Kaun Banegi Shikharwati review: Naseeruddin Shah shines in this lukewarm show

Director duo Gauravv Chawla and Ananya Banerjee’s Kaun Banegi Shikharwati takes you back in time though the film is set in today's era. The story takes place inside an old palace in Rajasthan, which is a sight to behold. Apart from the main areas, the film also gives the viewer a tour of the building's interiors.

This is the story of the ailing maharaja Mrutyunjay Shikharwat (Naseeruddin Shah). He lives in the mansion called Shikharwati with only his manager Mishraji (Raghuvir Yadav) for company. His wife died many years ago and their daughters — Devyani (Lara Dutta Bhupathi), Gayatri (Soha Ali Khan), Kamini (Kritika Kamra) and Uma (Anya Singh) — don’t live with him any more.

At one point, Mrutyunjay realizes he hasn’t paid wealth tax for years. The final notice from the government informs him that the arrears of tax with penalty now amount to Rs32 crore and he has one month to pay up or he will lose his property.

Acting on Mishraji’s idea, Mrutyunjay calls his daughters home to visit. The plan is to enlist their help to save the mansion on the pretext of choosing his heir by making them play a series of games. The problem is that Devyani, Gayatri, Kamini and Uma have become sworn enemies over the years.

The best part of Kaun Banegi Shikharwati is its progressiveness. The show has no hesitation in making a daughter the heir of a royal family. It, in fact, portrays this as nothing unusual. And the chemistry between Dutta, Khan, Kamra and Anya Singh is impressive.

Lara Dutta portrays the snobbishness of Devyani well. Soha Ali Khan's Gayatri gets more prominence after the first half and the actress does a decent job. Kamra also does justice to the character of a typical social-media influencer. We see a likeability in her even when she behaves in a silly manner. Anya Singh recently showed glimpses of her talent in the Karan Deol-led dud Velle (2021). In this show, she clearly comes across as an actress to be reckoned with. Supporting actors Cyrus Sahukar and Varun Thakur are reliable as ever.

But the show belongs to Naseeruddin Shah. The veteran is in good form once again and adds life to plenty of scenes. The same can be said for the other veteran, Raghuvir Yadav, and his comic timing.

But the pleasing visuals, progressive thought and delectable performances don’t amount for much when the basic plot itself is confusing. It is never clear how calling the daughters back home to play games is going to help Mrutyunjay save the mansion, particularly when it was this strange practice of his that turned the girls against him in the first place. Yet, he makes them do the same thing on their return and they, too, oblige, though reluctantly.

Again, despite the huge arrears against his name, the royal old man never seems worried, not even with the deadline looming. Similar is the case with another character whose family has gone broke and is also involved with a gangster; she hardly loses any sleep over the mess. If only the rest of us could be so sanguine in our lives.

A good part of the show is allotted to the competition involving the four daughters. There are a series of rounds which range from the lame to the silly. The show hints at a second season in the end. We can only hope they put in a lot more work on the script next time.

Kaun Banegi Shikharwati is now available on Zee5.