Vikas Bahl returns to direct his third film, on the heels of the widely-lauded Queen. While that…  

Vikas Bahl returns to direct his third film, on the heels of the widely-lauded Queen. While that movie was grounded in realism, Shaandaar plays out like a glossy Disney-esque fairy tale. Every scene in Shaandaar feels like a page of an illustration-filled story book. The characters are over-the-top without any negative shades, the movie is set in a Victorian-era castle, heck, there's even an adorable animated prologue. It has been touted as 'India's first destination-wedding film', and that should have been enough of a clue to figure out that there's not going to be any story here, so to speak. Which is absolutely fine, as such films rely on the cast and a tight screenplay to push them across the line. And it's safe to say that Shaandaar succeeds in that. The movie, in a sense, is quite reminiscent of Hum Aapke Hain…Koun? in terms of its simplistic event-by-event linear narrative. The only difference being the modern-day additions of a wedding picnic, a bachelor party and a 'black and white night' to the usual wedding rigmarole. It's unfair to label the cast as characters. They're just playing caricatures here. Alia Bhatt plays (surprise!) Alia Arora, an insomniac and sister of the BTB (bride-to-be, a recurring gag in the film). Her bubbly know-it-all persona and wide-eyed innocence is charming. On the other hand, Shahid Kapoor underplays his part as the wedding planner, Jagjinder Joginder (JJ), not having anything extraordinary to do. Sanah Kapoor (Shahid's sister) plays the wedding bride, Isha, and is incredibly chirpy. However, as he very often does, it is Pankaj Kapur who effortlessly steals the show, as Alia's and Isha's father. His chemistry with Alia is endearing, and his confrontations with Shahid are the highlight of the film! Amongst the rest of the cast, there's Sanjay Kapoor, making a shoddy imitation of brother Anil, who plays an excruciatingly stereotyped Sindhi, which gets annoying after a point of time. Sushma Seth deserves a special mention here, as she is absolutely hilarious as the overtly bossy grandmother. The outdoor locations are picturesque, and extremely pretty. Leeds and Poland have been beautifully captured. Each and every frame is splashed with color and pleasing to the eyes. A special mention needs to be given to Amit Trivedi who's composed the music and the background score. The picturisation of each song is superb, culminating into Senti Waali Mental's brilliant jugalbandi. There are a couple of bonus tracks in the film. And an extremely hilarious rap titled 'Monday ka khaana Tuesday ko'! Shaandaar is as over-the-top and absurd as it gets. This is a movie where frogs are named …and named Ashok nonetheless. Where the saas hates her sons and loves her bahu. Where a sneeze shakes the earth and blasts off the International Space Station. Where the leads start playing hide-and-seek, just cause it's been a while since one of them's played it. Where a kid has the ability to light a wheelchair on fire with an arrow. Where a wedding pandit is actually a cricket commentator. I could go on and on about the ludicrousness the film manages to achieve. However, behind all the the absurdities, Shaandaar does have a soul. The characters are endearing enough. There's not a dull moment throughout the film. Bahl ensures that he doesn't drag any scenes, keeping the screenplay taut. While it may not reach the highs that Queen did last here, it does manage to engage you in its quirky, oddball way. All in all, Shaandaar does live up to its title. Go watch this movie, fairytale!  

Only advice I give everyone who have plans to watch this is.. Do not watch. If you still want to…  

Only advice I give everyone who have plans to watch this is.. Do not watch. If you still want to watch this leave your brain at home and go ahead, but even then you might not enjoy it.This movie is a disaster in every way. Low budget short films are wayy better than this piece of crap! This movie has no story and tries to make you laugh with endless nonsensical blabber. Can't believe I wasted two hours on this crap. Just don't watch!  

