Happy New Year Movie Review - Gaudy Loud Entertainer

Ameet Bhuvan

There are few things that need to be kept in mind before venturing into a cinema hall playing Happy New Year:

a. Farah Khan is obsessed with Shah Rukh Khan

b. She also has a fetish for gaudy loud cacophonic frames and sequences. 

If you are ok with these two preconditions, Happy New Year will entertain you, for it delivers what it promised to be - a festival blockbuster that replaces logic and sense with grandeur and opulence. 

Shah Rukh Khan plays Charlie, a conman who puts together a team of “losers” to rob a very famous diamond by taking part in a world dance championship. None of them know to dance, they do not overtly seem any good at stealing or robbing either, so their bungling ways are what we see as the film reaches its climax. 

Director Farah Khan reunites with her favorite lucky charm SRK after a hiatus and the disastrous Tees Maar Khan. She leaves no stone unturned to compensate for the gap, and loss of money. Every frame has SRK (rather his naked torso) towering over everything else. The story presents SRK in this larger than life image which is more Farah’s obsession with the mega star and less a device in the film. Other actors in the film, all big names, have to play second fiddle to the mega star, for the director sees no one else in front of him. While this is good news for SRK fans, it is not always a good thing for the rest of us, since SRK hams to the hilt all through the film. 

Deepika, the other big draw in the movie comes in almost an hour into the proceedings, and grates on the nerves with her weird Marathi-hindi Mohini act. She looks beautiful and has the chemistry with SRK that’s needed, but this is no Chennai Express magic redux. Abhishek, Boman, Vivaan and Sonu sood play the side hanger by with ease and slip into their over the top routines. 

Over the top though is not just the acting, but also the scale of the film. HNY is Farah’s largest and most lavish film. She even has an over long climax in no less than Dubai Atlantis. The film has a dance competition in it, so there are numerous garish dance numbers, songs that border on the cacophonic and a riot of colours that leave you blinded by the time end credits roll. All of it would have not mattered much had the story been strong, sadly that is not the case. 

Unlike Main Hoon Na or Om Shanti Om, the story here is weak, and the film relies heavily on the star power of its lead cast. No, make that exploits the star power. For remove the lead cast, and there is little else that would make you sit through this really long expensive affair. This one is for fans, and it will break all records, but is it a progression for any of the people involved in the film? Absolutely not. Watch and forget, that is all you can do. 

Rating: 3/5