Years later, when his mother passes away, Ajatashatru (Dhanush), decides to travel to Paris to trace his father, a French magician. He rustles up a flight ticket and with a fake 100 Eur note and a passport, lands in Paris. A series of events take over to make his journey nothing short of fascinating – from a brewing romance with Marie (Erin Moriarty) to mistakenly travelling to London in a wardrobe with illegal immigrants for company. Being deported to Spain and then landing in Rome hidden in a large suitcase on a chartered flight with an actress, Nelly (Berenice Bejo). There is even a hot air balloon ride with macaroons and champagne, and a ship to Libya thrown into the mix. Yes, there is heavy dollop of magic realism here and if one can suspend disbelief and surrender, it makes for a fun watch.
While at some level the film deals with the conditions and dire straits of illegal immigrants and refugees, and brings through a few poignant moments, it essentially follows Ajatashatru’s adventures, his tryst with chance and karma, and of course his love story.All through, director Ken Scott keeps the mood light and frothy with emotional moments and laughs weaved in. While it does succumb to a few exotic tropes when set in Mumbai, the film has a ton of color, comedy, music and Bollywood style song and dance number bunged in, to keep it chugging at a neat pace.
Based on a book by Romain Puertolas, the film is Dhanush’s Hollywood debut. While the rest of the cast - Erin Moriarty, Berenice Bejo, Barkhad Abdi and others pull off likeable performances, Hearty Singh as the young Aja makes quite an impression with his limited screen time. But ultimately, it is Dhanush who owns the heart and soul of the film. With his easy charm, smile and perfect comic timing, he gives a winning performance. It’s a pleasure to watch him having so much fun with his role. And that’s one very good reason to catch this feel good film.
No comments:
Post a Comment