There is nothing in the name of story. Idea to make love story of insomniacs, with some quirky…  

There is nothing in the name of story. Idea to make love story of insomniacs, with some quirky characters sounds bright but outcome is very dull. Screenplay is in bits and pieces. Dialogues by Anwita Dutt is only good thing of this film. It make you laugh. Characterization is very bad. One person can't speak 'Insomniac' word properly but speaks fluent English after few scenes in Police Station. Person is afraid of dark and night but decides to go out in night for bike ride because makers have thought an interesting scene ahead. Yes of course, this love scene near water fall is good one. Very convenient plots like marriage for the sake of business. Adopted girl, over the top grand mother, who rules the family but do not mind to flirt with a wedding organizer of her grand son age. Literally, makers have preferred budget over brain. They go for bikini scene, which even they show repeatedly in end credit. How can I believe that director of Queen can think that a bikini scene can sail his movie!? Ridiculous. Unnecessary expensive animations. Caterpillar crawling on collar, butterfly flying on dress and lots of. Even for voice over they don't mind animations but what about creativity!? They have conceived cheesy scenes like 'Menhdi with Karan' because they could have afforded him. I was so irritated when they show the burning wheel chair cum sofa in end. What the F... was that? First half is slow, second half is very slow with a weird uninteresting climax. Performance wise Shahid Kapoor is balanced and acts good. Alia Bhatt is very good. She is too good in portraying care free girl. Pankaj Kapoor is good. Jalal Hunni as groom is OK. Choreography of all songs is grand. Songs look larger than life. Music by Amit Trivedi is fresh and foot tapping.  

Its a shame that 'Shaandaar' fails to deliver. Director Vikas Bahl scored a century with his…  

Its a shame that 'Shaandaar' fails to deliver. Director Vikas Bahl scored a century with his brilliant Queen, Lead-Actors Shahid Kapoor  

This film proves that Bollywood has run out of ideas. Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) is a…  

This film proves that Bollywood has run out of ideas. Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) is a handsome wedding planner with a pack of wet sawdust for brain, hired by an over-smart, unknown queen for her granddaughter's union with a shirtless jackass. The sweet-toothed bride's sister is Alia (Alia "Aila" Bhatt), an insomniac, out of the world princess whose mysterious absence of lineage is the only source of pride in her as she goes swimming at 4 in the morning and collects her father's animated dreams to stay alive. That Alia has finally found her prince in Jagjinder and would like him to make love to her while she tries to dream a dream munching on a banana is what forms a small part of the rest of the story. The remaining, bigger part is taken by Pankaj Kapur's idiocy, Sanjay Kapoor's ugly tomfoolery, and the writers's butterfly-infested vomit. The film is basically a fairytale romance with ounces of unnecessary animation all over the place. Glittery butterflies coming out of Alia's dress and making Jagjinder throw away his cigarette, impulsive doses of songs because as it turns out both the central characters of the film cannot sleep at night, and blatant melodrama that is worse than Star Plus soaps - the film is filled with fillers like these. Then there is a cameo by Karan Johar, and I was done for the day. I don't understand why talented actors like Shahid Kapoor and veterans like his father would sign a project which introduces the characters using ugly cartoons. Ridiculous jokes, mindless slapstick, and a shade of black-and-white fairytale is what all the film is about. Not one character is a real deal, and if we had with us Holden from J D Salinger's classic book "The Catcher in the Rye," he would only have one word collectively to describe the film and its tons of characters: PHONEY. BOTTOM LINE: Do yourself a favor and skip Vikas Bahl's epic fail, Shaandaar, because in here, the characters stay awake so that we can catch some shuteye. The trailer is misleading; don't fall for it. GRADE: F 

SHAANDAAR - Its a difficult task to meet the expectations when your last movie was a great movie..…  

