“Nawazuddin Siddiqui is not romantic comedy material,” notes Deepa Gahlot.
The forsworn marriage protagonist of Jogira Sara Ra Ra explains that it’s not material for a husband or boyfriend, but it can be a “pastime.” Unfortunately, Nawazuddin Siddiqui is not the stuff of a romantic comedy either.
It has nothing to do with age or looks. It’s just that even the best actors have their limitations.
Siddiqui continues to exude gangsta vibes even after playing a variety of different on-screen roles with remarkable skill.
Casting two very unsuitable actors is Kushan Nandy’s biggest flaw Jogira Sara Ra Ra.
Neha Sharma, the female lead, doesn’t have the cuteness needed to play the manic elf dream girl, the slightly wacky but always lovable main character of romantic comedies. And even if you go by the “opposites attract” rule, there’s no chemistry between the two.
Jogi Pratap (Siddiqui) is a wedding organizer from Lucknow and has a lot of talent jugaadu spirit he always boasts about. But even he fails when he meets tipsy goal-breaker Dimple Chaubey (Sharma).
When he is later hired to organize her wedding, she wants him to use his jugaad break it up
She doesn’t want to marry the overweight milquetoast Lallu (Mahaakshay Chakraborty), whom her parents chose for her, mainly because no dowry was asked for.
If there is one tiny societal comment on the sad state of women in India, burdened with harmful social customs, it is nullified by Jogi’s reason for avoiding marriage – he has four sisters, a mother and an aunt at home, which he says is one too many “ladies”.
The women are very demanding and none of them use their time wisely.
It’s not as if Dimple has any ambitions either, she’s okay with marriage and dowry, but not the unsexy Lallu.
After all his plans have failed, Jogi stages a kidnapping and hides Dimple in his own house, where the “ladies” promptly accept her.
Local cops Yadav and Yadav (Vishwanath Chatterjee, Ghanshyam Garg) work hand-in-hand with Chacha (Sanjay Mishra), the leader of the Chaudhary gang, who kidnap for ransom and send the cops over for their share. Refusing to believe that Dimple wasn’t kidnapped by Chacha or that no ransom was paid, they demand their share.
The plot, which up to this point had some sparks of humor, completely derails into unfunny absurdity because Ghalib Asad Bhopali’s screenplay has run out of usable traces.
When screwball comedy is that elaborate, it loses its impact.
The song and dance number in a brothel and Jogi pretending to have onebimari‘ scratches the bottom of the barrel.
Supporting actors like Sanjay Mishra and Rohit Chaudhary as a reformed gangster do their best and some of the amusing lines are delivered with just the right amount of wit.
Surprisingly, even Mahaakshay Chakraborty shows some comic talents.
The film works in fits and starts, but the viewer comes out of the cinema neither smiling nor humming.
Jogira Sara Ra Ra Review Rediff Rating:
