~BANGISTAN Reviews~

MID DAY

'Bangistan'
U/A; Comedy
Director: Karan Anshuman
Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Pulkit Samrat, Jacqueline Fernandez
Rating:

'Bangistan' poster

Debutant director Karan Anshuman's 'Bangistan' has a mighty interesting concept with a good intention (screenplay by Puneet Krishnan, Sumit Purohit and Karan Anshuman). It should have translated into a film to remember, but unfortunately it doesn't. However, there are some flashes of brilliance, which are unmissable.

'Bangistan' talks about a fictional land by the same name where the Hindus and Muslims hate each other with a vengeance. But for their respective religious leaders, who are actually close friends and chat with each other on skype, the two clans would have ripped each other apart. On the Muslim side of the country is Hafeez Bin Ali (Riteish Deshmukh), who's work in a call centre during daytime and a fanatic in afterhours. His counterpart on the other side is Praveen Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat), a kattar Hindu who plays Lord Hanuman in a local drama company. The two end up in Poland on a suicidal mission and also staying in the same house.

The fairly intelligent and relevant script highlights how two individuals who outwardly might belong to different religions, are nevertheless the same kind of humans with the similar kind of values. Sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle references to this are made in many occasions, like the airport scene when both realise that they are wearing the same kind of boxer shorts underneath the clothes that they wear to suit their religion's diktats. In another memorable scene, two characters debate about how wonderful their own religion is, but end up highlighting the goodness of the other person's religion.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't live up to the super smart script. Also, it isn't really funny as it is supposed to be, except for some sequences, like the one where Hafeez and Praveen go to buy bombs in Poland. Riteish Deshmukh is earnest and endearing. Pulkit Samrat, however, hams his way through the film and one is tempted to ask him to shut up by the end of it.

The film could have gone a notch or two higher, if Pulkit Samrat had gone slow on his histrionics and perhaps a tad more steady handed execution by the debut director. The script and screenplay deserved a better film.

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KOIMOI

Bangistan movie review: All smoke and no bangs make this Riteish Deshmukh - Pulkit Samrat comedy a dull film!

The movie is directed by former movie critic, Karan Anshuman, and produced by Excel Entertainment.

What's it about:

The movie is set in a fictional island nation called Bangistan (don't ask why!), which is divided into two parts. The North Bangistan is inhabited by Muslims, while the South by Hindus. Their chief leaders are friends and want to openly show their solidarity at World Religious Conference (or something like that...), that's being held in Poland. The extremist groups on each side don't like the idea so they convince two gullible youths to bomb the conference. The Muslims hire Hafeez Bin Ali (Riteish Deshmukh), a former BPO employee who leaves his job because Americans call him a terrorist. The Hindus rope in Praveen Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat), a Ram Leela enthusiast and follower of Maa ki Dal outfit. Both the prospective suicide bombers change their religions so that the blame of the bombing fall on to the other group. In Poland, these two meet, became building mates and later friends, dance with a hot waitress (Jacqueline Fernandez) on the streets of Krakow, before their original identities dawn upon them, leading to a climax of absurd proportions! All these lead us to ask just one question for the director- how did you convince Farhan Akhtar to loosen his purse and produce this absurdity?

What's hot:

The biggest positive about the film is that it's just around 2 hours, so you only have suffer that much. There were a few clever gags strewn here and there (the terrorist version of MacDonald's with a bearded man with guns as the clown, the Bobbit'sky farm and the Riteish line yahaan khadi kyun nahi ho rahi, the spoof on TVC ads, the presence of Darth Vader in the religious conference; after all Star Wars is a religion in US!). I also liked the scene when Riteish and Pulkit couldn't explain their own religions, but easily explain the meaning of each other's religion. But such scenes are far and few, and not enough to save the film. And yes, Poland is beautiful!

What's not:

Karan Anshuman, what have you done? You had a great concept (at least on paper!), a great production team (Excel Entertainment), immense knowledge of films in your head (he was a critic) and an immensely talented Riteish Deshmukh in your cast, yet you managed to botch all that up with really incompetent direction! Pray, tell me what was the genre of the film? Was it a comedy, for there were very little opportunities to laugh with you and more at you? Was it a farce? If so, why did you turn so serious all of a sudden and start giving so much pravachan that we already went through in PK? And if it was a serious film, why did the initial scenes feel like it was directed by Qtiyapa team? Why did you make Riteish the subdued and the serious character, when he could have done wonders if you had let him free? Why make Pulkit Samrat the comic one, when all he could do was ape Salman Khan and act loud (there is a quote about Pulkit that unintentionally caused the audience to ROTFL, when Riteish calls him a bad actor')? Why cast the beautiful Jacqueline Fernandez in such a small thankless role? Why does Riteish became a terrorist even when he is against the concept of Muslims being called terrorist? What was that stupid subplot of that bakra all about? Above all, why have you set the story in the fictional land of Bangistan (though the majority of the movie is set in Poland)? Is it because you didn't have the guts to set the movie in India or Pakistan? The saddest part is, there was so much potential...just so much potential...

What to do:

No two ways about it. Bangistan is a huge disappointment, especially since it came from the stable of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. As for the director, we recommend you to watch the 2010 British film Four Lions, to understand how to make a farce film on terrorism that entertains as well!

1.Rating-2.5/5
2.movie definitely has good intent
but miss the plot badly.
3.the movie have some good moments which does lift the movie
from disaster to average movie.
4.the movie length is one of the plus point.first half is much better
whereas second half disappoints a bit.
5.few moments in climax could have been avoided
definitely not up to mark.
6.ritesh as always dependable as far as acting goes and
looked and acted well above rest of other cast
7.pulkit is OK in his role.as far as acting goes average
could have been much better
8.jacqueline fernandez is just in supporting role
just one song and few dialogues for her.
9.one good thing about second half was mujhko kuch bhi pata nahi tha(ishwar-maula)song
and after disappointing climax to have end credits with this song was good.

Kamaal R Khan-KRK @kamaalrkhan

For those who are asking- yes my friends #BombayVelvet is Mughal-E- Azam compare to #Bangistan

Kamaal R Khan-KRK @kamaalrkhan

After many yrs #Bangistan is first film which I have left in interval coz I don't have capacity to watch this greatest film off all time.

Kamaal R Khan-KRK @kamaalrkhan

#Bangistan has got less opening than all time blockbuster Welcome To Karachi so don't be surprised if theaters will remove it tonight only.

😆

Is it Bangladesh + Pakistan = Bangistan? 😕