Lafangey Parindey - such a strange name. Like the director couldn't decide which word he liked better and decided to go with both. The movie is literally about Lafangey (or Rascals) and figuratively about Parindey (or Birds). The Lafangey are One Shot Nandu (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and his sidekicks who spend their time pumping iron in some Wadi in Mumbai. Pinky Palkar (Deepika Padukone) symbolises Parindey with her aspirations of leaving behind the wadi life and moving up in life with her dancing skills.
As Nandu tries to flee after helping out in a goon's murder, he rams his car into Pinky who loses her eyesight as a result. To assuage his guilt, Nandu teaches her to cope with her blindness and she teaches him to skate and dance. Quite naturally, the feisty Pinky and the taciturn Nandu fall in love. They are all set to compete in "India's got Talent" when trouble rears its ugly head in paradise.
The movie is a good watch and the fast pace of the narrative helps. More than anything, the backdrop of the story with its lower class setting, its tomboyish, aggressive heroine and its local tapori boxing hero hold one's interest. It is a visual relief after all the beauty and gloss that mainstream Bollywood throws at you.
The thing is, that this is the kind of movie that can never really aim to be a blockbuster with its limited scope and premise. Its almost as if the creators thought Deepika and Neil would look great dancing together on skates and made up the rest of the story from there. Its lead actors are also not talented enough to elevate the film above the subject.
Deepika though much improved, continues to find it difficult to establish a connect with the audience. Her dialogues often fall flat to the floor and stay there. She does look the part to a T though. Neil Nitin Mukesh looks hot as the local boxer but sadly his contribution stops there. He is unable to bring any kind of nuance to his role and simply goes through the motions. He also seems too refined and soft spoken at times to be really convincing as the tough talking action hero. Many models have started acting. Maybe Neil can now start the opposite trend. He looks so much better than he acts.
The climax of the movie is also very weak. Shiamak Davar, Juhi Chawla and Javed Jaffrey are brought on as judges of "India's got Talent" and don't have a single line of dialogue to mouth after the all-important final performance! They just wipe their tears! I mean come on! The ease with which the cops capitulate is also completely absurd. Director Pradeep Sarkar seems to lose the plot towards the end. In fact he could have had a better plot. To his credit, he never dips into the melodrama so readily available when you have a blind heroine and a hero who gets beaten up for a living. Huge really when you think that this guy made the totally bullshit Laaga Chunri mein Daaga - a regressive melodrama if ever there was one.
So coming back to Lafangey Parindey. I liked the fast pace, I liked the restraint (coming from Yash Raj that too!), I liked the characterisation, I liked the setting and I liked Nandu and Pinky's love story. So a 6.5/10.
Go watch this movie if you have the time. Go with no high expectations and it will entertain you.
