Review: 'Utt Pataang' is a bizarre comedy of errors

Film: Utt Pataang (U/A)
Director: Srikanth V Velagaleti
Cast: Vinay Pathak, Saurabh Shukla, Mahie Gill, Mona Singh, Sanjay Mishra, Delnaaz Paul and others
Rating: **1/2

After Dasvidaniya (2008), Vinay Pathak and Saurabh Shukla are back with Utt Pataang — a comedy thriller that promises a clean break from run-of-the-mill Hindi films.

Ram (Pathak) has been unlucky in love and his detective friend Nandu (Shukla) wants to fix this by hooking Ram up with Koyal (Singh), a betrayed newly single woman.

While Ram and Koyal are sharing a romantic evening in his apartment, Sanjana (Gill), Ram’s former lover, turns up to collect her belongings.

Sanjana, a materialistic bar-dancer, is now with an underworld don, Lucky (Pathak, again). Sanjana plans to steal Lucky's money, which belongs to his Dubai-based wife (Paul), and flee. Unintentionally, Nandu gets caught in the middle of all the plotting and scheming, thus adding to the chaos.

Although Utt Pataang is off to a slow start, devoid of humour or intrigue, it picks up pace and the director effortlessly untangles the plot.

Utt Pataang's almost Shakespearean comedy induced by confusion works in favour of the director. Every character's quirks are rather amusing, be it Ram’s simple, straightforward dialogues, or Nandu’s witty one-liners or Lucky’s quirky obsession with French. The film may not boast of a solid plot, but the screenplay makes up for it.

Velagaleti's plot is slightly reminiscent of Jean Renoir’s French classic Rules of the Game.

While Pathak delivers an average portrayal of Ram, he is brilliant as the erratic Lucky.  Singh does not impress with her performance and isn't exactly a delight to look at. Gill, however, blows you away with her tapori language.

Lucky’s minion Dholu (Mishra) gives a side-splitting performance while his wife (Paul) also contributes to the entertainment value of the film. Shukla, however, takes the cake for being the most entertaining actor in the film.

Watch Utt Pataang not for sheer entertainment but for the way it pulls you into its story. An enjoyable film, Utt Pataang is definitely paisa vasool.