Banjo Movie Review

banjo-movieBanjo is Marathi film director Ravi Jadhav’s first foray into Bollywood. Jadhav is known there for some wonderful movies and the same is expected out of him with Banjo.

Banjo as a script has nothing new to offer. It is the same underdog vs the world story that we have seen in umpteen movies. Though plots like these are stale, there have been many movies that have rocked this plot with an exciting screenplay and tight narration. Banjo sadly falls flat on both counts. The vain script suffers further with a terrible screenplay punctuated with utterly forced humour. The scenes are lazy and contrived, while the slow pace and the déjà vu factor runs persistently throughout the film.

Riteish Deshmukh has the swagger, the clothes, the demeanour and the looks of a rock star, but sadly the makers forgot that he is playing the role of a street musician. Riteish overplays his role and the tapori act just to enhance his image does not work. His performance is patchy to say the least. Nargis looks the “ABCD” girl tip to toe and even manages to mouth Hindi dialogues the English way without having to connect her permanently fixed wide lips. She speaks part Hindi; part English in her firangi attire and with her wooden expressions she floats like a lifeless log. Then there are others who do what is told.

Cinematographer captures the ethos of Mumbai really well, the background score is OK while the songs middle somewhere without connecting the listeners. The dialogues are sub standard while the editor seems to have used the “work from home” option. The direction is insipid.

Banjo could have been an entertaining movie, had a lot more seriousness and thought gone into the script. At its best Banjo is laid back and plain lazy. Jadhav’s first attempt with Banjo seems to have started on a wrong note.

BANJO – BHEJA KARAB !!

1.75/5

B.U.Shreesha.

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