SHAANDAAR - Its a difficult task to meet the expectations when your last movie was a great movie.. And most of the director faulter in this task. And Vikas Bahl is no exception. Shaandar is nowhere close to QUEEN. It can be said as "Average movie at its Best". Its a destination wedding movie with our Hero and Heroin suffering from Insomnia. But let me tell you , there is nothing special with the concept of destination wedding. Its just normal wedding movie with gorgeous locations , and that exactly not help the movie to be good. And that INSOMNIA thing hasn't been explored much in the movie.. Infect Alia gets her first Sleep in very 1st Hr of the movie. Movie starts with the Cinderella story , in which the adopted child (That is Alia) is not treated great in her home. But she is not an ABLA NAARI , she is tough. Then eject the wedding situation , with some concept about Girls who doesn't have Zero figure are not accepted by good looking boys (a concept which has been exceptionally handled in Dumb LAGAA KE HAISA) . That's the whole background of the film. Within this background the Romance between Alia and Shahid comes to the scenes. There is nothing more to say about the plot , because its not unique and not very well written. Its actually a shock that the script was so stereotype in a movie produced by Phantom Production. Much of the interesting things are situational comedies. Although they are very good but not enough to make it a good comedy film. Songs were injected as different ceremonies in wedding and they didn't carry the movie forward . Although the Title Track and Gulabo has been choreographed really well and of coarse Shahid can dance with charm. Talking about Shahid , he had a very good chemistry with both Alia and Pankaj Kapoor. Perfect comic timing , perfect charm , perfect dance moves and perfect look what Shahid gives in this movie. Same goes for Alia , in her Hippy looks she looks pretty , different , and act good. Pankaj Kapoor never faults in his work , and he needs to do more movies with Shahid as they were great together. Acting and Comedies are the thing which carries the movie and make it above average. There are many scenes could be cut down. The animated sequence were not very exception , and many dreamy scenes has been shown for uniqueness , sometimes they worked sometimes not. Like i said SHAANDAR is an average movie at its best. Can watch it for its happy moments (there are no sad moments in the film) as Dushahara is the occasion , everyone will like a happy movie. But don't expect another Queen 

Its a shame that 'Shaandaar' fails to deliver. Director Vikas Bahl scored a century with his…  

Its a shame that 'Shaandaar' fails to deliver. Director Vikas Bahl scored a century with his brilliant Queen, Lead-Actors Shahid Kapoor  

Shaandaar is a romantic comedy film directed by Vikas Bahl. Vikas has given hits like Chillar Party…  

Shaandaar is a romantic comedy film directed by Vikas Bahl. Vikas has given hits like Chillar Party and Queen in the past. Shaandaar deserved a much shaandaar treatment by Vikas after his super successful film Queen. It is also claimed to be first Destination Wedding film of Bollywood. The film does use the motion picture in a few scenes where prelude to the plot is set and narrated by Naseeruddin Shah. Though the film starts on a high note of humour, but in the later parts of the film, the fun part falls flat, it fizzles down. The best part of the film is its cast - effortless Pankaj Kapur, spontaneous Shahid Kapur, bubbly Alia, cute Sanah. They definitely bring good moments on screen. I must say that, one can't just write off this movie. One can enjoy this film in parts for the charm that its actors bring on screen. The film begins with the motion picture along with Naseeruddin Shah's narration, which sets the prelude to the plot. Bipin (Pankaj Kapur) adopts Alia (Alia Bhatt) and brings her home. Sushma Seth as Bipin's mother, matriarch of the Arora family, rules the house along with Bipin's wife (Niki Aneja). Both Sushma Seth and Bipin's wife are shown to be materialistic in nature. Though Alia is not accepted by both of them, she manages to deal with their hatred. Alia's sister Eesha (Sanah Kapur, Shahid's real sister) is getting married to Robin Fundwani (Vikas Verma). It is more of a business deal for Sushma Seth and Harry Fundwani (Sanjay Kapoor), a merger of two major business houses of India. For Robin and Eesha also, it is just a compromise for family's sake. Robin is Harry's brother who is flaunting his 8 ½ packs throughout the movie. Harry glitters in gold, is obsessed with gold. He is getting his brother married to Eesha, since Sushma Seth has promised them the gold which equals the weight of Eesha (she is shown as plump girl). Both the families Aroras and Fundwanis travel for destination wedding. A fairy tale castle (probably in Europe) is chosen for this wedding. Jagjinder Joginder aka JJ (Shahid Kapoor)'s entry happens in a completely filmy manner, his bike colliding with a vintage car driven by Bipin with his wife and daughters. This encounter, where the real father-son duo comes face-to-face on screen is funny. JJ happens to be the wedding organizer for Eesha-Robin's wedding. Alia is an insomniac. It is great to see her chemistry with her on- screen father Pankaj Kapur whom she calls Beeps. He designs dreams for her and alia keeps all the dreams safe in a box saying that she would watch every dream when she would start sleeping. Coincidently JJ is also an insomniac. As can be predicted, in the background of wedding preparations, another love story blossoms between JJ and Alia in a very cool fashion. It is great to see father becoming possessive of his daughter when he realizes that there is another man in her life. There are certain low points in the movie. Rather entry of Sanjay Kapur as Harry Fundwani unfortunately is a low point, since it breaks the flow of humour tone set up till then. Drag is felt post- interval. Towards the end, the film just nosedives into silly comedy, a beautiful plot is made into a series of silly sub-plots. A scene just prior to climax where a girl speaks up for her right to live, could have been a show-stopper scene, but the way it is handled on screen has trivialized the message. Certain characters are just added in the film viz. twin sisters, mirroring everything; a small kid with bow and arrow ready to hit the target etc. Anjana Sukhani is just a filler, does not get a single dialogue in the film. Lot of characters viz. Bipin's brothers except the designer brother gets lost in the crowd. Harry's way of identifying with every successful individual as Sindhis (even with Michael Jackson) does not generate much humour. Karan Johar does make a special appearance with 'Mehandi with Karan'. I am wondering whether these scenes were required at all? Music is average. The best part of the film is definitely the moments between Alia- Shahid, Alia-Pankaj, Alia-Eesha. And the way, they have handled and ustified their respective characters, is surely going to bring smiles to your face. How does the story move further? What happens to the destination wedding of Eesha-Robin? How does Alia-JJ's relationship shape up? What happens when Alia comes to know regarding her biological parents? How does she respond? How does Bipin deal with his daughter Alia's getting comfortable with JJ? What happens to Sushma Seth's business deal approach? Who actually benefit in the end? Shaandaar definitely deserved a much shaandaar treatment by 'Queen' director Vikas Bahl. Shaandaar has its own moments of humour to entertain you, though the fun element nosedives into silly comical scenes later. Watch it, if you just want some very light-hearted stuff. 

So,this is Vikas Bahl's second directorial. This time in collaboration with Dharma Productions. The…  

So,this is Vikas Bahl's second directorial. This time in collaboration with Dharma Productions. The music is composed by Amit Trivedi, this time too. And he does not disappoint. All the tracks fit perfectly into the movie, and make the movie a much more pleasant experience. Pankaj Kapur is the star of the movie for me, and that is no surprise considering he is arguably the best actor in the country. Sanjay Kapoor does a fine job too. Shahid and Alia's chemistry will make you feel in love. They look great together, and play their parts with great flamboyance. The other supporting actors are not used as props, and have great characterization. The dialogues are great, the scenes memorable, and the locations picturesque. The movie is a comedy, with a bit of romance. Don't go in expecting much of seriousness, and drama; and you will come out smiling. 

It was a fun movie... With superb acting. Enjoyed this movie... It lived up to the expectations...…  

It was a fun movie... With superb acting. Enjoyed this movie... It lived up to the expectations... It was an experience... SHAHID KAPOOR was the best...in the role of a wedding planner... His acting was extraordinary... We all expected a lot after HAIDER from him...he lived up to...PANKAJ KAPUR...was very nice...he is a legend...ALIA BHATT...looked very cute...SANAH KAPUR...was brilliant with her acting... If you want to spend your day happily...you must see this movie...IT'S A MUST WATCH!!! It will surely enlighten your day!!! It's an entertaining movie...first half is very funny but has too many songs...and...the second half of the movie goes a little slow... It's very nice 

Having huge expectations for a film can be a bitch, for lack of a better word. And from the…  

