Selfiee movie review: A reasonably entertaining Akshay Kumar starrer after a long time

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Emraan Hashmi, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Diana Penty, Meghna Malik, Neev Ahuja, Mahesh Thakur, Abhimanyu Singh, Adah Sharma, Mrunal Thakur           Director: Raj Mehta Language: Hindi  It’s been a couple of decades since remakes of big-budget Telugu and Tamil blockbusters became all the rage in Bollywood. Over the years, transposing a men-centric masala-inflected culturally generic storyline from a southern to a northern Indian setting and replacing a big, bankable male star from the south with a big, bankable male star from the north became a safe bet for Hindi film producers and stars. Akshay Kumar is one of Bollywood’s top men actors whose career has benefited from this formula. Malayalam cinema has proved to be a tougher nut to crack since this film industry is best known outside Kerala not for its overtly commercial fare lionising men stars, but for thoughtful, culturally rooted middle-of-the-road films. These are harder to relocate, which is the likely reason why Bollywood has mostly stayed away from them in the pre-pandemic era, with occasional attempts such as the heartwarming Katha Parayumpol remade to lukewarm effect as the Irrfan starrer Billu or Manichitrathazhu revisited as the qualitatively lesser but financially fruitful Bhool Bhulaiyaa with Akshay_._ In recent years with streaming platforms giving the pan-India audience easy access to cinema of all languages, Hindi remakes of south Indian films have proved to be more challenging. Already under fire for its lack of originality, Bollywood has spent the pandemic turning out a parade of unimaginative remakes, including remakes of a number of critically acclaimed Malayalam hits. These Hindi versions have either had nothing new to offer ( _Vikram Vedha_ , Jersey) or were politically and culturally watered down versions of their originals ( _Mili_ reworked from _Helen_ being a prime example). The Hindi Drishyam 1 and _Drishyam 2_ , remakes of Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam films starring Mohanlal, have been honourable exceptions. Selfiee (with a double “e”) is the official Hindi remake of the Malayalam film _Driving Licence_ _._ The latter starred Prithviraj Sukumaran as a superstar who publicly clashes with his fan, a motor vehicle inspector played by Suraj Venjaramoodu. While supremely entertaining, Driving Licence was also a telling commentary on human nature, the dynamics that automatically come into play when a David and Goliath go into battle, the power of the smallest cog in the government machinery, the politics in film industries, the ephemeral nature of celebritydom in the era of sensationalist TV news and much more. I don’t understand the bankruptcy of ideas afflicting Hindi filmdom right now, or why Selfiee needed to be made at all when the smartly produced Driving Licence is just a hop, a skip and an Amazon Prime subscription away, but given that remakes are the go-to routine for Bollywood these days, it should be noted that this one is better than travesties like _Laxmii_ and Cuttputtli that have been inflicted on us. Selfiee is not as good as its source material, but it’s reasonably fun – a flashier, less thoughtful version of _Driving Licence_ that in a couple of instances is surprisingly better thought out. In Selfiee, based on the story by Sachy, Akshay plays Vijay Kumar, a Bollywood veteran who is shooting in Bhopal when he suddenly needs a new driving licence at short notice. Vijay is juggling a personal crisis, shooting requirements and his producer’s desperation when he is asked to meet the motor vehicle inspector Om Prakash Agarwal (Emraan Hashmi) for a few minutes for this purpose. A rendezvous is arranged through a local corporator (Meghna Malik) so that Om Prakash, who is Vijay’s diehard fan, can fulfil his dream of getting a selfie with the actor while also being in a position to explain himself if questions are raised about how a star’s licence was expedited when the general public is put through the grind by his office. A misunderstanding at Vijay and Om Prakash’s first face-to-face encounter leaves Vijay enraged and Om Prakash hurt beyond words. Om Prakash then digs in his heels and insists that Vijay must go through the entire rigmarole of form filling and tests that ordinary citizens endure for a licence, thus leading to a media tamasha unleashing forces beyond both their control. For the