Hawaizaada

First of all let me request Vibhu Virender Puri and of course all other directors listening – Pick a language and stick to it.  Shuttling between Hindi and Marathi turns out to be a disaster. Firstly the dialogue goes flat.  Secondly, when you have a cast that is uncomfortable with either language, it turns out to be the equivalent of several eggs on face – not just one.

The next request is to ensure that when you have decided to make a Biopic, please don’t make a mockery of the life of person.  Get your story right without any Bollywood style masala.  Once you are absolutely certain about the story and the elements without the spice then try and fit in the entertainment wherever it doesn’t seem like it has been force fitted. Take a leaf out of the likes of Harishchandrachi Factory.

Thirdly, please for God’s sake, pay attention to detail.  How in the blazes did an aircraft in 1895 have retractable wheels??? 2 hours and 30 odd minutes of build-up comes totally to naught with something as basic as this.  The inability of Bollywood to churn out a solid biopic continues.  We needed a Brit to make a mammoth biopic on the most important person to walk this land and I guess the sad state stays.

Hawaizaada as a story is a must read / listen but as a movie is just about short of a disaster.  It narrates the life and times of one Shivkar Bapuji Talpade (Ayushmann Khurrana) who is apparently stakes claim for the first manned flight – 8 years before the Wright Brothers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivkar_Bapuji_Talpade).

The story calls out Shivi as someone who has failed to clear Class IV in 8 attempts.  A free spirited young man, he is disowned by his family – especially his father and elder brother.  He drops out of school and is adopted (in a manner of speaking) by the eccentric Shastriji (Mithun Chakraborthy) who is also a mad scientist of sorts.  Together they set their sights on building the first aeroplane.

Hawaizaada is kept alive thanks to some solid performances from the lead cast.  The extremely talented and good looking pair of Ayushmann Khurrana and Pallavi Sharda do their best to lift up the tardy script and some really bad direction.  Mithun Da is solid as always and keeps the interest alive.

But at the end of the day, it is just a bad movie about someone who deserved much better.  The movie turns out to be more jingoistic in nature than the story of a genius.  It harps a bit too much on the freedom struggle and adds masala in the form of a badly choregraphed Tamasha performance by Sitara (Pallavi Sharda).  The music isn’t too great either.  Read about the person than watch the movie.  3 on 10 for some good messages.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjtN0IV_lJc