Lafangey Parindey Reviews - POST ALL HERE - Page 6

Originally posted by: friends_rock

Lafangey Parindey - The Review
Friday, August 20, 2010
Subhash K. Jha

Hindi Film Review
By Subhash K Jha
Lafangey Parindey
Starring Deepika Padukone, Neil Nitin Mukesh
Rating: ***


Deepika Padukone gives to the timless yet time-bound yale the kind of fluent grace and eloquent spin that the audience associates with the female legends of celluloid ,namely Meena Kumari and Nutan. Deepika brings the poignant lyricism of the former and the spirited delicacy of the latter into what's unarguably one of the best-written female characters in recent times.

So every now and then comes along a film that not just takes you by surprise but also doggedly tugs at your heartstrings. Lafangey Parindey is one such film. The title is hugely misleading-in fact you are not even sure what the hell Lafangey Parindey means and you sure hope that smelly pigeons wont be flying around the frames in the same annoying manner in which they fly around your balcony and thankfully your fears are laid to rest. The pigeon metaphor is subtle and yes the film soars on a number of counts.

You have One Shot Nandu (Neil Nitin Mukesh) a boxer who works for Usman (Piyush Mishra) a don and you have Pinky Palhar (Deepika Padukone) a skater dancer. One accident later Pinky is blind and her hopes of becoming a huge dancing star are almost shot to smithereens when Nandu decides to help her see. Why he wants to help her is also a crucial part of the story. And Pinky learns to see with her ears and also ultimately with her heart. And Nandu grapples with love and betrayal and guilt and the choice of doing what's right or going with what's easy. But it all ends well and by then you sure are rooting for these two absolutely adorable people.

The romance in Lafangey… is refreshing. It's not your average 'look into each other's eyes and sing a song on a mountain top' kind of romance. Yet its filmy at heart and it makes you smile every time Pinky tries to 'maaro line' on the extremely shy and uncomfortable Nandu. Pinky is a delight. Blind or otherwise she is tough as nails, tomboyish, won't suffer fools gladly, will chase her dreams at any cost and her undercoating of vulnerability is remarkably etched out. Nandu has nerves of steel in the boxing ring but is a puddle of emotions when it comes to Pinky. He falls in love with her but his innate taporiness makes it difficult for him to express it.

Deepika as the spunky Pinky is fabulous. She gives it the right 'namak' and you are happy to see a non-simpering normal Hindi film heroine. Neil is earnest and endearing. He scores in the emotional bits specially where all he is doing is looking and not speaking. The chemistry between the lead actors is interesting and warm.

The narrative by Gopi Puthran is fairly taut and engrossing. Production design by Eldridge Rodrigues and Madhu Sarkar Kuriakose is stupendous and great production and art design has always been director Pradeep Sarkar's forte. The music by R Anandh is like silken rain drops on a wet window specially Nain parindey and Man lafanga bada… Cinematography by Natarajan Subramanium lends the film a great atmosphere and texture. After a limp Laaga Chunari Mein Daag Pradeep Sarkar returns with a bang.

Lafangey is ultimately a sweet love story. Of course there are flaws, like for instance Pinky who has just been in a life threatening accident which leaves her blind is almost immediately up on her feet and wants to get back to skating and dancing. What about dealing with day-to-day things first, as someone who is suddenly blind? But then nothing is perfect least of all love. And Lafangey Parindey is ultimately a film about love and trust. And we can never have enough of those.

Sukanya Venkatraghavan

Awwwleeee...I am sooo hazzppyy for Deepi And these are mixed reviews so thats good. I hope the film does rocking well 😳 I am just so happy for Deepika <3 And Neil too (:

Originally posted by: ttxl

Movie Review: Lafangey Parindey

Bracingly Inept and Uninteresting

Who says critics are useless? Now you don't have to see this movie, unless of course, you derive some satisfaction/pleasure from graphic violence, unforgivably cliched scripts, migraine-inducing songs, and/or repeated sightings of Neil Nitin Mukesh's bare arms.

Make no mistake, this is a film replete with awful acting that glorifies nihilism - this is in-your-face movie-making by people with a moral compass badly askew. The title 'Lafangey Parindey' is an apt metaphor for the production house behind this flick which ultimately bobs and weaves a lot but ends up all empty air. Maybe it's a cultural thing but there's nothing remotely entertaining in 'Lafangey Parindey' - its just an exercise in silliness designed to rob you of Rs 300+. Director Pradeep Sarkar (of Laga Chunari me Daag fame) offers a lame attempt to do what Guy Ritchie has frequently done better - and with far more cinematic artistry. If he earns no other accolades for this directorial effort - a distinct likelihood - Sarkar deserves some kind of award just for assembling the most bizarrely inept cast and ideas of this young century. He's put together this film with the offhand shoddiness of a government worker thinking about his Saturday evening beer.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment when it becomes clear that this lurid, steroidal 'masala entertainer' is certifiably insane (or at least a lot funnier than it means to be), but it's pretty early on. Everyone seems to be sleepwalking through this film. Except for Deepika Padukone, who is such a terrible actress that she couldn't even act like she's sleepwalking. She is so staggeringly awful, such an ordeal to sit through, that it's hard to know where to start talking about it. But even the film's cast is done in by the deathless mediocrity of the production, an assemblage of random camera shots, messy editing, redundant scenes, and witless dialogue as haphazardly stitched together as the flesh on a burn victim's face. In 'Lafangey Parindey', Neil Nitin Mukesh plays Nandu, a yuppie biker who likes to punch folks in the face. So how come he couldn't yank director Sarkar out of his coma with his one-shot? All Neil does is stride around in gelled hair, talk fake tapori and ham to the hilt, deplorably abusing the good will he garnered after surprising everyone with 'Johnny Gaddar'.

Gopi Puthran's script can't quite get a grasp on character depth, yet it also can't quite deliver the cheap thrills such a trashy tale might otherwise provide. The storytelling is so overwrought and misguided, 'Lafangey Parindey' winds up as a colossal car wreck. It doesn't take long to figure out that Deepika, as a blind rollerskating dancer, and Neil Nitin as her doting, blindfolded hero are the most unconvincing team of hired actors in Bollywood history. Really, why bother roping in Deepika for a role in which she's supposed to dance? What's more, Mr Sarkar is so lazy that he doesn't even bother concealing the body double used for the dancing/rollerskating Ballerina scenes. After what seems like an eternity of bludgeoning us into open-jawed bafflement, 'Lafangey Parindey' is best aborted, and flushed away as one of 2010's more unpleasant memories.

You can surely tell 'Lafangey Parindey' has been passed through Sanjib Datta's editing bay one too many times. Style over substance is the norm as the whole film looks like what someone might vomit up after partially digesting Natarajan Subramanian's digitised footage. Eldridge Rodrigues' insistently fussy and grandiose production design mistakes extra-crisp textures, brilliant colors and high contrast backdrops for story atmosphere and style. Yes it's flashy as hell, but amphetamine-fueled methods do not compensate for distinct lack of substance. Sham Kaushal's action all but forces its bulky, twitching mass down your throat until you realise you haven't been entertained but assaulted.

'Lafangey Parindey' is certainly a front runner for one of the worst mainstream Bollywood releases of the year. It will try your patience and give you a throbbing headache - about all it does with any success. The only people who deserve to see this film are Rahul Mahajan and the CEO of British Petroleum.

Source: http://www.india.com/movies/movie-reviews/movie-review-lafangey-parindey_7949