Coolie No 1
Fused: Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal
Director: David Dhawan
David Dhawan at his peak is a difficult act to follow. The crazy movie master, whose favorite playing field was still farce and ridicule, Dhawan had the incredible ability to turn every scene into a twist in the ribs. With the generous help of Kader Khan’s laughter dialogues and the agile times of Govinda’s comics, you never had a chance to examine the script – there was none – or the lack of coherence. We were ready for the ride, and breathless spontaneity took you along. It’s that spontaneity you desperately lose in Coolie No 1, Dhawan’s repeat of his success a quarter of a century ago. And the original was never a perfect product in the first place, but it was always light on your feet.
Watch the trailer for Coolie No 1
The director’s son, actor Varun Dhawan, is the one who is responding to the ‘Aaaeee Coolie’ call this time. Senior Dhawan doesn’t change the story, it offers no surprise to those of us who went to a single screen cinema to see the original. Instead, he adds a touch of paint to his scene, adds a flashy wardrobe and voila, a 1995 hit ready for a whole new audience.
Keth Khan’s Seth Hoshiyarchand is now Goa hotelier Jeffery Rozario (Paresh Rawal), whose only dream is to find a stinking and wealthy husband for his daughter Sarah (Sara Ali Khan). For some reason, he speaks in rhyme, with the first line being ‘Heaven on the Docks man’. It irritates his ear the first time he says it and it never gets better.
Rozario, in his search for the richest man in the country for his daughter, insults matchmaker Jai Kishen (Jaaved Jaffrey, a 2020 version of Shadiram Gharjode from Sadashiv Amrapurkar), who promises to avenge the insult. He brings a Raju (Varun Dhawan) railway loader to make the wealthy suitor Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh. Blinded by the promise of immense wealth, Rozário makes Raju marry his daughter, but soon realizes that not everything is as it seems. To keep him from smelling, Raju makes up the story of having a twin, adding more confusion to an already overflowing storyline.
Coolie No 1 has a few moments, largely due to Varun Dhawan’s enthusiasm and spontaneity. Like the ruffian Raju, he manages to channel his love for a broad and physical comedy while imitating Mithun Chakraborty, with pelvic thrusts. It is like Puritan Raj that you wish he had lessened all the imitation of veteran actors. He is surrounded by familiar faces; in addition to Paresh Rawal and Javed, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav and Sahil Vaid also appear. Women, like most of David’s films, have little to do but appear to sing and support. Sara Ali Khan is adequate when duty calls.
While suspension of disbelief is part of watching a David Dhawan movie, Coolie No 1’s plot is desperately out of sync with today’s weather. Men are hit by gonads and women are victims of casual sexism. Speech impairment is undermined for laughter, as well as people’s weight. Even the coronavirus is not spared, as it is used in a somewhat dull and dull joke.
Then there are the plot holes the size of a crater. While everyone carries smartphones and takes selfies, no one bother to Google this desi Richie Rich before the votes are taken and the weddings are organized. You squirm in your chair while the greedy father throws his daughters at the rich suitor, forgetting that we are living in a different century than when this was originally written. Things come to a point very often in Coolie No 1, when that nonsense is too much to swallow, especially when there is no laughter.
The VFX sequences in the film can be a guide on how not to use CGI. They are of such bad quality that you can actually see where the green screen was used.
Read also: Best actors of 2020: Taapsee Pannu, Nawazuddin, Jaideep Ahlawat prove that less is more; Tripti, Pratik emerge as emerging stars
David Dhawan has proved beyond a doubt that it is impossible to model David Dhawan. With a lack of sharp writing and editing, Coolie No 1 is just a poor facsimile of the original. As the jokes fall with a thud, we just stay with the songs and even then, the OGs clearly win. For those who ask you not to compare the 1995 success with the 2020 product, my one-line answer is that manufacturers shouldn’t have given us a copy in the first place. This is not a reboot, it looks like a parody and it is better not to mess with nostalgia.
Follow @htshowbiz on twitter