We asked readers to send in their reviews of the latest Friday release, Khandaani Shafakhana, and we got quite a few!
Here's a look at what reader Arvind Moorthy thought about the film:
Khandaani Shafakhana is a genuine, original and socially important subject, which had the best potential but unfortunately ends up leaving less emotional impact with dry and forceful humour.
Performances
Sonakshi Sinha, as the main protagonist, Baby, was the only saving grace compared to what the other actors had to offer.
She does a sincere job but the narrative seemed so stretched that she had a fixed expression with a pout that was getting exhausting after a certain time.
Nevertheless, Sonakshi tries hard to carry the long movie on her shoulders.
Nadira Babbar: I had hoped to garner some really good performance from this veteran theatre artiste, but the character written for her was simply bland -- there was no energy or emotion in her performance; in fact, she acted badly.
Varun Sharma: In a nutshell, he was irritating, trying to make the audience laugh with his over-the-top expressions.
Annu Kapoor: Another fine actor put to waste. While he was a delight to watch, the role was too melodramatic.
Rajesh Sharma was good to watch too but was towards the tail end of the movie; he had nothing much to do.
Badshah ends up leaving a decent impact and does an honest performance.
Kulbhushan Kharbanda, as Mamaji, was a delight to watch but the overall script does not allow an actor of his calibre to stand out.
Priyanshu Jora lends some freshness to the movie.
Screenplay and Direction
(Writer) Gautam Mehra and (director) Shilpi Dasgupta had a great subject in hand, which starts on a promising note but, at 136 minutes, it ends up being too loud and lazy.
The moments were never subtle but quite unrealistic, except for the setting in and around Punjab.
The narrative could have created many impactful moments between mother and daughter, brother and sister, Baby and Mamaji, the moment when Badshah decides to endorse the clinic and many more.
It ends up with a loud and preachy courtroom drama which, again, was not the high point of the movie, which in fact it should have been.
The issue with the treatment was that the writer and director never spent time in developing the subtle emotional moments nor were they able to keep the entertainment quotient subtle.
Instead, there seemed to be an incoherence between the characters and they took a lazy path to make the narrative quite linear. This movie needed a director like that of Vicky Donor or Shubh Mangal Saavdhan or Badhaai Ho to nurture the subject.
You come out of the theatre appreciative of the subject the makers chose to take up, as well as Sonakshi's decent performance but then there are no moments that stay with you or leave a lasting impact.
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