Top header Banner
Top header Banner
Middle top Banner

Movie Review: ‘A Gentleman’

The trailers and promos of ‘A Gentleman – Sundar, Susheel, Risky’, directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, were impressive and the soundtrack has grown in popularity to become arguably as one of the best this year so far. The film is an action comedy which promises an interesting story with Sidharth Malhotra taking up a double role for the first time. Jacqueline Fernandez pairs up with him – which is also a first – and provides the glamour quotient in the film. However, does the film deliver in all the right places?

Gaurav (Malhotra) is a successful professional living in Miami who has recently bought his own house. He’s taken quite a shine to his colleague and best friend Kavya (Fernandez) but, although she likes him, thinks he’s too safe an option to be a life partner. However, Rishi – Gaurav’s doppelganger – works with a covert operation as an assassin in Mumbai. When Gaurav is mistaken for Rishi, he stands to lose the comfortable life he’s built for himself. How will be face it?

It’s safe to say that Raj and DK manage to create a very slick and good-looking world for the film, which ticks so many of the right boxes. The plot is clever and not once had the pre-release information mentioned the big secret of what is Malhotra’s double role. The audience is sucked into both Gaurav and Rishi’s lives equally until the end of the first half when things start to get a little blurred. However, right before the intermission, it all becomes much clearer. This is indeed a very innovative way of portraying the story of ‘A Gentleman’ and that too in a way that doesn’t prove confusing for the viewer. The director duo should be praised for this alone as such a story could very well become complicated if the order of events were portrayed differently. The comedy factor is also refreshing in the action scenes and bringing the two genres together successfully should also be applauded.

Malhotra and Fernandez together make a very easy-on-the-eye pair and their chemistry is one of the film’s strengths. Fernandez plays a refreshing character who is torn between a guy who she’s close to but doesn’t really see a future with and the fact that that same guy is every girl’s dream. Unfortunately, her character isn’t give much scope apart from that until right at the end and even then she gets token involvement in one action scene which doesn’t even amount to much. Malhotra plays both Gaurav and Rishi well, showing his own versatility as the simple hard-working guy and also the rough and slick Rishi. He carries both the action and comedy portions off with ease as well as the stunts, most of which he’s performed himself. Darshan Kumaar steps into the villain’s role and is absolutely brilliant in it. There’s no doubting his talents and it’s a delight to see him grace the screen in this way. Suniel Shetty returns to the big screen in a villain’s role too but he’s not seen quite as much as Kumaar which is a pity. Nonetheless, Shetty’s new look and return to the antagonist’s role after the much talked about ‘Main Hoon Na’ (2004) was welcome and gave the film a different dimension. Writer Hussain Dalal is also plausible in his role as Gaurav’s friend, known as his surname Dixit.

As mentioned, the album for ‘A Gentleman’ seems to have track upon track which is memorable. From Disco Disco to Laagi Na Choote, music composer duo Sachin-Jigar have complimented the film’s slickness and freshness greatly with their music. In particular, Bandook Meri Laila is arguably one of the best tracks of 2017 so far.

Overall, ‘A Gentleman’ is a somewhat entertaining watch which does all it says on the box – mildly impresses with action, makes you laugh with the comedy and also gets you singing and dancing in your seat with the music. What it falls short on is the strength of its characters. There are hilarious stereotypes – especially with the Gujarati characters – and the action scenes simply don’t contain the wow factor, as perfectly executed as they might be. The comedy quotient definitely ups the game but that simply isn’t enough and the love story seems to take away from the actual plot, never really managing to be strong enough to be remembered – even though the Malhotra and Fernandez chemistry proves hugely interesting.

BizAsiaLive.com rating: 3/5