F.A.L.T.U: Decent College Musical

If the expectations are less and the entertainment is exuberant, it makes for a decent cinema watching experience. Choreographer Remo pleasantly surprises with a solid grip (mostly) on the narrative of his directorial debut F.A.L.T.U comprising of a bunch of exciting new stars and a superb new music composer duo Sachin-Jigar.

The concept of the film is innovative and connects with the youth of today. Like 3 Idiots, the director questions the education system that lays too much emphasis on grades while sidelining the pursuit of excellence or honing one’s special talents. Yes, starting a new college for all the just-pass students is bizarre and incredulous but discovering the individual skills and disseminating information regarding the same to help many others to self educate themselves is a commendable effort.

The publicity campaign for F.A.L.T.U has been in an overdrive. Full page Ads in national dailies, hoardings, a deluge of promos on TV. You just can’t miss it. Moreover, the music has caught on considerably. Party Abhi Baaki Hai, Aaltu Jalaltu and Le Ja Tu Mujhe are being liked a lot. Producer Vashu Bhagnani insured that his son Jackky gets a dream re launch (his debut film Kal Kissne Dekha tanked). One expected the film to be a one man show with Jackky getting all the prominence. But then you get to see Chandan Roy Sanyal of Kaminey fame (where his role was royally slashed) having a very fine track of a high-percentage-earning geek who dares to follow his heart by pursuing acting against the dictates of his Hitler father Akbar Khan. Debutante Puja Gupta is a Betty like cutie who spreads her winsome charm in abundance while muscle man Angad Bedi holds his own too (despite his Appa). Arshad Warsi (Mr Google) as the facilitator and Riteish Deshmukh as the Principal of the fake college have some cool lines too.

So, the appreciable part is that F.A.L.T.U turns out to be a good team effort rather than a desperate attempt to bolster a moneybags Producer’s son’s career. And to his credit Jackky is in fine form as well. Comedy, drama, dancing...he is adept at all of this and his next film will be surely worth watching out for.

Mayur Puri and Tushar Hiranandani are the screenplay writers while Sachin Bajaj has written the story. There are many lines which make you chuckle with joy while some try and ape what the youth are supposed to be mouthing-these-days and fall flat. The film is entertaining and breezy for sure but there are gaping loopholes in the plot. The big flaw is the convenience with which a big college is erected out of a dilapidated building within a jiffy. Alright, students have paid a fees for getting admission so that can somewhat take care of the huge expenses (the Beer flows like BMC water here), but why is the city administration sleeping for long, letting a fake college run right under their noses, which is administered by two men with no teachers or support staff at all. Akbar Khan reprimanding Chandan (btw he looks older for the part he plays) for getting 94% instead of 95% is rather silly. Jackky oogling at the bosom of women buying vegetables near the kabad-ki-dukaan of his dad is in bad taste. The simplistic manner in which the losers turn heroes with such a fast broadband speed is too filmy and hard-to-digest. There are moments which are preachy and didactic too.

As I said earlier, when the expectations are less and you get more than what you had asked for, as a viewer, you feel satiated. In spite of flaws (which one expected anyways), Remo doesn’t pretend to make anything other than a feel-good entertainer and he succeeds in doing that. The choreography in the penultimate song when F.A.L.T.U students win hearts through their performance is simply superb. The execution of this song brings a tear in your eyes and ignites goose pimples. Some of the songs have become chartbusters. All the other songs have been nicely woven in the film giving a college musical kinda feel. The support cast of Darshan Jariwala as Jackky’s father and Rameshwari as Angad’s mother have some good scenes. Nice to see the guy who played the photographer in Dabangg (Bhayya Ji Smile...remember) giving his toothy smile in this film.

F.A.L.T.U: Worth your money

Star Rating: ***