Nikamma movie review: Abhimanyu Dassani starrer is yet another vapid attempt to revitalize the masala film genre

Language: Hindi It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that amongst all the genres Hindi Cinema has ever birthed or embraced, the ‘Masala film’ genre remains the most employed and yet the most misunderstood. These films, while often overriding logic for mawkish sentimentality or visual spectacle, also require a great conviction to pull off their excesses. However, many filmmakers often seem to confuse the ideas of taking creative liberties, and taking liberties with the genre itself, resorting to the ‘Anything Goes’ mantra, forgetting that there needs to be a method to the madness as well. Sabbir Khan ’s Nikamma is one such giant ball of mess arising out of this confusion. Telling the story of Adi ( Abhimanyu Dassani ), a slacker who becomes the protector of his family after learning of his sister-in-law Avni’s ( Shilpa Shetty ) love and sacrifices for him, Nikamma comprises elements that undoubtedly belong to another era - every trope, every plot point and character-type - and makes no attempt to revitalize the genre or bring anything new to the table. Honest government officers, heinous local crimelords living in white outlandish palaces, a sacrificing family member, perfunctory romance track, friends who are more like extras - you name it, they got it. Adi is a “Nikamma,” we are told repeatedly - a good-for-nothing goofball who is yet to realize his true potential or come of age. Abhimanyu Dassani has the right demeanor to play this impish brat here, and there are some amusing moments initially with Adi whining about the households as he keeps imagining Avni as this big antagonist of his life - Amidst all this slapstick, there is some underlying potential here of building a bumbling underachiever protagonist with an exaggerated victim complex.

However, Nikamma is not interested in having any more fun with its protagonist beyond this point. After a major epiphany for our hero-figure at the interval point (which feels embarrassingly hasty in how it arrives), the lack of humor with which it goes about its straightjacketed hero-villain plot is mind-boggling. Nikamma does everything by the book, almost infuriatingly so. It’s not the age-old tropes that bother, as much as the film’s unwillingness to embrace its own excesses or have a sense of fun about it. If our filmmakers must insist on harking back to decade-old formulas, they have to meet us halfway, showing some desire to experiment either in terms of tonality or content. The sense of fun appears on the fore only occasionally, for instance when we see the villain Vikramjeet ( Abhimanyu Singh ) repeat a monologue we had seen him deliver in his intro scene - he’s that kind of a villain who has a menacing routine, we tell ourselves - only to see his villainy being utterly generic in the rest of the film. There are a few moments that benefit from Abhimanyu Singh’s presence, but one can only do much when the writers are simply not interested.

And even though there are few other scenes with the potential for kitsch, they are let down by their male protagonist. Abhimanyu Dassani is a natural at swift acrobatic action moves, but it’s the moments leading up to the kicks-and-punches where his weaknesses lay bare - As we repeatedly see him trying hard to look threatening as he winces and furrows his eyebrows, it’s clear we here have an actor who is only trying to imitate the images from his movie-watching memories. He just cannot say cheesy one-liners to the villain or his goons without feeling half-embarrassed about it deep down, it seems. Dassani’s inefficiency to carry a role like this is only matched by the writer’s disinterest to milk their limited strengths. Post-interval, there is a conventional yet interesting trope at use, where the hero figure is forced to be on a relentless race against time to save some lives. The stakes are high and fast-paced (the villain rightfully calls it a ‘super over’) and it’s one of the fewer moments where you are reminded of the kitschy zone this film belongs to. And yet, the tension never builds up the right away. There are also some bizarre scenes with our hero and villain exchanging thoughts about middle-class traits, that jump at us without any context. I don’t know how loyal Nikamma is to its 2017 Telugu original ‘ Middle-Class Abbayi ’ (starring Nani and Sai Pallavi ), but clearly, something has been lost in translation. The writers also give Adi a super-power of sorts - a photographic memory where he can retrace every move made by someone (best highlighted in his intro scene on a cricket field, which has absolutely no relevance to the rest of the film.) And yet, ironically enough, this super-trait is conspicuous by its absence throughout the film, only to be conveniently exploited again in the climax. Nikamma constantly reminds us that it belongs to a different era - be it the way it weaves its narrative, reaching tropey plot points at a certain duration mark, or the utterly generic way in which it treats its frothy romance bits, where our lovers simply go through the motions against Lucknow landmarks before being separated. Shirley Setia has a charming screen presence, but even she cannot lift a scene where Nikki, her character, proposes marriage to a guy on their first meeting with utmost sincerity. (Never mind that her character turns out to be wholly inconsequential to the plot, just like how an average 80s potboiler treated its heroines.) Shilpa Shetty is just about efficient in a role that has barely anything for her to do. In a violent scene early on in the film, before the villain walks away, his henchmen burn a PC monitor in order to burn all the digital evidence of a crime, completely forgetting that a monitor is not where a computer stores its data. Very unwittingly, this faux-pa ends up as a perfect reflection of how much thought Nikamma puts into rehashing a genre that is already stale beyond measures. Perhaps there are filmmakers who actually believe this to be the right time for the return of the classic action masala film; maybe the success of films like KGF 2 is a potent sign of the same. However, if Sabbir Khan really wants to contribute to this revival, perhaps the best thing he can do is step aside and letting other directors take a wide shot. If anything, Nikamma makes a really strong case that we are better off without any more of this brand of masala cinema. Nikamma is playing in theatres. Rating: * 1/2

BH Harsh is a film critic who spends most of his time watching movies and making notes, hoping to create, as Peggy Olsen put it, something of lasting value. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .