Khoobsurat Review

What is it all about?

Disney’s first Bollywood dream is a mediocre makeover of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1980’s classic of the same name starring the eternal Rekha (in one of her most celebrated role). Clearly missing the ‘Magic’ Hrishida and Rekha created in the original and Disney is hoping for in its first Bollywood run.

Certainly not degrading the 1980 classic and thanks to the sweet moments between Sonam and Fawad,  Shashanka Ghosh  directed ‘Khoobsurat’ can charm those young teenage girls who will Google to know about Hrishida and Rekha .

Mediocre returns should be expected at the B.O. however home video satellite sale is likely to be ‘Beautiful’.

The Story

Indira Bisht coins the D.N. Mukherjee’s 1980 ‘Khoobsurat’ story starring Rekha in today’s Rajasthan with Disney’s flavor and feel of a royal family movie. Opening with the tall and beautiful Mili (Sonam Kapoor) a physiotherapist for KKR bumping into Royal family of Rathores in Rajasthan to take care of Hukum (the King played by Badrul Islam) Hukum is unwilling to get cured and since his accident the entire Palace is under the control of the Queen - Nirmala Devi Rathore played by Ratna Pathak who is a strict disciplinarian having control over everyone including her daughter played by Simran Jehani and son Vikram (Fawad Khan) who has turned into a busy but a boring businessman.

Enters Milli and the banal life in the palace gets a spark of fun, enjoyment and understanding. Hukum is back standing on his feet, the daughter realizes her dreams while Mili gets engaged by the charm of the Prince who is about to be married to Kiara (Aditi Rao).

So it’s not a remake but a makeover of the 1980 Hrishida’s classic where the writer has given the love story the center stage instead of the clash of ideas and mindset in the original. If a romcom was the intention then why touch a Hrishida’s classic is the question.

What to look out for

Shashanka Ghosh after the quirky ‘Quick Gun Murugun: Misadventures of an Indian Cowboy’ and ‘Waisa Bhi Hota Hai’ shows that he can make a family loving romcom. Sonam and Fawad’s self speaking passing thoughts/comments during their interactions make this rom com interesting. The portions between Sonam and Fawad are the highlights.

Whatever Rekha has done in the 1980 classic is incomparable and it will be criminal to compare Sonam with the eternal diva.

Here the makers have taken care of that and modeled Sonam in a role that is tailor made for her and she excels with flying colours. Her fans will love her more after this film.

Fawad Khan is fine. From the supporting cast Ashok Banthia as Ramu kaka and Badrul Islam as the king are decent. Kaizaad Kotwal as Sonam’s father and Simran Jehani as the daughter in distress are fine. Aditi Rao is okay.

Production values are excellent.  Music by Sneha Khanwalkar’s is pleasing. Simaab Sen’s background score is satisfactory. Tushar Kanti Ray’s editing is okay. Production design by Shruti Gupte and art direction by Prajakta Ghag is adequate.

What not

Never touch a classic and if you do please keep the essence alive. Khoobsurat is a mediocre makeover that surprisingly ignores the basic idea behind Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1980’s classic.If the makers believed ‘Khoobsurat’ to be just a love story then god save our classics.

They even used Rekha’s character name in the film Manju for Kiron Kher.. how gauche to do that and on top of that the writer insist that the name gets repeated on screen.. Sonam calls her mom in the film by her name - Manju.

Ratna Pathak disappoints as Nirmala Devi Rathore she seems to be walking straight from the sets of ‘Sarabai’. She appeared more like mother -in law in the movie than a Queen.

Kiron Kher repeats herself again. A section of the audience may like her Punjabi mom act again but it’s getting too obvious now.

Conclusion: ‘Khoobsurat’ is nothing but a high gloss mediocre update to Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1980’s classic. If a romcom was the intention then why touch a Hrishida’s classic is the question.

Rating **