Ugly aur Pagli – Only Pagli…

Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Mallika Sherawat, Tinu Anand, Sushmita Mukherji, Manish Anand, Vihang Nayak, Bharati Achrekar

Director: Sachin Khot

Kabir (Ranvir Shorey) is a straight forward, simple, middle class engineering student who has been failing for the past four years. His family hopes that this year he will pass and find himself a secure job and get married. One day on his way back home he saves an extremely drunk and ready to pass out girl from falling in front of a local train. That girl is Kuhu (Mallika Sherawat). Taking her to a hotel he helps her get through the night as she lies passed out on the hotel bed. The next day they meet to exchange their mobiles, which have got mixed at night. The situation is the same next day – Kuhu gets drunk, Kabir safeguards her. And that’s pretty much what happens in the first half of the film. And yea, Kuhu slaps Kabir about fifty times by the time the interval rolls around.

The hero of the film, Kabir, is madly in love with his dominatrix who loves ordering him about. Her fancies vary from playing truth or dare to getting him to wear a red petticoat and ride a cycle without a seat to nana nani park and ‘steal’ a red rose for her… why? Well, her explanation is it’s her birthday and she wants him to make her smile. And it seems that is how she smiles! Our Kuhu also has a passion for writing scripts which are always set in the future and show the guy as a wimp while she plays the saviour.

However the (much needed) saving grace comes in the last thirty minutes of the film where everything ties in together and suddenly sitting through the first one and a half hour doesn’t seem such a waste.

All in all Ugly aur Pagli is good fun to watch purely for Ranvir Shorey’s acting. While Mallika pulls off the role of a dominating girlfriend well, her constant need to slap Ranvir in the film comes across more as a disorder than anything else. Honestly speaking, no man no matter how subservient will put up with her behaviour in the film. Even towards the end, when the main crux of the film does reveal itself…even then Mallika’s loud behaviour doesn’t fall into place. Ranvir Shorey on the other hand has done a great job. His dialogue delivery and comic timing is spot on. The supporting cast has also done a great job.

Will it work at the box office?

The film will find it difficult to draw in big audiences especially outside the metros. Younger college audiences may like it for its light frivolous nature but all in all the story is a let down especially after Pyaar ke Side Effects.

Harshita Kohli, Hill Road Media