Kartik Aaryan starrer ‘Shehzada’ is an action-packed family entertainer, a remake of the Allu Arjun starrer 2020 Telugu film ‘Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’. Shehzada has elements of everything from romance to drama, comedy to emotion and lots of Kartik’s swag. Kartik Aaryan is rapidly taking strides stepping into larger shoes and tasting super success with films like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Akshay Kumar), Allu Arjun’s character in Shehzada and also Salman Khan in the ‘Character Dheela’ song in Shehzada. No wonder he is a darling of the teens. With this film Kartik could earn the moniker as Bollywood’s ‘Shehzada’ (Prince) after having a ‘Badshah’ (Shah Rukh Khan) and a Shahenshah (Amitabh Bachchan).
Plot
A nurse informs birth of two baby boys – one of Randeep (Ronit Roy), a millionaire business tycoon and another of Valmiki (Paresh Rawal), Randeep’s friend and now an employee. The babies are exchanged and only two people are witness to this. Twenty-five years later the kids grow up as Bantu (Kartik Aaryan) and Raj (Ankur Rathee). Bantu is an uncouth young man from a middle-class background but one who never lies. When he comes to know that he is the biological son of the millionaire businessman Randeep he feels hurt. Well, what follows is a series of emotional, hilarious, and action-packed episodes that make you laugh and cry at the same time.
Shehzada seems to be a conscious decision of the makers to keep it absolutely clean for the entire family to enjoy together with an uncomplicated narrative that demonstrates multiple talking points within the story. While on one side it has the very young and refreshing Kartik and Kriti Sanon, who plays Samara, his leading lady, then on the other side are Paresh Rawal, who plays Kartik’s father and Sachin Khedekar as Ronit’s father-in-law playing as head of families embroiled in their own family issues. The narrative has a lot of characters and ends up showcasing sequences that seem implausible. Nevertheless, it is its strength too and we don’t mind accepting it in a story of a man who wants to help a family he cares about.
Rohit Dhawan has used multiple elements to keep the audience engaged with Kartik this time getting into fierce action along with his trademark witty humour, dance and mannerism. Not to forget the monologue that brings the house down and has become a fixture with Kartik Aaryan. Kartik Aaryan gets into the skin of Bantu with effortless ease. Kartik looks comfortable being the downhearted son as much as the man who will beat up everyone around him with a swag. Bantu is all smiles despite his circumstances not blaming his father but taking charge himself.
In a nutshell, Shehzada is Kartik Aaryan and vice-versa, the rest including Kriti Sanon remain on the periphery enjoying Kartik’s company I must say.
Kriti Sanon, in the limited scope that she gets, looks rich and glamourous and of course smokes a ‘bidi’ too. Paresh Rawal as always steals the scene with his speech and acting prowess, however, he appears slightly uncomfortable repeating the characteristics of the original. We would have loved to see Rawal bringing his own style and enhancing the character.
Sachin Khedekar remains constant in the remake too as the rich businessman Aditya Jindal, getting a bit more of screentime than Manisha Koirala and Ronit Roy who play Yashu and Randeep, his daughter and son-in-law. Watching Ronit Roy onscreen is always a pleasure, but he is usually portrayed in powerful characters unlike here he is seen mellowed down and vulnerable.
The songs are composed by Pritam, and lyrics are written by Kumaar, Mayur Puri, Shloke Lal and IP Singh.
Overall, Shehzada that has elements of everything from romance to drama, comedy to emotion, Kartik’s swag and of course his monologue, should not be missed.
Movie: Shehzada
Director: Rohit Dhawan
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Ronit Roy, Sachin Khedekar, Debattama Saha, Ankur Rathee, Sunny Hinduja, Vin Rana, Rajpal Yadav
Duration: 145 Mins
