“Nanu Ki Jaanu”: Is it Worth Watching?

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Bollywood often veers from the mediocre to the inane, and sometimes reaches absolute realms of ridiculousness. Faraz Haider’s “Nanu Ki Jaanu” is a perfect candidate for the latter. Falling in the unique category of being a comedy-horror film, it miserably fails at both. It seemingly wants to promote ethical values, and touch on serious issues like unsafe driving practices and domestic violence; but fails there too as all noble sentiment is buried under the nonsense surrounding it.

Nanu (played by Abhay Deol) is a small-time land mafia gangster based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He attempts to save Siddhi’s life (played by Patralekha) from the scene of an accident, which she succumbs to and then haunts him for the rest of the film. She is a ‘good’ ghost though certainly not a friendly one. All she apparently wants is Nanu to turn a new leaf.

Deol and Patralekha in a scene from the film. Picture courtesy: http://www.firstpost.com

Haider attempts to humorize being haunted by a ghost by throwing in some slapstick moments. Unfortunately, these lackluster scenes don’t inspire any laughter. The music is forgettable and the background score, oscillating between sounds of shrill horror and fake humour is very annoying.

The entire cast consists of strong veteran actors (with the exception of Patralekha whose role was minimal) that have proved themselves time and time again. Deol, Manu Rishi Chadda as his partner, Rajesh Sharma as the victim’s father and Reshma Khan as Deol’s mother perform their roles well. Their acting talents are wasted in this movie. I constantly wondered why Deol agreed to this script after giving stellar performances in the likes of “Dev D”.

The second half of the film turns a different direction with elements of romance and mystery thrown in. This only serves to muddy the waters more and causes some major eye-rolling on part of the audience! There are also storylines on the side involving residents of the apartment complex where Nanu lives, which seem rather unnecessary. The story and the direction make this film a disaster.

I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you’re looking for some absolute mindless entertainment and have nothing better to do, you may enjoy it!

Film Rating: 1/5

*Poster of the film courtesy: http://www.zeenews.india.com