Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: ***
When the Queen of Bollywood stars as a female lead and is also the protagonist of the movie, you just can't hold yourself back from the movie theatre. And when she's directed by Hansal Mehta of Shahid, Aligarh and Citylights fame, it becomes all the more important to watch this movie.
The scene shifts to the big screen where Kangana Ranaut is shown as a 30-plus divorcee, Praful Patel who lives with her parents in Atlanta; and works in the housekeeping department of a plush hotel. She is shown to be an unconventional Gujrati who lives life on her own terms, even refusing to indulge in sex without a protection.
She saves her earnings to buy her own den but destiny is scripting a different script of her life and she ends up losing all her earnings while visiting Las Vegas, where she's been invited on her cousin Ambar's (Aneesha Joshi) Bachelorette.
Trying to shore up amount, she lands herself in the world of crime. As a badass girl, she starts robbing banks and people and she enjoys it fully at the expanse of the victims. She doesn't believe in finesse while indulging in this new found love and adventure, by leaving an obvious trial which is quite oblivious to the police.
Branded as the "Lipstick Bandit" by the media, she remains uncaught despite at least half a dozen heists. But she carries her character with elan despite obvious flaws with the script which is a little far-fetched. The director in Hansal Mehta, also tries to to shore up the movie by adding a few comic scenes which could have fallen flat without Kangana's histronics.
The casting also suffers quite a bit as the characters of Praful's father, her fiancee (Sohum Shah) and the black money-lender, Jason Louder apart from a host of Indian and firangi actors just don't add up. But the viewer doesn't go to watch them. They're there for Kangana, and she doesn't disappoint anyone.
Despite the script being lose, this movie is worth a 'Dekho' for its entertainment quotient. The music is not out of place despite the movie being shot in foreign locals due to obvious reasons. In fact, it simply goes pretty smoothly with the flow and kudos to Sachin-Jigar duo for the music. The song "Meet" by Arijit Singh and "Pinjra tod ke" by Sunidhi Chauhan enhance the soulful music.
Even the cinematographer, Anuj Dhawan does a decent job by capturing Atlanta and Las Vegas beautifully. Hansal Mehta is an accomplished director and his experimentation would cost him dear, not financially but otherwise. But let's not be too judgementl and enjoy the movie simply due to the girl next door and our favourite Kangana.
