Suparna Thombare
Mumbai, 14 Jul 2017 8:00 IST
Director Giridharan Swamy's directorial debut is too choppy to create consistently genuine laughs.
Kaay Re Rascalaa marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Giridharan Swamy. The attempt is to make a loud, mainstream comedy with a con man's tranformation at its core.
The film starts with Raja (Gaurav Ghatnekar) who is seen conning people to make some quick money as he goes about his day. A chance meeting with a young woman (Bhagyashree Mothe) leads him to lie about his identity.
Another chance meeting with a bar dancer gives him the brilliant idea of blackmailing two people, the chief minister (Nagesh Bhosale) and a businessman (Akshar Kothari), at the same time by claiming to know of their illicit son. Raja is then forced to hire a child actor named Guddu (Nihar Gite) to play the alleged illicit son so that he can extort money from his victims. The two develop a bond as they go along executing their plan and get muddled in a series of events, causing a lot of confusion.
Kaay Re Rascalaa has tons of problems. Let us start with the most important one — it is too formulaic. Take the songs, which are good compositions by Rohan-Rohan but totally forced in the film, especially the dance number titled 'Monalisa Mi Maharashtra Chi'. The director is adamant about following the jaded format of one romantic song, one fun number and one so-called item song!
The climax takes place inside a hotel as chaos reigns. To understand the concept, think Priyadarshan comedies. Some sequences are indeed funny, but they are interspersed with complete ridiculousness and unnecessary sentimentality. So, while you are laughing at a genuinely funny scene one moment, the very next moment you are laughing at how ridiculous it is and then, in the next scene, you are cringing.
The ending is so long drawn out and unexpectedly soppy that you lose whatever little interest you had left. Kothari's pained portrayal of suprise and hurt in the last scene turns is cringe-worthy rather than emotional — the proverbial last nail in the coffin.
Ghatnekar is a decent actor but he is saddled with a story and a character that are flawed at the very foundation — the script. Child actor Gite shows great promise as he owns every frame he is in. Hopefully, he will get a more worthy platform to showcase his talent. Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, who plays Mother's father, brings his ace comic timing to the proceedings but cannot save the day.
The character of Rajinikanth fan and wannabe gangster Muthu is hilarious and sequences involving him are among the funniest. Some of the dialogues by Prashant Lokhe are quite funny too, but others not so much.
It is this choppy and loophole-ridden writing, inconsistent direction, and patchy editing that bring the film down. In the right hands Kaay Re Rascala could have been a laugh riot. In the wrong hands it just winds up as a terrible mess.