Heropanti Movie Review
Cast: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Prakash Raj, Sandeepa Dhar, Vikram Singh
Direction: Sabbir Khan
Genre: Action
Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes
So, Heropanti is like DDLJ – wearing knuckle-dusters. The action is in ‘Jat-land’ where rural lord Choudhary Suraj Singh (Raj) is celebrating the arranged marriage of his daughter Renu (Dhar). The wedding’s high Haryanvi style, all celebratory bullets and booze, chowmein eaten with dhai-kilo hands and relatives including an encounter specialist cop, a land shark badmaash and king of Delhi’s bouncers. But the ‘Kala Kutta’ dries up when Renu elopes with Rakesh. In pursuit, her enraged relations capture Rakesh’s buddies – including Bablu (Shroff) who pummels the Haryanvis hard. Bablu’s fists stop flying when Dimpy – Suraj Singh’s younger daughter – arrives. Will his heroics win?
Heropanti captures the colourful tension of Haryanvi life, switching between the freedoms of big-city living to the cloistered comfort of a haveli, where one step out of tradition can lead an adored daughter to death. Raj portrays a father’s hammy but dramatic agony while various mamas, taus and Dimpy’s fiance Rajjo (Singh) mix muscular menace and rustic comedy well. They’re matched at every mukka by Tiger Shroff, whose fighting and dancing feature commendable grace. Tiger has a pleasant, dignified presence but is clearly more comfortable letting his kicks, not his acting, talk. Playing Dimpy, who dreams of being ‘Miss Haryana’, Kriti has statuesque beauty but set expressions, the lead pair’s emoting more cheesy than sharp.
Similarly, the story carries some corny 1990s flab, including a song-in- the-snow where the lovers wear colour co-ordinated clothing and Tiger sports a truly awful pair of blue goggles. More snags detract from otherwise tight direction – the Renu-Rakesh dilemma is left under-explained while overdone comedians (including an eloping driver and a chubby NRI) induce more yawns than chuckles.
Still, Heropanti is enjoyable. The climax pumps up the action, featuring shirtless Tiger, crouching Rajjo. The tale has a twist as graceful as Tiger’s flips and you do agree when Tiger suggests, ‘Mere naal tu whistle baja.’
Similarly, the story carries some corny 1990s flab, including a song-in- the-snow where the lovers wear colour co-ordinated clothing and Tiger sports a truly awful pair of blue goggles. More snags detract from otherwise tight direction – the Renu-Rakesh dilemma is left under-explained while overdone comedians (including an eloping driver and a chubby NRI) induce more yawns than chuckles.
Still, Heropanti is enjoyable. The climax pumps up the action, featuring shirtless Tiger, crouching Rajjo. The tale has a twist as graceful as Tiger’s flips and you do agree when Tiger suggests, ‘Mere naal tu whistle baja.’
