REVOLVER RANI

Ponty Chadha, Moving Pictures, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Crouching Tiger’s Revolver Rani (UA) is the story of an ugly and fiery woman, Alka Singh (Kangana Ranaut), living in the Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh. She spews venom at her detractors and fires bullets at the slightest provocation. She only has her maternal uncle, Balli (Piyush Mishra), as family because her parents are no more and she herself had killed her husband for being disloyal to her. She lives with the stigma of being a barren woman as she was unable to bear a child with her late husband.

Uday Bhan Singh (Zakir Hussain), a corrupt politician, is elected from the Chambal region. Alka Singh, who is from the opposition party, hates him and wants to expose him. On his part, Uday Bhan Singh also detests Alka just as the home minister (Sanjay Singh) does. Alka, who meets struggling Bollywood actor Rohan Kapoor (Vir Das), at a local event where she is the chief guest, begins to find solace in his company and soon, she falls in love with him. The two get intimate a number of times as Rohan now lives with her. While she is madly in love with Rohan, he hangs around with her only because she agrees to produce a film with him in the lead role. Rohan loves another girl, Nisha (Deana Uppal), and although Alka suspects, there is another girl in his life, he lies to her for obvious reasons.

Then one day, Uday Bhan Singh is exposed on national television because of Balli’s machinations, and he is forced to resign. Fresh elections are announced and Balli uncle is thrilled that this would be Alka’s chance to be back in power. But even as election campaigning is underway, Alka gets pregnant. She is thrilled that the stigma of being a barren woman would be wiped off her name forever. But the over-ambitious uncle wants her to abort the child as he fears, she would not be able to win the elections if the news of her pregnancy became public. Rohan, of course, wants his unborn child in Alka’s womb to be aborted but Alka has other plans. Throwing caution to the winds, she gets married to Rohan. Uday Bhan Singh uses the leaked video of the marriage ceremony to his advantage because of which Balli uncle cries foul and says that the video is doctored. To prove his claim, Balli gets Rohan married to a Muslim girl, Zaheera Shaikh (Nikunj Malik).

So now, it is a very dicey situation. Alka, married to Rohan, has motherly feelings towards her unborn child and boundless love for Rohan, because of which she wants to quit the political arena and the world of guns. However, her maternal uncle is too power-hungry to let her have her way.

What happens then? Does Alka live happily ever after with Rohan and her baby? Or does her uncle convince her to put politics before all else? Does Rohan agree to live happily ever after with Alka? What happens to his girlfriend?

Sai Kabir’s story about this crazy, ugly, soft-hearted yet dangerous woman is good and quite different from the usual stories. But his screenplay has its inconsistencies. While some portions are interesting and entertaining, there are also some parts which are boring and appear stretched. But the biggest drawback of the drama is that writer Sai Kabir is unable to convince the audience about the conflict between Alka and her uncle. Why does the uncle not want her to marry and bear the child? It isn’t as if she is a film star for whom marriage and pregnancy would spell the end of her career. If the uncle fears that the cross-communal marriage could become a sore point with the public and, therefore, reduce her chances of winning the elections, that point does not quite come across. Similarly, if the uncle’s worry is that the rough-and-tough Alka is losing interest in politics because of her pregnancy, even that point does not come across too well. In other words, the entire second half seems to be resting on a weak foundation. While the conflict assumes gigantic proportions, the viewer is left wondering that, after all, what is all the hue and cry about?

Though the first half is interesting in parts only, the drama becomes engaging soon after interval and remains so for about half an hour. The humour quotient in Rohan Kapoor’s various marriages is wonderful and keeps the viewers in good spirits. The track of the television news reader, Payal Parihar (Mishka), is simply hilarious. Dialogues, written by Sai Kabir, are very earthy and create an impression.

Kangana Ranaut lives the role of Alka Singh. She plays the character with utmost conviction and delivers yet another wonderful performance, in the process, endearing herself to the audience. Vir Das excels as Rohan Kapoor. It must be said that he has a fantastic sense of timing. Piyush Mishra is outstanding as Balli uncle. He plays the mastermind behind Alka Singh so brilliantly that you can’t help admiring him. Zakir Hussain is superb in the role of Uday Bhan Singh. Mishka is first-rate as news reader Payal Parihar. Her signature ending of every news bulletin is rather enjoyable. Deana Uppal is effective as Nisha. Sanjay Singh (as the home minister), Nikunj Malik (as Zaheera Shaikh), Kumud Kumar Mishra (as Sonu) and Pankaj Saraswat (as Monu) leave their marks. Preeti Sood (as Gutki), Syed Zeeshan Quadri (as Pilot) and Saroj (as Haseena Bano) make their presence felt. Rahul Gandhi (as Jai), Abhijeet Shetty (as Veeru) and Rahul Mittra (as Dr. Bhalla) have their moments.

Sai Kabir’s debut attempt at direction is good. He knows the craft and manages to keep the audience engaged throughout despite the dips in his screenplay. But he has made a film which will be liked by mainly the masses only. The womenfolk and family audiences will more or less keep away from the film because of the excessive violence and bloodshed. Music (by Sanjeev Srivastava) is quite unusual because it has a different feel to it. The ‘Lade re bhaiya’, ‘Zardozi’ and ‘Chanda ki katori’ songs and also the title track are quite appealing but they haven’t become too popular. Shaheen Iqbal and Puneet Sharma’s lyrics are appropriate. Richard Burton’s choreography is okay. Surender Sodhi’s background music is fair. Cinematographer Suhas Gujarathi has done a fine job. Kaushal-Moses’s action and stunt scenes are mass-appealing. Sets (by Akhilesh Kumar) and production designing (by Mayur Sharma) are effective in recreating the region where the drama is based. Aarti Bajaj’s editing is tight.

On the whole, Revolver Rani is entertaining in parts but lack of hit and popular music and the unexplained conflict of the second half will tell on its business. Connoisseurs of different cinema will like the film but that will not be enough to recover the cost, given the film’s dull opening.