The 'After Hrs' Review: 'Pappu Can't Dance Saala'

Film: Pappu Can't Dance Saala
Director: Saurabh Shukla
Cast: Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Rajat Kapoor, Naseruddin Shah, Sanjay Mishra
Rating: *

If you talk about stereotypes, then here’s an ideal example -- Mr Vinay ‘the always-desi-guy’ Pathak. Film, after film, after film Vinay Pathak is playing the same kind of roles and expects the audience to appreciate him.

Well, for the record, they absolutely don’t, if the box office fates of his last few films are anything to go by. Now-a-days, if you see Vinay on screen, then be assured that he will portray at least seven of the following characterictics –

1. He will be a motor-mouth, 2. He will be the perfect desi guy from an Indian village, 3. He will talk in shuddh Hindi and will seldom use English in his diction 4. He will have a distinct distaste or indifference towards ‘western’ culture, 5. He will seem innocent and sometimes stupid but he will talk sense (an ideal example of plain living and high thinking), 6. Somehow or the other, his endearing personality will get him a girl, 7. He will be dressed in a pale kurta/shirt and dark trousers, 8. He will get everybody else into trouble 9. He will be a fussy eater, 10. He will eat your brains, 11. He will eat your brains, 12. He will eat your brains…. The number of films where he has played a character like this cannot be counted on your fingers now.

Vinay Pathak continues eating your brain in this film also. He is the loudmouth who has just landed in Mumbai from Benaras in Uttar Pradesh and hates practically everything about the city he is in. He continues to complain about the city till he gets a bigger reason to complain about…the dancer girl who has come to live next-doors.

Neha Dhupia somehow suits her role as a noisy, sexy neighbor girl who also has too many noisy friends. The film kind of gathers some pace when the two neighbours start fighting with each other. Both of them have come to live in a housing colony where only government servants are allowed and hence both are at the mercy of the watchman, the society chairman etc. The scenes where both try to convince the society secretary that the other one is guilty are the most hilarious.

But barring these high points, the film touches a jarring note everywhere as the script almost kind of halts in the middle, especially when Vinay Pathak starts falling in love with Neha Dhupia. The film, which was going nowhere before, suddenly decides to halt completely. Neha Dhupia comes and takes over Vinay Pathak’s flat after the vigilance department decides to seal her apartment (nobody other than government servants allowed remember?). Vinay Pathak falls in love and the next thing that you know that he is head over heels in love. He is so much in love that he even decides to cook an Italian dish for Neha. It becomes a predictable, stale love story from that point on.

Pappu Can't Dance Saala is a time-pass film for those who really have nothing to do on a weekend. But if you really want to sit somewhere and watch something – get a good DVD at home or even best, switch on your TV.