Expectations
Riteish Deshmukh debuted in Hindi film with 'Tujhe Meri Kasam' in the year 2003. He tried his level best to get established as a solo hero but failed miserably. Later he found his true side in the comical films and especially in a two hero project.
Riteish started performing much better than his colleague actors and made his own mark in Hindi cinema. Though, after being part of many hit films Riteish re-explored his different side as an actor in the form of films like 'Ek Villain' and Marathi blockbuster 'Lai Bhaari'. This motivated him to try his luck as a lead main stream actor in Hindi films for one more time in the form of his latest film 'Banjo'.
The trailer and songs of 'Banjo' have been well received due to which a decent amount of expectations are associated with this movie. It's only that the promotion level and the buzz are quite low in comparison to what such types of films have.
Story
'Banjo' is a story of a sound recordist Mikey (Luke Kenny), who keeps recording local Ganpati music and one fine day record an extraordinary Ganpati song performed by Tarat (Riteish Deshmukh) and his friends by playing Banjo and other musical instruments. Mikey sends these recordings to Cristina (Nargis Fakhri), who flies back to India only to find these musicians. Cristina seeks help of local politician and start searching for the band in the rural areas of Mumbai. She is assisted by Tarat, who escorts her as a guide to these places. After a while Cristina finds out about Tarat and forms a band. This new form band of Tarat finally gives the deserved respect to all those people who play Banjo.
The 'Glitz' Factor
The story is interesting and has been presented in main stream style of cinema. There are few enjoyable scenes especially related to Riteish's liking for Nargis and the whole dream track of Riteish's friends. The concept was so good that the makers could have done wonders like how it was created in films like 'ABCD' and other such movies.
Cinematography by Manoj Lobo is good and presents the movie in decent manner. Music by Vishal Shekhar is superb. Right from the grand 'Bappa' song to the romantic 'Udan Choo' and other songs like 'Rada' and 'Pee Paa Ke', the music for this movie is totally apt. The songs are peppy, melodious and enjoyable in the film. Background music sets the right mood for the film.
Director Ravi Jadhav is known for his fantastic Marathi films like 'Natrang', 'Balak-Palak', 'Timepass' and few more. His association with this movie is the biggest reason for everyone who loves good cinema to watch 'Banjo'. Ravi tries to narrate an unexplored tale and keeps his audience engaged in the film.
Riteish Deshmukh looks great and does his part with total grace. He outshines everyone in the emotional scenes. Nargis Fakhri looks adorable and adds the glamour quotient to the film. Dharmesh Yelande, Luke Kenny and Mohan Kapoor lend good support. Mahesh, Ram and Aditya were good in their parts.
The 'Non-Glitz' Factor
The movie takes a lot of time in introducing various characters of the film through the vocal narration of Vijay Raaz. But the main problem with this movie is that the screenplay works only in parts and keep wandering at frequent intervals. The story just keeps going on and on with many bland and over stretched portions attached to it. Post and pre interval the movie keeps dragging without any reason. There are few unwanted tracks which dilute the flow of the film.Many important scenes lack proper justification.
Director Ravi Jadhav narrates the movie in a formulaic manner where the brilliance of this ace director is totally invincible. The movie lacks the soul factor and fails to connect like how Ravi's films usually do. Nargis Fakhri's shalf-baked character nor her hilarious Hindi works in the favour of the film.
Final 'Glitz'
'Banjo' looked highly promising due to its unusual theme, good music and association of a national award winning director. The movie fulfills its promise in some part and fails to create an impact in the rest of them. Stale narration, dragging screenplay and lacking of soul factor makes 'Banjo' end up on a mediocre note.
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