Arjun Patiala Movie Review: The makers of Arjun Patiala are promoting the movie as Bollywood's first spoof movie. Perhaps their leading man, Diljit Dosanjh, had a bout of amnesia or something, and forgot that he has starred last year in Welcome to New York, that also had the same idea. Or maybe, just like us, even Diljit had trouble placing that travesty in the right genre. We would have forgiven him for this oversight, had Arjun Patiala lived upto the claim of its genre. Humourlessly, though, it doesn't! Arjun Patiala Star Diljit Dosanjh Claims This Bollywood Film is Close To His Heart. Guess Which?

Diljit Dosanjh plays SI Arjun Patiala, a newly appointed station in-charge for Firozpur in Punjab. Along with his subordinate Onidda Singh (Varun Sharma), he aims to cleanse his area of crimes, as per the wishes of his DSP (Ronit Roy) who is also his idol. Helping him in his mission is the enthusiastic, honest TV reporter Preeti (Kriti Sanon). To achieve their goals, Arjun and Onidda play the gangsters against each other leading to unexpected repercussions for everyone involved.

BTW, the whole movie is narrated by a scriptwriter (Abhishek Banerjee) to a Golden Kela-winning producer (Pankaj Tripathi), thereby justifying some of the spoof elements in the film. Or does it?

Directed by Rohit Jugraj, who had last made Superstar with Kunal Kemmu in Bollywood before venturing into Punjabi cinema, Arjun Patiala is the kind that you will funny after downing limitless pegs of Patiala. Otherwise, this humdrum excuse for a comedy is so drab that you really wonder what exactly is wrong with the sense of humour of our filmmakers.

Spoof isn't an easy genre to make; to work it out, the makers have to trust and respect the intelligence of the viewers to identify the farcical elements in the movie themselves. It doesn't need not turn out to be a cult as Airplane! or Hot Shots!. It can be really bad as the Epic Movie or any sequels of Scary Movie. All these films, though, have a common understanding that they don't have to take themselves seriously.

Not the case with our meagre attempts of spoof, including Arjun Patiala. There are needless insertions of emotional scenes and moralistic lessons that shouldn't have any place in a spoof movie like this. Sure, we Indians love emotions, but there has to be a time and place for everything. Kriti Sanon Turns Journalist For LatestLY, Watch Her Interview Arjun Patiala Co-star Diljit Dosanjh.

As for the comedy part, some bits work. Like Arjun Patiala diving into hilariously imaginative karaoke of 'Saanson Ki Zaroorat Hai Kaisi' after meeting Sunny Leone (in a cameo). Or that rare moment of comic brilliance during the second half, when the movie takes a dig at the viral video of UP cops making gunshot noises to scare criminals.

Unfortunately, apart from these little gems and some fairly interesting characters like Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub's up-and-coming gangster Sakool - Arjun Patiala struggles to eke the laughs from its gags. And when the narrative struggles, the spoof elements feel like rotting plaster to hide the lack of humour in the jokes. Buddy, you can't just get away with showing away an entire item song by already warning us there is going to be one. That isn't 'spoof'; that is a lame-ass way-out to add glamour and spice to your movie to make it saleable.

Watch The Trailer of Arjun Patiala Below:

Towards the end of the film, a character asks another if the movie will work. The latter rudely dismisses her telling her not to do the job of the critics. That was the only moment of self-awareness I actually appreciated in Arjun Patiala, a moment that comes too late.

The Performances

Both Diljit Dosanjh and Kriti Sanon put up sincere acts as the main leads. The promising Varun Sharma is becoming repeatedly annoying in some of his recent appearances. How long will the filmmakers harp on his Fukrey character before they realise that it has become tiresome? Among the supporting cast, only Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub offers some modicum of interest.

Yay!

- Some Comedy Bits Work

- Sincere Performances of the Cast

Nay!

- Everything Else!

Final Thoughts

There was an intent to make Arjun Patiala on the lines of Edgar Wright's deliciously wicked Hot Fuzz. The spoof elements seemed like a bright idea. Unfortunately, it couldn't completely embrace the eccentricities of the kind of movie it aimed to be. Instead, Arjun Patiala turns out to be the very bland farce that it so wanted to make a spoof on.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2019 02:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).