Mere Dad Ki Maruti Movie Review by Taran Adarsh

3.5

A khadoos and kanjoos dad can’t see eye to eye with his free-spirited son. The backdrop is a big, fat Punjabi wedding in North India. A brand new car that’s supposed to be offered as the wedding gift goes missing. Now add a tadka of assorted characters: Bhai, weirdos and cops. Perfect recipe for a truly appetizing Punjabi delicacy? Oh, yes! Y-Films’ third movie MERE DAD KI MARUTI is loud, funny, energetic and whacky.

Ashima Chibber, who has been an apprentice to talents such as Shimit Amin and Imtiaz Ali, opts for a full-on masaledaar fare in her debut film. Unlike Y-Films’ second endeavor MUJHSE FRAAANDHSIP KAROGE, a classy metro-centric love story, this one’s an over the top comic entertainer that unravels at lightening speed. And it works!

MERE DAD KI MARUTI is set against the backdrop of a Punjabi wedding in Chandigarh. It tells the story of Sameer [Saqib Saleem], who sneaks his dad’s [Ram Kapoor] fancy new car out to impress the college hottie Jasleen [Rhea Chakraborty] and how all hell breaks loose when he loses it.

The screenplay of MERE DAD KI MARUTI follows the tried and tested mantra: It activates with a dilemma and concludes with a definite resolution. In between, the fast-changing tracks and the colorful characters and episodes keep your attention arrested. You rarely go wrong if you follow this [oldest] storytelling technique in Bollywood… MERE DAD KI MARUTI gets it right on this count. Besides, Ashima does the smartest thing by making it an over the top experience.

If you’re from North India, or are aware of how a section of individuals behave in the Northern region of the country, you’d promptly identify with the characters and setting in the narrative. Sure, MERE DAD KI MARUTI stands on a skeletal plot, but screenplay writers Neeraj Udhwani, Pooja Desai and Ashima Chibber make sure they pepper it with lively characters and situations, which makes this ride enjoyable for most parts.

MERE DAD KI MARUTI manages to steer clear of major pitfalls. What stands out is the fact that most kids want to break free from parental pressures, but end up in trying situations. This aspect comes across loud and clear in the enterprise, although the film never gets preachy or sermonizing on that front. The only glitch is that the makers could’ve avoided in-your-face, blatant publicity of the vehicle brand. The director could’ve adopted a more subtle approach.

Sachin Gupta grasps the essence of the film perfectly and delivers a lively soundtrack. ‘Punjabiyan Di Battery’ is sprightly and stays on your lips instantly. ‘Main Senti Hoon’ is another song that’s aimed at youngistaan. I’d like to make a special note of the witty one-liners/dialogue [Ishita Moitra], which is exactly how youth converse these days. Also, the North Indian dialect adds loads of flavor to the lines.

Saqib Saleem showed immense potential in MUJHSE FRAAANDHSIP KAROGE and with MERE DAD KI MARUTI, proves he’s one of the brightest talents around. His comic timing, casual conversations and manic gestures are a delight to watch. Ram Kapoor, a supremely talented actor, gets his role spot-on. The cynics may argue, he’s loud and crass, but his character is meant to behave that way. Also, it only goes to prove how versatile he is, when you recall the suave character in STUDENT OF THE YEAR and the effort he invests in MERE DAD KI MARUTI to appear loud.

Rhea Chakraborty is confident, although her character doesn’t offer her much to scope to prove her talent. Prabal Panjabi, also introduced in MUJHSE FRAAANDHSIP KAROGE, stands out yet again. Together with Saqib, he contributes to several lively moments in the enterprise. Ravi Kissen is first-rate as the local Bhai. Karan Mehra [as the groom] is efficient. Benazir Shaikh [as Saqib’s sister] does an okay job. The assorted characters, each of them, lend admirable support.

On the whole, MERE DAD KI MARUTI is a joyride. Mazedaar, masaledaar, full-on entertainer. Hitch a ride on this one instantly!

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  1. Author
    aryan 11 years ago

    Review by Raja Sen

    There’s something interesting brewing at Y Films, that upstart we’re-so-young spinoff banner from Yash Raj Films.

