Banjo

"Banjo" is Ravi Jadhav's first directional venture of Hindi films. he already made some good Marathi movies and some of them are very good. I like his direction style and the way he executes the emotions and the character's chemistry. He has a unique style of storytelling and that why I was curious about this movie.

"Banjo" is a musical drama movie and this movie has some action which is negligible. This movie is not so anticipated for the Bollywood audiences but this movie will be a surprise hit. The story is very fresh and almost new for the Hindi audiences. The direction is good and Ritesh's performance is very good. After a long time, Ritesh has come with a solo movie and after some choppy comedy movies, he comes with a solo movie. he proves himself again and he is a good versatile actor. Maybe this movie will recognize as a low budget non-star cast movie but may by this movie Ritesh establish himself. Nargis Fakhri's acting is awkward and she has to improve her Hindi talking. Her acting is one of the weak points of this movie. Songs are not good but not bad and could have been better.

The chemistry between the lead casts is good and romance is very good. Ritesh steals the show and the director properly utilizes him. If you are a fresh story lover this movie is for you and you will enjoy some good emotional acting.

Ravi Jadhav is a filmmaker whom I adore, for making Marathi films like Balak Palak (2012) and Natarang (2010), to name a few. Unfortunately, his foray into Bollywood with a musical drama does not really impress.

Taraat (Riteish Deshmukh) is a small-time extortionist who works for a local politician in the day and plays street music with his squad in the night. When he meets Christina (Nargis Fakhri), an aspiring musician from the Big Apple who is in Mumbai in lookout for a music group whom she can collaborate with, Taraat instantly falls head over heels in love with her. This drives him to become a better man and subsequently forces him to cajole his group to make music so that Christina can participate in a talent contest. This nth variation of a seemingly original story is what the film is all about, along with some boring side arcs that only add noise to this otherwise sloppy "single".

Banjo tries too hard to showcase a story, where in reality, there is none. It's a faulty re-rendering of stories about aspiring musicians who want to make it big in this competitive world. (Did anyone say Rock On!! (2008)? Maybe Rock On!! 2 (2016)? No? Never mind.) And how do you do that? By growing long hair, looking dope, and banging on instruments like they are scrap materials. Taraat is a delinquent person who just wants to get into Christina's pants, but hopes to take it slow. The comedy is very average and will only lead to two to four chuckles throughout the 140-minute slow-moving affair.

Fakhri should probably just stop acting and stick to modelling. Her co-star Deshmukh tries hard, but one blames the fruitless script more. Supporting cast is mostly present to handle comedy, but are found to be accidentally inducing over-smart drama. Basically, the characters move here and there and bang on instruments in order to produce music which the audience are supposed to think is pure gold.

There's a sequence where Christina tries to improve the group's morale by citing success stories of popular musicians like 50 Cent, Jimi Hendrix, The Bee Gees, and Led Zeppelin. If you are a fan of at least one of these, you should skip Banjo and go see Parched (2016) instead.

BOTTOM LINE: Ravi Jadhav's "Banjo" is an ambitious film that fails because of poor writing and a very bad voice. Switch channels during the TV premiere.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Banjo is a musical drama directed by Ravi Jhadav- a Marathi filmmaker who just entered the boundaries of Bollywood cinema. It stars Riteish Deshmukh, Nargis Fakhri, and Dharmesh Yelande. The music is composed by Vishal-Shekhar.

After watching this movie, I realized that this is a disgrace to Holi festivals in India. The performances in the movie were simply below average. I have a feeling that RD has become a lot like Shahrukh Khan just like the way he speaks, the way he moves, the way he expresses his feelings, etc. He gave a performance that was slightly better than what he did in Ek Villain. Nargis Fakhri's acting is like burnt biryani when there's no one who knows how to cook it and wouldn't taste it. The other performers were initially out of the right path during the movie. The music is terrible in the film. Songs like Udan Choo and Bappa are songs which will literally test your patience. Vishal-Shekhar failed in the aspect of delivering good songs for this movie.

While watching the movie, I noticed some logic fails in the film especially when it came to Fakhri's character. When she arrived in India, she had money to afford a cab, she has an Iphone 6s but she couldn't afford a hotel room or a place to stay with running water. How stupid could that get? This is like music in none of my ears with very clichéd moments. Also this will show the celebrations of Ganpatti in a very wrong way.

There are 2 good things about Banjo 1)Art Direction which keeps the execution tight 2)Editing which keeps it crisp and transitionally well paced.

Overall, I have one question. Are you in the mood of taking your wallet out of your pocket? The best place to do that is at a restaurant or someplace else where it is value for money but not the cinema. Honestly, this is like any other musical cliché film which I found slightly better than Vipul Shah's London Dreams and Subhash Ghai's Yuvraaj. Banjo is definitely a watchable movie but on Netflix or if it is on TV.

Not a good place to worship Ganpatti.

Recommendation: If you are die hard fan of Riteish Deshmukh then only it is recommended else it is better to let it go.

Positive: Good performances and new flavor for audience.

Negative: Script is too weak which makes it boring.

"Tarrat Bhai" (Riteish) who lives in the slums of Mumbai, plays extraordinary Banjo in festivals with his group to earn some extra bugs.Somehow they got spotted by a sound recorder while performing in Ganpati festival.

He sends the song to his friend "Chris" (Nargis),a DJ in NY who is planning to compete in global music competition and looking for some exceptional talent.

She comes to India to work with the best Banjo band to record her singles. Will she manage to do that ? Will Tarrat and his guys rise to fame and get respect ? If yes, then what all challenges come in their way ? All this will unfold in the movie.

Performance:

Riteish has done the job very well as a Banjo player and costume designer should be credited for the work done to present him as Tarrat Bhai.

On the other hand, Nargis playing a NRI looks good but fails to justify that she is a DJ. Apart from that she also lacked the emotional connect and as usual dialogue delivery falls completely flat.

Dharmesh has not got a chance to showcase his USP i.e. dance. But, he has completely shocked by his performance as a mechanic cum drummer.Other supporting cast has also done good job, special mention of Aditya Kumar who has again impressed as "Paper" after "Perpendicular" in Gangs Of Wasseypur 2.

Drill Down:

Ravi's Direction is having a Marathi element which is new and also succeeds to showcase the slums of Mumbai, but there are loopholes like the entire band is dancing in a live performance.

Dialogues are good enough to entertain the audience but the movie falls completely flat if we talk about the script.There is not much scope left for Editor when the script is so weak though the movie could have been short by 15 minutes.

Vishal-Shekhar has not disappointed much in the music department.But, a music oriented movie like this deserves far better than this. Unfortunately, it seems like a halfhearted effort from these two great musicians.

Verdict:

If we talk about BO collection then this would not be able to do as per the expectations.

Director Mr. Ravi Jadhav work is good. Problem is very convenient story. A foreigner girl, looking for a Banjo player, comes to India to find him. He becomes her tour guide to slum but denies being a Banjo player even been asked by her. Then some love angle, clicking pictures, a rival Banjo player villain angle, a Builder angle then some action drama at pre climax. Screenplay is good at places but mainly not up to the feel of today's time. It proudly flaunts repeated old stale scenes too, like girl asking boy that do you have girlfriend and his preachy lines. A girl with shorts and navel reveling sleeveless top still creates stir in Mumbai slum!!? Gone are the days, they are now more fashion aware. A careless guy transforms himself into a formal dress with tie wearing dude then again all residents are shocked to see him. Screenplay stuffs four songs in starting 20 minutes of film, sadly none of them were up to mark of a musical film, which title is itself a musical instrument. There was good scope to show case that how non technical but having music sense local guys adopt and incorporate western music technology but all this happens just in jiff with girl talking with her mother with teary eyes. Dinner scene is cute and balanced, calling a little filled wine glass as cutting was appropriate. Introduction of all Band members is also enjoyable. Most of the characters, even South Bombey music baron too, speak in particular double meaning lines or gesture it, which doesn't go with the mood of film. An old person is shown at so many places but only motto of his presence is to die in climax so ego clash of band could have been solved. Story and screenplay don't go seamless. First half is slow, second half takes pace but again dips badly till climax. Dialogues are good at places. Performance wise Riteish Deshmukh as Taraat is very good. Another drawback of this film is stone faced female lead Nargis Fakhri. Such type of film need good performance at least but she is same flat in emotional scenes as in light ones, even she is restricted in dance too. Darmesh Yelande as Greese is perfect in the character. Two other actors who played another band member are fine. Music wise 'Udhan Chhoo' is melodious.