Short Movie review # 17 : Ugly aur Pagli

Too bad Ranvir Shorey's uncle is not a top actor who knows how to play the publicity game like the back of his hand. Too bad this movie was not produced by this top actor, who could afford A.R. Rehman for another movie he recently produced. Too bad there were no promotional tours in different cities, and no black tie premiere with half of Bollywood invited.

Too bad, that this fine movie, due to lack of hype/interest/curiosity, will die an early death. Sure, some earnest souls like me will try our best to promote it through word of mouth.

For me ,Ugly aur Pagli is the sweetest and most fun movie of the year where you can unabashedly laugh at the audacity of the humor. Shorey plays Kabir, a Maharashtrian mumbaikar, who has failed in his engineering college 4 times. He meets Mallika Sherawat (Kuhu), and sparks fly. Only for him , that is. Several drunken episodes and slaps later, he realizes he loves her, but she doesn't love him.

It doesn't matter. All he wants , is to keep her happy. It doesn't matter that her parents are straight out of a freak show. He is still crazy about her. (By the way, did we see the girl's parents being the reason the boy suddenly not loving her any more in a recent movie that is supposedly the biggest hit of 2008 ?)

Yes, this movie has a few bad points as well. The irritating bellboy who hams, the flat music ( except for talli) and the wierd dream sequences.

Shorey and Sherawat have crackling chemistry and mercifully, neither overdoes the humor. This in fact, is the key to the charm of the movie, with both of them underplaying their characters to perfection. I have always like Mallika Sherawat as an actress since Khwaaish, I loved her in Pyar ke Side Effects and now im a big fan !

As for Ranvir Shorey, this is what I call carrying a movie without any great music or star power.
Go see it !
Rating : 3.5 stars

P.S. : This movie really is what its tag line says it is : "This summer's craziest comedy".