Movie Review: Fugly…Reel and real rehash

The electronic media has become a really bad joke. And it’s not just about ‘THE NATION WANTS TO KNOW.’ and our daily circus on news channels. Every second Hindi film repeats the same old version of a television journalist who is either a bitch or insensitive or plain stupid. The dialogues are the same, the coverage is no different. “Kaisa feel ho raha hai…” has been hammered out to death. It’s no different in Fugly, which essentially revolves around four young friends fighting a corrupt cop, but takes the easy way out through ridiculous reportage. A Honey Singh song starts off the film with the title track that goes,”yeh fugly fugly kya hai?” The vocabulary lesson around this unusual word continues for the next two plus hours. The song’s lyrics “baap ke paison pe koodna,sadak ke kone pe mootna,377 hatna ya Jessica Lal ki ghatna…”sets the tone for a film out to send a social message. The film begins on a note that tries its best to be shocking and sensational. It could easily be a beginning from any of Vishesh Films. The hero, Dev (Mohit Marwah) gets off his bike at India Gate. He picks up a kerosene can and stylishly walks up to a point where he pours it all over himself and attempts to burn himself alive. Most conveniently, a reporter and a TV camera happen to be around. Dev is rushed off to a hospital but not without a TV reporter who is around to tell his story to the world. The mighty villain who has driven him to this self immolation act is a cop, Chautala (Jimmy Sheirgill) who lives by his bottle and hungers for power. Dev, Gaurav (Vijendra Singh, Olympic boxer), Aditya (Arif Lamba) and Devi (Kiara Advani) are the best of chaddi buddies who have grown up with individual dreams. Devi is molested by a creepy grocer (Praveen Singh Sisodia, brilliant performance). Apparently, things haven’t changed much since ‘Mother India’ days where Nargis’s character was constantly subjected to leery propositions by the neighbourhood Lala. An act of retribution by Devi and her friends, leads them into deep trouble with Chautala and eventually…no surprises here…an entire dirty political system. Actor turned director, Kabir Sadanand’s previous film was also based on social issues. Fugly too takes up current concerns like molestation and police corruption but ends up being a rehash of everything seen before on screen. The amateurish characterization supposed to be representative of the youth, takes away from the forceful plot Fugly could have been. The foursome with all their film and family connections, do little to engage as actors. Kiera Advani as Devi is a prettier version of Esha Deol. Ashok Kumar and Saeed Jaffery are some of the names in her list of lineage. Mohit Marwah is Anil Kapoor’s nephew and Arjun Kapoor’s cousin. Both along with Vijendra and Lamba, just about make the cut. Jimmy Sheirgill with his powerful badass act, helps lift the film a notch or two. Sisodia as the dirty Nanu packs a fine punch in a small role. Some of the numbers might get the young burning the dance floors, particularly, “Dhup Chik”. There is a actually a song called “Good in Bed”, unintentionally entertaining in its picturisation too. Produced by Grazing Goat Pictures-Akshay Kumar and Ashwini Yardi’s production house,Fugly despite its flaws, stands some chance at popularity with all its marketing hype, Akshay and Salman Khan promos and youth centric tone. At the story level, Fugly tries hard to be a Rang de Basanti. Sadly, the impact is missing.