Angrezi Medium film review: A bloated affair lifted by Irrfan Khan

Gulf News

Angrezi Medium, a tale about a doting father from a small Indian town going to bizarre lengths to enroll his daughter into a university in London, is a crash course on incredible collective acting and a lost opportunity.  Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/2QdExo9  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos  Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  #Bollywood #Irran Khan #AngreziMedium

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00:00Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan's latest movie, Angrezi Medium,

00:04is a crash course on splendid acting and a lost golden opportunity as well.

00:13It's director Homi Adjania who channels all his energies into bringing a very warm and fuzzy

00:20father-daughter tale. It's Irrfan Khan's return to the big screen after his arduous battle with

00:26cancer and it's a high grade cancer so it's so great to see him on the big screen. He plays

00:30a doting father called Champak Ghasitaram from Udaipur. He's a small town dad from Udaipur

00:36and when his daughter, who's very capricious and precocious, angst-ridden teenager says that

00:41papa I want to study in the UK, he thinks it's Uttarakhand, it's in North India. So that kind

00:47of shows, underlines the man's charm and lack of exposure of the world. But then he decides to

00:54fulfil his daughter's dream and make some very bizarre sacrifices to achieve her dreams. Irrfan

01:00Khan plays his doting dad who goes to bizarre lengths and makes some very, very unreasonable

01:05decisions and very bad decisions at that to put his daughter through college. I mean I know

01:11all Indian parents at some point in their life want their kids to study in a prestigious

01:15university in the UK or in the US but it can be a pipe dream too or you can just sit your

01:21child down and say that maybe you should do it on a scholarship instead. This whole idea that

01:25this father has to bear the brunt of the financial cost of putting his daughter through college in

01:30the UK forms the spine of the movie. One thing that I love about this film is Irrfan Khan. He's

01:35splendid and our heart goes out to him as this father who's so doting and who's so loving. He's

01:41vulnerable yet crafty in many ways and his pairing with his cousin played by Deepak Dobriyal, they

01:47are always blowing each other hot and cold and they have this love-hate relationship. It's fun

01:52to watch at first but after a point their companionship and their developing relationship

01:58becomes a bit of a bore. The thing with this movie is that it has a very unique premise but it has

02:02not been extracted or executed too well. It's way too bloated. The length is a big problem. After the

02:08end of two hours you are like where is this movie headed because there are so many tangents. The

02:12movie tends to go in different tangents. The parts in which that these two small towners go to UK

02:18and how they are intercepted by the immigration authorities and then they're thought to be

02:22terrorists or drug dealers, it's such a cheesy and lame thing. You have seen it before and it's

02:27mildly racist as well. There's no fun to be had in it. However, it's Irrfan Khan, Deepak Dobriyal

02:33and Radhika Madan who make this movie utterly watchable. I mean at no point, you always marvel

02:39at their performances but sometimes you always wonder where is this going exactly and where is

02:43Homi Adjaniya, the director, taking us. So it does get lost in translation a lot but you have to keep

02:48at it. There's also Kareena Kapoor who makes her entry as a very hot-headed cop of Indian origin

02:55in the UK and she has a troubled relationship with her hooky mother played by Dimple Kapadia.

02:59Such talented actors but absolutely wasted in their roles because it was a part that really

03:05did not need them. I mean if it's going to be a daughter and a single dad story then ideally it

03:11should have stayed on that course. Instead it goes into this tangent of comedy of errors.

03:15There are several con men, there's a drug dealer etc and it just gets so convoluted

03:19and it's very difficult to stay invested. If you're a fan of Irrfan Khan then you will enjoy

03:24every part of this film but if you're looking for a very tightly edited crisp film then this is not

03:30the one to go. It would have benefited largely from removing the lard from this bloated film.

03:36Had it been edited by at least 30 minutes perhaps we would have really liked this movie a lot better.

03:42There's also a performance by Pankaj Tripathi. He plays this man, a con man with a

03:47middle eastern accent. He's a hoot. I mean to see Deepak Dobriyal, Irrfan Khan and Pankaj Tripathi,

03:53veteran actors spar, it's really an interact and just play off each other's energy is quite a treat

04:00to watch. In fact it's a masterclass in great acting but also is a cautionary tale on what

04:06happens if a movie is too self-indulgent. I've gone with 3.5 out of 5. Let me explain the 0.5

04:13is for Irrfan Khan because I have to admit that it's always lovely to see an actor back in form

04:19because you always worry will he ever be as good at his craft or not after a debilitating disease

04:24but Irrfan Khan still has it. Watch this movie if you're a fan of Khan.

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