Fugly (2014)

Simply Perfect

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Admirable film.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Kabir Sadanand once an actor now a filmmaker who gave us some films like Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao, Tum Milo To Sahi.etc FUGLY is also a production of Akshay Kumar The film seems a mix of Rang De Basanti,Fukrey and Shaitan and some more films though however the film is quite well handled at most places. The manner in which the friends get into trouble due to Chautala are well handled, however at times scenes do seem far-fetched. The message it intends to convey is well handled but at times it gets predictable while at times too filmyDirection is decent and Kabir shows improvement,writing could be better Music is decentAmongst actors, mostly newcomers Mohit Marwah is raw but does show potential, Kiara Advani is decent Vijendra Singh is alright, Arfi Lamba is good Jimmy Shergill is superb as Chautala in a role that seems to be tailormade for him rest are okay

'Fugly' is a well-intentioned film, that delivers a noble message, that being, off fighting for what's right. Its A Decent Effort! Its not perfect, but not without merit either. 'Fugly' tells the story of 4 friends - Dev, Gaurav, Aditya & Devi, whose fun filled & care free life comes to an abrupt halt, when they are pitted against an extremely corrupt Police Officer. 'Fugly' has a super first-hour, where the light-moments & the dramatic moments, both, work well. In the second-hour, the film begins to slip. The desired impact seems missing & even the series of events its characters encounter, are ordinary. Even the culmination, for that matter, is half-baked. In short, 'Fugly' starts off pretty well, but runs out of gas after a while.The Screenplay is decent, but overall, the narrative isn't as hard-hitting as expected. Kabir Sadanand's Direction is fair. Cinematography, Editing & Action-Sequences, are alright. Music by Various Artists, is good.Performance-Wise: Mohit Marwah does a decent job. Vijender Singh is strictly okay. Arfi Lamba is efficient. Kiara Advani is the pick of the lot. She looks gorgeous & delivers a highly competent performance. Mansha Bahl is very cute. But its Jimmy Shergill who steals the show. He's excellent as the villainous, corrupt cop. On the whole, 'Fugly' is a fair entertainer.

Watching F*UGLY evokes a strong sense of deja vu, for its premise so similar to the 2011 dark thriller,Shaitaan.And in what I could best interpret, the title 'neatly' sums up as Friends-in-an-Ugly situation.Kabir Sadanand's directorial debut tells the story of four youngsters ,at the cusp of their lives ,whose lives come to an abrupt halt for one wrongdoing.This triggers a series of events,putting their friendship into test.New Delhi- The Crime capital and the hidden nexus between corrupt cops,wily politicians and administrators.It forms the canvas for Kabir's plot.Four friends - Dev(Mohit Marwah),Gaurav(Vijendar Singh),Devi(Kyra Advani) and Adi(Arfi Lamba) quite liberal(or should I say 'Communist' musketeers)in their thinking are out of their college and about to kick-start their careers.An attempt to bring a lecherous grocer to task who has abused Devi goes awry when the foursome encounter the irreverent cop, SHO Chautala(Jimmy Shergill, in a deliciously menacing avatar).Chautala, the evil incarnate , demands an unreasonably hefty sum from them in return and this leads to unforeseen tragedy and ultimately redemption.To be fair, Fugly is a well-intention-ed thought,which doesn't translate into an edgy thriller.Blame it on the shoddy writing, the narrative loses steam soon after the entry of Chautala who works as the film's Trump card sans the gratuitous sloka chants.Starting off with the breath-taking locales of Ladakh, it soon implodes its way to debauched politicians, corrupt elements, under-house parties and even gay prostitution.Kabir provides a glimpse of the city's dark realities, but doesn't conjure them up and the outcome is highly inconsistent.As a conventional twist to the plot, one of the protagonists immolates himself in front of India Gate to symbolize the rise of conscientious nationalism.Let the truth prevail !As far as the performances go,the quartet of the newcomers is not particularly bad but could have done better.Its Vijendar who is convincing as he plays a wannabe boxer and has to speak with Harvanvi accent,which he is so much in real life.Cast in a negative role, Jimmy Shergill is the virtual propellant of the film's vehicle. But just like an engine which runs out of fuel,Fugly gets deprived of a stirring drama.

F*UGLY, the name seems unusual and hatke, I kept wondering what it really meant, well the beginning credits clarifies the same; it meant "FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE". The hatke quotient stops in the name itself.So Fugly delves in the latest trend of exploring our Capital Delhi. The story is of 5 friends, Dev (debutant Mohit Marwah), Devi (debutant Kiara Advani), Gaurav (Boxer Vijendra Singh) and Aditya alias Haggu (Arfi Lamba), who lead a chilled and care free life. In one incident wherein Devi is molested by a grocery shop owner and the friends decide to teach him a lesson and kidnap him and en-route they have an accident with a police van and they meet Police Inspector Choutala (Jimmy Shergill). This incident changes their life forever and Choutala starts blackmailing them and how these friends fight against Choutala and the system constitutes the rest of the story.The first problem is the story by Rahul Handa which is Rang De Basanti Meets Fukrey,it hangs between being comedy or a serious issue based movie and does not have the punch. The second problem is with the screenplay which is slow and the sequences look too half baked and without the punch and the transition from flash back to present looks disjointed. The songs have no relevance to the story and look forced. And the biggest is the climax which does not justify the overall narration. The dialogues by director Kabir Sadanand and Rajveer Ahuja ranges from being witty to unintentionally funny. The characters look too monotonous and repeated.Performance wise it needed more punch from the debutants, Mohit Marwah as Dev looks too stiff and needs diction lessons as his dialogues are not clear. Boxer Vijendra Singh sleep walks through his role of Gaurav and is average as the fun loving Jat. Kiara Advani as Devi is crackling and justifies her character well and she shines amongst the other debutants Mohit and Vijendra, watch out for this girl. Arfi Lamba as Aditya becomes quite monotonous after a point and his comedy tracks look forced. Jimmy Shergill as R S Choutala is the bright spot of Fugly, he is just superb and rises above the writing with his brilliant portrayal, another under rated actor of Bollywood. Rest of the cast sleep walk through their portrayal.Another problem is the editing by Shounok Ghosh, it is not crisp and overall flow looks bumpy. Cinematography by Milind Jog is good and captures Delhi & Ladakh well.The Music by Yo Yo Honey Singh sounds repetitive and other music directors Raftaar and Prashant Vadhyar does not impress.Kabir Sadanand took a topical subject but fails in the narration, it neither falls into the category of serious cinema nor a comedy. Kabir also stumbles is extracting a crackling performances by the cast excluding for Jimmy Shergill and Kiara Advani.