Having huge expectations for a film can be a bitch, for lack of a better word. And from the Director who made the critically acclaim Queen, the film that swept all the awards last year, well I feel bad for Director Vikas Bahl, because with Shaandaar the expectations were gigantic. Sadly the film is nothing one excepts, especially after watching the trailer (excepted a rom com with a back drop of a destination wedding), its almost as though the filmmakers wanted to trick the audience into watching the film. I don't know. But what Shaandaar ends up being is a spoof on Indian weddings especially those where a lot of money is spent, the film also steps into the fantasy genre, and tries to incorporate a lot of VFX, which is nice, but the film at times its completely totally out of sync and weird, like the mushrooms, and brownie scene. Luckily the film is a laugh riot at many junctures,but with so much going on the film has no coherent story. But more on that later. Story wise the film starts off in animation and through this we are explained that Bipin had adopted a girl named Alia who turns out to be a insomniac and very unique smart girl. Bipin's family despises Alia (except Bipin's other daughter), this is because Bipin's mom and wife look at everything as a business too profit money from. In present time Bipin's older daughter Isha is getting married to the Fundwains brother, who are completely show offs and only wear gold(they are Sindhi's). The marriage is a business deal for Bipin's mother so the family business can come out of bankruptcy through the Fundwani's wealth. The rest of the story is about how the marriage happens, and how wedding planner named Jaginder Joginder enters Alia's and Bipin's life. Acting wise Shahid Kapoor does a good job, in a familiar role, and dances like a dream. Alia Bhatt gets a very quirky character, and she takes advantage with a spectacular act. Pankaj Kapoor steals the show with a absolutely fantastic act. His and Alia's scenes are heart warming. Sanjay Kapoor's act is completely absurd, but funny. The rest of ensemble is good and well casted. Shaandar is a film which is very confused in its story therefore the film suffers, and gets tedious. Seems like Dir Vikas Bahl was confused and didn't know if he wanted to make a Indian wedding spoof movie, a love story, or a film about a father daughter relationship.He tried to tackle too much in one film, and ending up failing in giving a proper story.Also the film had many absurd,bizarre scenes like the mushroom scene, it was funny, but the concept came out of nowhere. But I liked the uniqueness in ideas a film like Shaandar had.What can be applauded in the film is the way the character where written,especially Alia's character, and her relationship with her dad. The Fundwani's, the character of the grandma where all unique and funny. Therefore as a comedy Shaandar works, and its a laugh riot at times,especially in the completely whack, but funny climax( the kid lighting the grandma on fire). The animation, the films VFX, and the way the film was presented on a huge lavish scale is also delightful to see. And the film had great music, especially the Gulbaoo track. Overall all those excepting another Queen from Shaandaar will be left disappointed, but for those who go with there expectations in check can enjoy this Phantom produced quirky comedy. But be warned the film is made for a more niche, teenage audience, not everyone will enjoy the comedy also. 

There is nothing in the name of story. Idea to make love story of insomniacs, with some quirky…  

There is nothing in the name of story. Idea to make love story of insomniacs, with some quirky characters sounds bright but outcome is very dull. Screenplay is in bits and pieces. Dialogues by Anwita Dutt is only good thing of this film. It make you laugh. Characterization is very bad. One person can't speak 'Insomniac' word properly but speaks fluent English after few scenes in Police Station. Person is afraid of dark and night but decides to go out in night for bike ride because makers have thought an interesting scene ahead. Yes of course, this love scene near water fall is good one. Very convenient plots like marriage for the sake of business. Adopted girl, over the top grand mother, who rules the family but do not mind to flirt with a wedding organizer of her grand son age. Literally, makers have preferred budget over brain. They go for bikini scene, which even they show repeatedly in end credit. How can I believe that director of Queen can think that a bikini scene can sail his movie!? Ridiculous. Unnecessary expensive animations. Caterpillar crawling on collar, butterfly flying on dress and lots of. Even for voice over they don't mind animations but what about creativity!? They have conceived cheesy scenes like 'Menhdi with Karan' because they could have afforded him. I was so irritated when they show the burning wheel chair cum sofa in end. What the F... was that? First half is slow, second half is very slow with a weird uninteresting climax. Performance wise Shahid Kapoor is balanced and acts good. Alia Bhatt is very good. She is too good in portraying care free girl. Pankaj Kapoor is good. Jalal Hunni as groom is OK. Choreography of all songs is grand. Songs look larger than life. Music by Amit Trivedi is fresh and foot tapping.