Movie Review: Hulla

Cast : Sushant Singh, Rajat Kapoor, Kartikadevi Rane, Mandeep

Director : Jaideep Verma

Ratings: * * *

Raj Puri (Sushant Singh), a broker and his marketing executive wife Abha (Kartika Devi Rane) move into their new house in Malad. Abha gets busy decorating the house according to Feng Shui as Raj excels at his job. Things are fine until Raj is disturbed at night by the whistle blowing watchman Matthew (Chandrachoor Karnik). He appeals to Janardhan (Rajat Kapoor), the secretary of the building who insists it is necessary for the security of the building. It seems he is making a mountain of a molehill because nobody else is bothered by the noise. He argues with secretary, bribes the watchman and even complaints to the police, but all his plans backfire. Irritated by the lack of sleep, he becomes obsessed with fighting against the whistle blowing and suffers major losses, personally and professionally.

Hulla is a laugh out loud comedy in the first half. It is very realistic and the humour is situational. Bid adieu to fancy designer mansions to make way for one bedroom matchbox apartments with dull pista green walls. It is peppered with so many colourful characters like old men who play hockey on the terrace, a family that moves into their new house in the middle of the night because 'pandit ne kaha hai ki yeh shubh mahurat hai' and Abha's intellectual father played by Darshan Jariwala who does not miss an opportunity to belittle his son-in-law along with different tenants of the building. Memorable scenes include the co-operative society meeting and the one where the CM steps in to solve Raj's problem. The second half though gets a tad repetitive.

The performances from the lead actors and the huge supporting cast are excellent. Rajat Kapoor's Janardhan completely looks the part of a middle class Gujarati. You can feel his enthusiasm about his new job as the secretary of the building and you empathize with his desperate attempts to make ends meet. Sushant Singh is perfect as Raj and his arguments with Janardhan are spot on, with neither of them backing down. He constantly blinks his dark circled eyes and twitches his face to show how sleepy he is and relishes annoying Janardhan He transforms from a friendly guy to a selfish, careless and obsessive man. It would be nice to see Sushant do more films. Kartikadevi Rane looks very pretty and her patience complements Raj's aggressiveness perfectly. You can see the pain in Matthew's eyes and your heart breaks for the 74 year old watchman caught between Raj and Janardhan.

You will like Hulla if you like simple stories that are well told and liked Mithya and Bheja Fry. Jaideep Verma's debut film is worth watching.

--SAMPURN