most part, director Raj Mehta (Good Newwz, _Jugjugg Jeeyo_ ) embraces Lal Jr’s easy storytelling style that served Driving Licence well. The departures from the original come primarily in the writing and tend to adversely affect the film’s natural tone. The Hindi screenplay by Rishhabh Sharrma softens the movie star’s arrogance, which is probably done in the service of the leading man, but also inexplicably subtracts from the manipulations that stars have to fight on a daily basis. As a consequence it is unable to establish Vijay as a well-rounded, relatable character in the way Hareendran in Driving Licence was. Vijay’s producer and rival are caricatures in comparison with the well-written characters played by Lalu Alex and Suresh Krishna in the original. And it is worth noting that adapting a Malayalam script for a Hindi film translates into vastly reducing the abundant and normalised representations of religious minorities that is such a beautiful part of Malayalam cinema. Selfiee is flashier than Driving Licence, possibly as a result of the collective impact of the insistent background score, a loud song ‘n’ dance included in the narrative as an introduction for Om Prakash and his son (Neev Ahuja), an unnecessary larger-than-life moment assigned to Akshay towards the end that not only deflects from the overall tenor of the film but also suffers in a comparison with the much more convincing crowd scene featuring Prithviraj, and a high-glam remix of Main Khiladi Tu Anari – a landmark number from Akshay’s career – appended in a clichéd fashion to the closing credits. The song at the end of the Malayalam movie worked because it was relevant to the script since it had already come up earlier as Kuruvilla’s fantasy. In the Main Khiladi Tu Anari remix, Akshay breaks the fourth wall to address the audience’s memories of that song from the 1994 blockbuster of the same name, thus reminding us that the person we’re watching is Akshay the actor not Vijay the character in the film. This is a self-defeating choice to make because so much of the enjoyment of watching Driving Licence came from the emotions a viewer might have for Prithviraj while simultaneously wondering whether the film is giving us a glimpse of his actual personality and reality couched in fiction. The bow to Akshay’s stardom dilutes that impression in Selfiee especially when combined with other self-referencing, especially the scene in which Vijay lists out his multiple commitments, which comes across less as a statement from Vijay than an act of defiance by Akshay who has faced criticism in real life for spreading himself out thin at the expense of quality. The sum total of these elements is that while Selfiee retains the basic meaning of the original film, the pay-off is considerably weakened. Two changes in Selfiee’s screenplay reflect well on this team. It seemed odd that a person as high-profile as Hareendran in Driving Licence would risk retaining a slimy chap like Johnny Peringodan (Saiju Kurup) in his intimate circle when the man is so evidently unreliable. Replacing him with an opportunistic neta who Vijay interacts with only out of compulsion makes sense. It was also troubling to see Kuruvilla (Suraj Venjaramoodu) in Driving Licence casually smacking his wife more than once, in keeping with the normalisation of domestic violence seen too often in Malayalam commercial cinema – Selfiee discards these portions. The exaggerated writing of Kuruvilla’s wife has also been tweaked to create Om Prakash’s wife (Nushrratt Bharuccha), which would have been a good thing if she hadn’t been made so bland. Akshay is playing Akshay here and not unexpectedly, knows the job. Diana Penty brings a glowing dignity to her role as Vijay’s wife, thus begging the question why we don’t see her in more films. That said, it’s infuriating that male stars persist in their preference for women 20 to 30 years their junior playing their wives and lovers. Emraan has the most challenging of the film’s roles and manages to make Om Prakash likeable even while he is being petty, by ensuring that we know he’s coming from a place of genuine pain and not just a wounded ego. So yes, Selfiee is not as good as Driving Licence, but it is not bad either. It’s certainly immensely superior to the mediocrity, loudness and propaganda that dominate Akshay’s filmography. Rating: 2.25 (out of 5 stars) This review was first published in February 2023 when Selfiee was in theatres. The film is now streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.