I can honestly say Bollywood film is not something you should waste your time on, unless you enjoy implausible storylines and a little bit of song and dance here or there. Where many may have enjoyed the baffling plot that is Shaandaar, it sure does not appear that way in the reviews.
I for one will probably never return to FunAsia nor will I spend two to three hours trying to read subtitles while the characters are experiencing a trip from pot brownies and shrooms. I think it is safe say that Shaandaar may have had one of the most confusing plots of any film I have ever seen. It may be that I don’t quite understand humor in the Indian culture. Laughing when the grandmother dies, JJ’s everlasting love being a cure for Alia’s insomnia, or Isha’s obesity, I’m not sure I’ve ever been more conflicted about a tale.
The one thing I thoroughly enjoyed were the musical numbers. They were evenly spread out throughout the film and incorporated into the script with each character singing and dancing at one point or another. This made for some variety with the complicated plot and were incorporated at the perfect time. As I was just starting to doze off some exciting catchy song would begin followed by mediocre dancing and vibrant costumes waking me up from many mundane delusions. All that this film is, is the story of a failed marriage and a budding romance between a wedding planner and the sister of the bride.
The director somehow managed to include an odd depiction of a bachelorette party, an inappropriate grandmother, a tasteless groom for Isha, a fantasized scene of horseback riding, and a frame of Alia taking a nice stroll on the beach in her bikini. The way Alia was depicted on the beach, made it seem to the audience like this is not something that is typically seen in a Bollywood film.
The reviews say that Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s, Shaandar is full of illogical moments made to confuse the viewer. One reviewer said, “The film is so full of weird moments, that I found myself going trippy with what was happening on screen.” I can unquestionably agree with that statement. Watching the two families experience a trip from the edibles actually made me wonder if there was something in the air that was causing me to see things or if I really was seeing characters with no legs, or flying. I guess the way I felt during that scene just about sums up how I felt during the entirety of the movie.
