Taapsee Pannu, Amit Sadh's Running Shaadi hits the theatres
The Taapsee Pannu and Amit Sadh starrer 'Running Shaadi', which released on Friday, "is great in patches...", wrote India Today. Hindustan Times wrote, "The film has its moments, but they're too few to keep you engrossed", while Times of India said, "The story is funny...the performances up to the mark." It was rated 3/5 (India Today, TOI) and 2/5 (HT).
Running Shaadi is the story of a bunch of small town entrepreneurs who start a website to help couples elope and marry. Here is our Running Shaadi movie review.Running Shaadi Cast: Amit Sadh, Taapsee Pannu, Arsh BajwaRunning Shaadi Direction: Amit RoyRunning Shaadi Rating: (3/5)Running Shaadi, previously known as Runningshaadi.com but not anymore because Shaadi.com approached Bombay High Court protesting against the title, is a film that is great in patches but is mostly just about okay.The story of Running Shaadi involves Ram Bharose (Amit Sadh) and Nimmi (Taapsee Pannu), a boy and girl who grow up together in Punjab and after a fallout with his boss, Ram joins hands with his friend 'Cyberjeet' (the excellent Arsh Bajwa) to start a website called Runningshaadi.com that organises all that an everyday eloping couple from India would need. Nimmi joins the duo but soon enough, the romantic tension between her and Ram takes the story through unexpected turns.MOVIE REVIEW: THE GHAZI ATTACKWatch Running Shaadi trailer here:Running Shaadi was ready two years ago, but the distributors could never find a suitable window to release it. That is unfortunate because within those two years, films like Dolly Ki Doli and Happy Bhag Jayegi released. As such, conceptually, the film seems dated. While watching the film, you would get shades of Band Baaja Baaraat (two unlikely small-towners getting together to become entrepreneurs), and of course, the aforementioned films because there's the entire 'runaway bride' angle.Nevertheless, there is a lot that works for Running Shaadi. And that 'lot' is pretty much the excellent casting.Amit Sadh as the ambitious and resourceful Ram Bharose gives a career-defining performance as the lead. He is what they call 'lambi race ka ghoda.' Amit gets to showcase a range of emotions in Running Shaadi and he never, ever falters. He is so good. Hopefully, he gets noticed in Running Shaadi for all his worth.Then, there's Arsh Bajwa as the goofy but smart tech geek Sarabjeet AKA Cyberjeet. The scenes of him worshipping Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg and that funny-for-a-while red turban with the image of a Facebook 'Like' button on it seem forced but that does not take away from Arsh's grade-A supporting act.Taapsee Pannu gets a very tricky, complicated character, Nimmi. Nimmi is the kind of girl who you will never want to make a team-member if you have to rob a bank. She cons Ram Bharose in the most unexpected manner right before the interval and one will be hard-pressed to sympathise or empathise with her. However, Ram, who has been established as a 'sorted' dude, for some reason, continues to willingly jump into near-fatal situations for her. Is love a good enough reason to justify unconvincing character development?Watch 'Mannerless Majnu' from Running Shaadi:Three entire paragraphs are devoted to the film's actors because that is how much they hold the story together. Because without them, the plot falls apart. Running Shaadi is made of an err...running chain of unbelievable plot twists but we will suspend our disbelief simply because of the strength of its actors.Debutant director Amit Roy, who has previously been a cinematographer for Ram Gopal Varma's very uniquely-shot movies such as the Sarkar films, Nishabd and Rann, has the potential to make a great second film. Running Shaadi on paper seems trite, but it is consistently engaging because newer and wilder plot developments get thrown at you (Roy is also the writer) and you cannot help but continue to run with its characters to find out what eventually becomes of them.In a week packed with multiple Bollywood and Hollywood releases, will Running Shaadi get noticed, more so, by the right people? An extra star for Amit, Taapse and Arsh.(The writer tweets as @devarsighosh.)