks loose, when this streak of enjoyment ends-up in the lap of disaster, when all seven of them decides to have a dip into the deep blue sea.

As far as story-line of "Warning" is concerned then despite all your conscious and honest efforts, it is impossible to see the script of "Warning" as something original in nature. Probably while penning down Warning Gurmeet would have tried his level best to develop a tale altogether novel in spirit, but in-spite of that the theme of "Warning" keeps on giving you the "pangs of reminiscence" pertaining to Hollywood movie "Open Water 2: Adrift." So on the freshness front "Warning" actually don't have any newfangled concept in the offering.

Certainly script of "Warning" has all the flavors of making an engaging film, be it youthful enthusiasm, apprehensions and adventure, or a nerve freezing disaster, but in spite of that it's the lacking execution which takes its toll and completely the deflates the potential and though concept deployed behind the movie.

So in nutshell we can say that it's the execution part which pushes "Warning" in the marshes of boredom.

Even in screenplay department, there is nothing captivating in the offering, as soon as the movie takes-off you steps into an arena of curiosity where you start apprehending about something nail-biting in the offering, but due to loosely written screenplay, with the rolling ahead of frames all your curiosity also starts sinking in the deep blue sea.

Well if we talk about 3D aspect associated with "Warning" then all that could be said about it is, "Warning would had have a similar impact even if it would have been presented without a decal of 3D over it." And that's because by now cine buffs have become quite habitual of watching a smooth 3D action on the celluloid and something imperfect, obtruded unnecessarily on the name 3D distracts them. In case of "Warning" even this 3D additive looks too bland, call it inability of Gurmeet in using this infallible arrow or whatever but 3D garnishing of "Warning" completely fails in seizing the psyche of the audience and positively contributing to the movie.


If we talk about John Stewart's background score, then it is quite in accordance with the intensity of onscreen proceedings because had it been exceptional, then probably it would have separated itself from the visual offerings. In editing department Chiragh Jodiwala is just OK whereas cinematography of Franz Pagot up till an extent makes you sit till the culmination.

In the performance Santosh Barmola has done a decent job as TJ, after "Grand Masti", Manjari Phadnis has once again tried to prove her acting ability in a better manner. Although I had many expectation with Varun, who literally rocked as 'Choocha' in "Fukrey", but due to confined role-play scope he doesn't get much opportunity to perform, but in-spite of that the guy conveniently portrays his character. Sussazne and Madhurima add some amount of glamour to the movie and look confident in their respective roles.

Again because of haywire kind of entertainment in the offering, it will be wrong to expect any word of mouth publicity for "Warning" and in the absence of some major star-power the movie probably will sink on BO and go un-traced.


'Forewarning', despite the availability of all the resources which could have made "Warning" an entertaining or at least engaging saga, its maker completely fail in making use of them. So in nut shell "Warning" is avoidable, because ignoring it won't fetch you any remorse.

PHATA POSTER NIKHLA HERO: MOVIE REVIEW

Let's get one thing straight. This isn't what you want to see a super-gifted filmmaker like Rajkumar Santoshi do when he gets together with a talented star-actor like Shahid Kapoor. But what to do? Everyone wants a good laugh! It makes us forget about the troubles outside. Never mind the trouble that humour seems to encounter on screen each time someone makes a comedy.

To his credit, Santoshi deftly delivers the dynamics of drollery. No two ways about it. Unlike last week's lewd laughter in "Grand Masti", "Phata Poster Nikla Hero" (PPNH) avoids vulgarity like the plague. Dirty word plague....sorry wordplay is firmly eschewed. What we get is an earthy robust over-accentuated tribute to Salman Khan's Chulbul Pandey act from "Dabangg", with Shahid Kapoor stepping into the khaki uniform with the same wonky elan as our dear Chulbul Khan. Shahid has confessed it is easy to play a Salman Khan fan. The young actor who has so far not revealed his comic chops and has in fact shown dramatic synergy to be his forte, pulls out all stops to play an imposter cop, a role that makes him a Chulbul Pandey twice-over because Salman's cop-act was underlined as a spoof in the first place. So what we get in PPNH is a khaki-clad clown impersonating a cop who is actually impersonating Salman Khan in "Dabangg". Does that make sense? Even if it doesn't, it's just fine. 

Don't sweat over it. This is not one of Santoshi's seriously-intended films. For that, please refer to this wonderful director's "Lajja" or "Halla Bol". And if you are looking for hardcore gut-spilling action, go to Santoshi's Deol-driven juggernauts "Ghayal" and "Ghatak". Come to think of it, PPNH is not even an all-out zany comedy of errors like Santoshi's 'Andaz Apna Apna'. So what is it? After painful pondering over the over-punctuated parodic material in PPNH, I'd say it's a mongrelized mirth machine. A sort of "Dabangg" mated with Santoshi's last very successful comedy "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" which evidently taught Santoshi a lesson: farcical frivolity and lengthy titles translate into big bucks."Phata Poster..." gives poster-boy Shahid Kapoor a custom-built opportunity to get seriously comic. He digs deep into the very slim plot, ferreting out meager meat from the skimpy material. I must think that Shahid has a ball doing the droll act for the doll Ileana d'Cruz who abandons her serious sari-clad audacious wife's role in "Barfi!" to play the kind of "social worker" who brings a bad name to all charity work. Didn't Katrina play a similar busybee's role in Santoshi's "Ajab Prem..."? Didn't Ranbir do the goofy Chaplin-meets-Kondke act for the commodious camera in that film? Shahid seems comfortable doing the irrepressible comic impresario. But he's far more at home in the more sensible sober scenes he shares with his screen-mom Padmini Kolhapure, who looks too young to play Shahid's mom. But then at least her talent is being aired.

