In Malaal, Meezaan plays your typical Bollywood alpha male who opens the film with a sporting event and beating up the umpire. Sharmin Sehgal plays the girl who speaks only two sentences in the first 30 minutes of the film. Thank God, both are looking good and acting fine in the first half. There are enough hints about the plot developments in the first half for Meezaan and Sharmin's romance to feel like a ticking time bomb. Malaal: Navya Naveli Nanda, Ishaan Khatter and Others Attend Special Screening of Meezaan Jaffrey-Sharmin Segal Starrer! View Pics.

The background score adds a charm to the film, the best thing about the first half. Random co-incidences in the story don't settle well, though. The first half of Malaal is a mix bag of good and bad moments. There are scenes that are subtle, for instance how the mother realises her son's in love. And some scenes are a little too on the nose, for instance the rich guy has to be a pig. And background score is worth mentioning twice. Hero gets enough hero moments. Heroine gets one moment to shine.

Somehow the film has managed to keep me interested in the second half. I am looking forward to what happens in the second half.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 05, 2019 10:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).