Kartik Aaryan completely nailed it as the charming Bantu! With mass appeal as a family entertainer, Shehzada stood up to the anticipation it has created amongst the audience.
Read Full Shehzada Movie Review –
Rating: 4/5
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Sachin Khedekar, Ankur Rathee
Director: Rohit Dhawan
Running time: 2h 22m
Storyline:
On one fateful rainy night, a lowly clerk named Valmiki (Paresh Rawal) switches his newborn son in the hospital with the baby of the millionaire industrialist Randeep Nanda(Ronit Roy). He tries to bump off the nurse when she tries to stop this crime, but she survives – albeit in a coma.
25 years later, Bantu (Kartik Aaryan) is still slumming it up in Valmiki’s household, oblivious of his true heritage. While Valmiki’s real son Raj (Ankur Rathee) is having a blast in the palatial mansion as the spoilt brat, heir to Jindal fortune.
Bantu ends up falling in love with the pretty lawyer Samara (Kriti Sanon) who is going to be Raj’s fiancee. Will Bantu ever find out his real truth and claim what is rightfully his? Watch Shehzada to find out –
What Do We Think:
For the unversed, Shehzada is a remake of Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. Though it is largely a scene-by-scene remake, there have been quite a few tweaks in the original storyline.
Kriti Sanon’s character Samara has been made a lawyer, and the Mom of Kartik’s Bantu dies at the beginning itself. So, Paresh Rawal’s character raises him up on his own, thus driving home the glaring animosity between father-son even more. A few sequences have been cut short from the original too, significantly reducing the run time by a good 15 mins or so.
The weird scenes of constant lecherous leering at the heroine’s legs from the Allu Arjun film have been thankfully scrapped in Shehzada. However, the iconic conference room song sequence from Ala Vainkunthapurramuloo is sadly missing in the Kartik Aryan film.
Shehzada is a fun ride from start to finish with incredible energy and goofy charm from Kartik Aaryan. Kartik-Paresh Rawal’s onscreen annoyed nok-jhok has perfectly captured the dynamic from the original. Kartik and Paresh ji’s comic timing is spot-on as well! Kartik and Kriti’s chemistry is pretty sweet too. This is still a flower-pot role for Kriti though.
Sachin Khedkar, who plays the sweet-hearted Jindal patriarch, has reprised his role from Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo with the same warmth. Ronit Roy and Manisha Koirala too have acted well.
The soundtrack in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo was better but Shehzada has some fun songs too – and Kartik can be seen with his trademark quirky dance moves. Ankur Rathee as Raj brings a funny himbo energy to the role.
The first half of the film drags a little bit but 2nd half makes it more entertaining. Kartik excels in the funny scenes, flashing his toothy grin and swagger, but the action sequences looked better in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.
Nevertheless, Shehzada is an entertaining, campy flick with mass appeal as a family entertainer.
Hit Or Miss:
It is an enjoyable film indeed, go watch Shehzada in theatres near you now!