If paradoxes are par for the course in Bollywood, here’s a freshly baked one: Emran Hashmi’s Ungli is like the Aamir Khan-starrer Rang De Basanti, except that it so totally isn’t.
On a superficial level, the similarities between the two films are in your face: Like the 2006 starrer, Ungli too has a force of young vigilantes who set out to clean the system, and with it the country, of evil, corrupt and morally bankrupt people in positions of power. Like RDB, the foursome is woken out of their careless slumber after they lose a friend to the ways of the world. So, okay you know what happens next: the friends are sucked into a vortex of corruption, and they have to eventually tread on the wrong side of law to get their friend some semblance of justice.
Trouble is, Ungli has only this, and only this much, common with RDB. Everything else about this apology of a ‘coming-of-age celebration’ of India’s youngsters falls flat on its face, and it is definitely not going anywhere.
Let’s put it thus: Even if we were to ignore the acting skills (or the complete lack of it) of everybody who claims to be an actor in this film, there is just no way you could live peacefully with the cliched, irritating dialogues in the film. Ungli is a torture, to say the least, and you certainly deserve a better deal on how to spend your 90 minutes. Sample this Emraan Hashmi gem when he tries to cheer up a despondent and depressed Sanjay Dutt. “Ansuon se sirf whisky dilute hoti hai.” Got that! Want more?
The only thing funny in this film is, perhaps, Kangana Ranaut’s accent. It sure will make you giggle from time to time.
So here’s what Ungli is all about. For the first 20 minutes, you don’t get to hear anything other than that weird word: Ungli. It’s irritating, to put it mildly. Randeep Hooda, Neil Bhoopalam, Kangana Ranaut and Angad Bedi are a group of young vigilantes who have taken it upon themselves to rid the society of malevolent characters like a corrupt government officer, an overcharging autorickshaw driver, bribe-taking traffic constables and even a selfish politician. They kidnap these men to teach them a lesson in ways that would remind you a lot of Saw, with all the videotaping and ‘do that or we will kill you’ vibes (nothing that graphic and sinister though).
Their modus operandi? When they are done dealing with their victims, they send the videos of the entire punishment session to all the news channels with a personalised message.
Of course, the police goes berserk and the commissioner (nice to see Raza Murad after so long) assign the task to Sanjay Dutt who in turn takes help from Emraan Hashmi, another police office who is sort of a misfit in the ‘khakee wardi.’
Hashmi gains the trust of the vigilantes and is then faced with the inevitable choice: should he turn them in or continue with them in their noble task?
So, does Ungli have even one redeeming factor? Actually, it has one. The only way you can enjoy this mindless film is by looking at the fun side of the ‘witty punishments’ the vigilante foursome unleashes on its victims. Ah yes, even the dialogues: They are so miserable that you just cannot the miss their fun side.
