Zed Plus Review

What is it all about?

Chandra Prakash Dwivedi - the maker of the brilliant 2003 Pinjar returns with a loony tuned satirical look to the country’s political and social system.

'Zed Plus' has the apparent madness of a political satire at heart and is winningly acted by all the actors but somewhere this spoof spoons away in spinning the loop between the heart and mind thus ending up as just a light hearted take on India’s political intake as compared to Shyam Benegal’s ‘ Welcome to Sajjanpur’, ‘ Well Done Abba!’ or Anusha Rizvi’s ‘Peepli Live’.

The Story

The writers Chandra Prakash Dwivedi and Ramkumar Singh doesn’t waste much time and display their satirey instincts by opening the film with the Prime Minister (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) in problem as the government is facing the danger of falling due to a scam report (hints at Coal gate scam).

The PM who struggles to speak in Hindi gets an advice to visit the ‘Peepal Wale Peer Ki Dargah’ in Fatehpur, Rajasthan. Hoping things will go well after bowing to the holy dargah the Prime Minister Convoy heads towards Fathehpur.

A common man Aslam Puncturewala (Adil Hussain) who earns is livelihood by repairing tyres on the road that lead to the dargah in unexpected circumstances gets lucky to be the Khadim of the Prime Minister on the day of his arrival.

A strange and funny conversation inside the dargah makes the PM awe of Aslam and his simplicity resulting in a Zed-security for Aslam.

Now the common man Aslam is no longer common and how this tight security makes life bitter and sweet for Aslam, his family, his neighbours, Fathehpur and political situation in the state and in the centre forms the crux of the story.

What to look out for?

The light hearted moments are the highlight and its attempt to act as a mirror to the nation must be applauded. The basic idea of a common man suddenly enjoying Zed Plus security is a masterstroke.

The dialogues are catchy commenting on the political scenario.

The performances are first rate where Adil Hussain shines brightly throughout.

Mona Singh as Adil’s wife is superb. Mukesh Tiwari is excellent as Adil Hussian friend turned foe. Sanjay Mishra excels. Ekavali Khanna as Adil’s love interest is quite good. K.K. Raina does a fine job. Kulbhushan Kharbanda is very good.

Sukhwinder Singh music is passable. Other technicalities are satisfactory.

What not

Chandra Prakash Dwivedi ‘s return after brilliant 2003 Pinjar with a loony tuned political satire raises expectations and due to this the flaws appear more glaring.

Hrishitaa Bhatt’s dance number is out of place. ironically in this political satire the best comic moments are shared between Adil and Mukesh Tiwari as neighbors and not between the system and the common man as it should have being.

Further the character of Aslam isn,t entirely convincing. This common man is enjoying an extra martial affair and during the Zed security regime he is only worried about meeting his lover than anything else. This fails to generate the required sympathy for the lead character.

It’s almost impossible to imagine an Indian prime minister not being able to speak even normal Hindi. Adding salt to the wound the English spoken by Kharbanda in the movie comes with a strange accent and the conversation is not being subtitled.

'Zed Plus' lacks the required depth and fails to deliver a cinematic statement.

Conclusion: Zed Plus isn’t a bad film and it’s a light hearted move over the off repeated b-town regular potboilers but we expected some depth and cinematic statement from the talented Chandra Prakash Dwivedi’s comeback after the brilliant ‘Pinjar’.

Rating **and 1/2