Simran movie review LIVE: Kangana Ranaut plays Praful Patel with conviction and credibility

Simran, directed by Hansal Mehta and starring Kangana Ranaut as the titular character, tells us the story of Praful — a street-smart, independent divorcee who feels somewhat claustrophobic within the confines of her Gujarati family that lives in the US. Praful tries to escape her mundane existence by seeking life’s smaller pleasures — be it bargaining with shopkeepers, rejecting prospective suitors, using cheesy pick-up lines, or eating pizza for breakfast. When a soon-to-be-wed cousin asks Praful to come along to Las Vegas for a trip, she’s happy for a chance to get away from her family. [caption id=“attachment_4046117” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kangana Ranaut in a still from Simran[/caption] Before she embarks on the trip, we get a glimpse of Praful’s desires: buying a house for herself, for which she scrimps and saves every penny. ‘Namumkin ko mumkin karna Praful Patel ki pehchan hai,’ is the motto she lives by. She also works in a hotel, although that stint doesn’t go too well. Meanwhile, there is pressure at home for Praful to marry and settle down, as her family — caught up in financial woes — thinks of her as a burden. It is in this context that getting her own house assumes so much significance for Praful. Cut to Vegas, and Praful gets a sudden and very real taste of happiness. Playing at the casino one evening, she wins a good sum of money, and experiences a rise in self-worth. But the bliss is short-lived as soon enough, Praful gets hooked to gambling — she mindlessly seeks to earn more, and then some more. What happens instead, is a tale that’s unfolded in many a casino — she ends up losing, and badly. Soon enough, all the money she had saved for her dream home is gambled away. Praful gets some help from gangsters and naively believes the situation is resolved — but of course, it’s only gotten more complicated. She then tries to make peace with her father — but his condition for letting her move back into the family home is that she meet with a guy the family has picked out for her. Caught in a downward spiral, she begins to lie — to her family, her creditors, the government. Her character starts t change, and Praful starts to lose her way, and herself. She starts stealing, and realises it’s easy money. And she keeps gambling, desperate to reclaim that early success and redeem herself. Kangana Ranaut shines as Praful. Even when she’s committing these petty crimes, you really feel for Praful — and that’s thanks to the actress playing her. Kangana makes Praful and her quandary credible. You feel for her, you feel her despair, her need, her hopelessness. Despite her troubles, Praful is confident. She’s suave at communicating with others in a way that’s very Indian. We see our mothers doing it every day, in their dealings with people, at market places. In that way, Praful is the archetypal Indian woman, even though she doesn’t conform to any stereotypes. She owns her successes, her shortcomings — and that’s admirable. Coming back to the plot, Praful robs a bank to assuage her money troubles: she first watches a ‘how to rob a bank’ video on YouTube, and suitably informed, proceeds to don various wigs as a disguise. Her first heist gets her noticed, and she decides to operate under the name ‘Simran’ (something she picks up when her mom is watching Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge on TV, and Amrish Puri says to Kajol: ‘Ja Simran, jee le apni zindagi!’). She’s also labelled ’the lipstick bandit’ by the press, because she leave notes written in lipstick (saying she has bombs under her jacket) when she pulls off her heists. These crimes are committed with a mixture of childlike innocence and despair, that make them somehow credible. It also shows up the dual life that the character is living — the Praful known to her family and friends would never indulge in things like gambling, or robbery. A catalyst of sorts comes in the form of Sameer (Sohum Shah), who Praful finds a friend and companion in. He’s the quintessential gentleman, who understands the mass of contradictions that is Praful, and who gives her self-image a boost. The second half of Simran is more focused on Praful’s debt and the casino goons. We won’t be revealing any more of the plot; suffice it to say that things come to a head soon, and Praful has a huge legal and personal mess to extricate herself out of. As a director, Hansal Mehta gives Simran the look and feel that makes this truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tale feel very personal. And Kangana — she goes through this film like a champ. From the histrionics, to the laughs, from the crying, to getting beaten up — and throwing her own share of punches in return — she owns Simran. Simran has been compared a lot with Kangana’s previous tour de force, Queen. But while Queen’s Rani had more of an arc to her character — from being docile and submissive to becoming strong and independent — Kangana plays Praful in Simran as more of a caricature (she had explained this approach in one of her interviews). In Simran, Praful’s personality traits remain constant throughout the film; there isn’t a visible arc per se…but there’s a lot happening inside her — which Mehta beautifully captures through Ranaut’s portrayal. He imparts to this character — as he does to characters in all his films — flesh and blood. He makes his characters real. They’re never cloaked under righteousness or heroism, which is perhaps why they stay with you long after his films end. Mehta does it once again, perfectly, with Simran. We were LIVE reviewing Simran. Now that we’re done with our updates, tell us what you thought of the film!