Come to think of it - everyone in this over-the-top comedy seems to be in it for the sake of getting into a massy mode. The art direction is kitschy. The camera wallows in the carnival mood. In the endeavour to enroll enthusiasm into the rom-com, the film succeeds. But be warned: the writing is repetitive. The scenes all end in exclamation marks and italics... like an essay by a schoolboy who is out to impress his favourite teacher. The humour jumps out of the screen like an eager 5-year old brat which must get your attention at any cost. If you think Shahid is one of the more interesting star-actor's of the current generation, then PPNH is a frenetically fashioned farce fest with excessive energy oozing out of every saturated pore. Shahid's songs and dances, especially the zanily unpredictable "Agal bagal" number are the highlight of the humour-hamper. And that's not such a good thing. Shahid gets to share camera space with some accomplished actors like Saurabh Shukla, Mukesh Tiwari, Darshan Jariwala and Sanjay Mishra. And that's a good thing. At least we are ensured that the slender pretext for laughter is bolstered by hefty actors. Oh yes, and the real Salman Khan shows up.

Movie Review: 'Phata Poster Nikla Hero' is a humdrum farce fest

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Ileana D'Cruz, Padmini Kolhapure

Written & Directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi

Ratiing:** 1/2

Let's get one thing straight. This isn't what you want to see a super-gifted filmmaker like Raj Kumar Santoshi do when he gets together with a talented star-actor like Shahid Kapoor.

But what to do! Everyone wants a good laugh.It makes us forget about the troubles outside. Never mind the trouble that humour seems to encounter on screen each time someone makes a comedy.

To his credit, Santoshi deftly delivers the dynamics of drollery . No two ways about it. Unlike last weeks lewd laughter in Grand Masti , Phata Poster Nikla Hero(PPNH) avoids vulgarity like the plague.

Dirty word-plague....sorry word play is firmly eschewed.What we get is an earthy robust over-accentuated tribute to Salman Khan's Chulbul Pandey act from Dabangg, with Shahid Kapoor stepping into the khaki uniform with the same wonky elan as our dear Chulbul Khan.

Shahid has confessed it is easy playing a Salman Khan fan. The young actor who has so far not revealed his comic chops and has in fact shown dramatic synergy to be his forte, pulls out all stops to play an imposter cop, a role that makes him a Chulbul Pandey twice-over because Salman's cop-act was underlined as a spoof in the first place.

So what we get in PPNH is a khaki-clad clown impersonating a cop who is actually impersonating Salman Khan in Dabangg.

Does that make sense? Even if it doesn't, it's just fine. Don't sweat over it.This is not one of Santoshi's seriously-intended films. For that, please refer to this wonderful director's Lajja or Halla Bol.And if you are looking for hardcore gut-spilling action go to Santoshi's Deol-driven juggernauts Ghayal and Ghatak.

Come to think of it, PPNH is not even an all-out zany comedy of errors like Santoshi's Andaz Apna Apna. So what is it? After painful pondering over the over-punctuated parodic material in PPNH I'd say it's a mongrelized mirth machine.A sort of Dabangg mated with Santoshi's last very successful comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani which evidently taught Santoshi a lesson: farcical frivolity and lengthy titles translate into big bucks.

Phata Poster... gives poster-boy Shahid Kapoor a custom-built opportunity to get seriously comic. He digs deep into the very slim plot , ferreting out meager meat from the skimpy material. I must Shahid has a ball doing the droll act for the doll Ileana d'Cruz who abandons her serious saree-clad audacious wife's role in Barfi to play the kind of `social worker` who brings a bad name to all charity work.


Didn't Katrina play a similar busybee's role in Santoshi's Ajab Prem...? Didn't Ranbir do the goofy Chaplin-meets-Kondke act for the commodious camera in that film? Shahid seems comfortable doing the irrepressible comic impresario. But he's far more at home in the more sensible sober scenes he shares with his screen-mom Padmini Kolhapure who looks too young to play Shahid's mom. But then at least her talent is being aired.

Come to think of it everyone in this over-the-top comedy(ha ha) seems to be in it for the sake of getting into a massy mode. The art direction is kitschy. The camera wallows in the carnival mood.In the endeavour to enroll enthusiasm into the rom-com the film succeeds. But be warned: the writing is repetitive. The scenes all end in exclamation marks and italics.like an essay by a schoolboy who is out to impress his favourite teacher. The humour jumps out of the screen like an eager 5-year old brat which must get your attention at any cost.

If you think Shahid is one of the more interesting star-actor's of the current generation then PPNH is a frenetically fashioned farce fest with excessive energy oozing out of every saturated pore. Shhaid's songs and dances specially the zanily unpredictable Agal-bagal number are the highlight of the humour-hamper . And that's not such a good thing. Shahid gets to share camera space with some accomplished actors like Saurabh Shukla,Mukesh Tiwari, Darshan Jariwala and Sanjay Mishra. And that's a good thing.


At least we are ensured that the slender pretext for laughter is bolstered by hefty actors.

Oh yes, the real Salman Khan shows up. Devta khud prakat hote hain bhakton ke beech. But God doesn't seem much interested in the goings-on.