    Things looked ludicrous at first, with films trying too hard and but last year’s Mujhse Fraandship Karoge gave us a standard-issue Hollywood style high-school film (which really isn’t standard-issue at all in these parts) and now two boys from that film show up again with another popcorn entertainer, this time set around that most YRF of settings, a Punjabi wedding.

    Except — and this is important — the leads are now all drowning in twitterspeak. (Or should that be #twitterspeak?)
    Click here!

    A self-styled young stud with delusions of coolth (often undone by some struggles with English grammar) looks at the new red car being wheeled into the house.

    He exultantly leaps forward and appears to be humping it before his porky father jeeringly peels him off the front bonnet. Our hero’s sister, you see, is getting married in a couple of days, and the car is a ‘present’ for the hero’s brother-in-law to be.

    It is, then, but natural that he borrows it to impress a girl. And then — in the most throwaway manner — manages to lose it.

    It’s frequently silly and sometimes daftly plotted, but Aashima Chhiber’s directorial debut crackles along very breezily indeed, with enough gags fired out so that it doesn’t matter if a third of them miss their mark.

    Mere Dad Ki Maruti is also the right length; a generation squeezing their lives into a 140 characters deserves films much shorter than our standard 140 minutes, and this one crisply weighs in at well under two hours.

    One of the major reasons the film works is because of the ensemble. Ram Kapoor is excellent as Tej, the boy’s dictatorial daddy, a portly miser who (justifiably) refuses to trust his anything-goes son, and the rest of his family is shrewdly cast as well: and here a special round of applause for the actresses playing Tej’s wife and daughter for one fantastic scene.

    The bride, at her own sangeet, launches into an insanely inappropriate dance routine, and while everyone from dulha to bhai is aghast with scandal, the mother is tapping along with pride, nodding head gleefully at seeing daughter dear hit the right beats. Bravo.

    A bigger hand for Prabal Panjabi playing Gattu, the hero’s BFF. Constantly funny even when having to say “hells no” to a Chandigarh policeman, Panjabi is like a highly likeable Vir Das — I mean if Vir Das could act.

    As it stands, this fellow is a delight, and provides a perfect foil for the film’s lead, Saqib Saleem, who delivers an irresistibly confident and spontaneous performance.

    As quick to strut as he is to grovel, his Sameer is sprightly and high-energy and feels real despite all the surreality around him. At one point, begging the annoyed Gattu for a huge favour, he asks “bhai nahin hai bhai ka?” (“be a brother to a brother?”) with such warm entitlement that it’s clear why he’s impossible to turn down. He’s a charmer, and carries the film lightly but assuredly.

    Heck, even the extras are cast well, right from a snoring policeman apologising to his wife in his sleep to the squirt who works for a bhai selling stolen cars.

    There is a surfeit of flavour and sometimes the double-dose of Punjabiness and #lingo seems a bit much, but there’s enough to sit back and smirk at, with or without the accent. And the dialogues by Ishita Moitra mostly work very well indeed, as characters call legs “epic” and invite girls for gedis.

    Special points for including the slangy “tunch” in there, not to mention rhyming it with fruit punch. (Um, you’d be well served to take a Punjabi friend along if you aren’t from North India [ Images ].)

    The film does serve as an advertisement for Maruti’s Ertiga, sure, but then it also slyly disses Maruti’s Alto [ Images ], and lays on the Ertiga praise so thick it doesn’t pretend to be subtle.

    I cringed when a girl looked at the car and called it “hot wheels” as if it were a convertible but then the girl drunkenly proceeded to call everything with wheels hot. Heh.

    It’s a ride, a goofy, forgettable ride. One that throws up a debutant director with promise and actors who deserve to be in more films.

    Give it a whirl. Like a Rado wristwatch that a character automatically dismisses for fake, this film may not look it but happens to be the real thing.

    Rating: 3 and Half.

    https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-mere-dad-ki-maruti-is-fun/20130315.htm

  2. sputnik 11 years ago

    Anupama Chopra’s review.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=5mNAJA7v6YY

  3. sputnik 11 years ago
  4. Serenzy 11 years ago

    I think I might watch this over JLLB[Also bcz My Friend Group is insisting].

    Though I Hated Luv ka the end but I had pretty much liked MFK a hell lot more.

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