Sunday - Film reviews

Director: Rohit Shetty
Starring: Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Ayesha Takia
Music: Sandeep Chowta, Daler Mehndi, Raghav Sachar, Shibani Kashyap, Amar Mohile,Suroor
Lyrics: Farhad, Sajid, Kamran Bari, Daler Mehndi, Virag Mishra, Aditya Dhar
Genre: Comedy

The expression 'lazy sunday' gets a whole new meaning. One that you could easily grasp if you venture into Director Rohit Shetty's Sunday, the followup to the surprise hit, Golmaal – Fun Unlimited.

Like Golmaal, this is no original either. For Sunday is the remake of the Telegu film Anukokunda Oka Roju. What Rohit does here is keep the darkness of the original totally at bay, and focusing on the lighter moments, repackages it into a comic suspense thriller. And probably trying to try one genre too many could be one of the reasons why nothing exactly goes right for you in this Sunday.

Sehar (ayesha Thakia) seems to have a normal chirpy life , working as a dubbing artist. However one day she realizes that nothing is as normal as it was before. She simply cannot remember what happened on a particular Sunday. All she knows is that she has now strangers running after her and claiming several things.

In steps ACP Rajveer (Ajay Devgan) munching his ice cream cones, trying to get to the bottom of all this. After all he has to help out his fiance while the clues begin to stack against her. Rajveer is still certain that the crime has nothing to do with Sehar. It could be the taxi driver Ballu (Arshad Warsi) and his wannabe actor friend Kumar (Irfan Khan) or even Sehar's friend Ritu (Anjana Sukhani). After all it is only a matter of time as we find out what happened that Sunday!

Lazy , i say, because this is a weak exercise in movie making. No one seems to be really there to give it a shot. The screenplay is one that lacks that punch. The makers certainly did have a creative set up but the lack of a clever script or an impressive screenplay meant that they just failed to get it all together and keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. Surely when they have lifted it from another film, they could have at least tried tweaking on the original and come up with something much better and refined.

Instead, what we have, is some people trying to do what they call 'comedy' and push it down your throat with a suspense that we are least interested in. As a viewer, one does not connect with any of the characters and therefore the film limps towards a finale that is anything but exciting.

Ajay Devgan is just passing by on this lazy Sunday and does not exactly leave a mark. He just spent most of the screentime playing cool and covering his tired baggy eyes with those shades. Arshad Warsi also could have easily avoided this outing as it does nothing for him on any level. Ayesha Thakia manages to get some attention with the script making her the center of gravity. Not that it demanded a lot from her.

However, if any one impresses, then it is the non-stars. Irfan Khan, as the silly actor wannabe, manages to make even the silly lines sound like winners with a dead pan act that surprisingly plays out well enough in the bigger picture. Equally impressive was Mukesh Tiwari as the cop in one of the few comic outings.

But the script is hardly there, various characters are thrown in for no major reason and many of them just turn annoying as we go along. Two major songs with Tusshar Kapoor and Esha Deol could be highlights and could have turned out effective if there was actually a hit soundtrack on the offering. However, in spite of roping in nearly six composers in the form of Sandeep Chowta, Shibani Kashyap, Daler Mehndi, Raghav Sachar, Suroor (Band), and Amar Mohile, it is just disappointing that the soundtrack leaves you dissatisfied.

The real silver lining is that director Rohit Shetty might not be ace when it comes to scripting or directing, but he does have a knack for the action sequences. And he indulges in them with such glee and confidence that it clearly shows. Being the son of a stunt director, he adds a punch to his action sequences and surely an action film would come out great in his hands. But the success of a film concentrating on the comedy genre still evades him.

Even the editing is noteworthy - cleverly employing split screens and overlapping to keep the flow between scenes and time frames. However it sticks out sorely in this flick that is played out with a stronger comic tone. Things would have worked out better if the film was a laugh riot. But all it offers is a few chuckles here and there.

Therefore on the final count, the movie fails in all genres - it fails to raise the laughs, does not bring out the suspense, and is incapable of creating an edge-of-your-seat thriller either.

Sunday simply fails to impress. Staying away from this one will definitely guarantee you a nice weekend!