SHEHZADA is the story of a man fighting for his family. 25 years ago, Bantu and Raj are born on the same day in the same hospital. Raj is born to Valmiki (Paresh Rawal) while Bantu is born to Randeep Nanda (Ronit Roy) and Yashu (Manisha Koirala). Valmiki is jealous of Randeep as both started their careers together. But Randeep ended up marrying Yashu, the daughter of the very wealthy Aditya Jindal (Sachin Khedekar). Overnight, Randeep became stinking rich and this is what angered Valmiki. Circumstances are such that Valmiki swaps Bantu and Raj on the day of their birth. As a result, he takes home Bantu while Valmiki's son Raj grows up in the house of the Jindals, unaware of the fact that he is their employee's son. In the present day, Bantu (Kartik Aaryan) is frustrated in life as Valmiki has always ill-treated him. Meanwhile, Raj (Ankur Rathee) has returned from abroad after completing his degree and Valmiki dotes on him as he's his own son. Bantu takes up a job in a law firm run by Samara (Kriti Sanon). Both end up falling in love. Samara's father (Rakesh Bedi), however, fixes her marriage with Raj. Bantu advises Samara to meet Randeep and reveal the truth. Just before their meeting, Randeep is attacked by Vikrant (Vinay Rana), a rival. Vikrant halts the office elevator and locks up the staircase so that Randeep is unable to reach the hospital. Yet, Bantu manages to provide timely medical help to Randeep and save his life. At the hospital, by a stroke of luck, he also finds out that Randeep is the one who is his biological father. What happens next forms the rest of the film. SHEHZADA is the official remake of the 2020 Telugu blockbuster ALA VAIKUNTHAPURRAMULOO (written and directed by Trivikram). Trivikram's story is very promising and makes for an ideal family entertainer. Rohit Dhawan's adapted screenplay (original screenplay by Trivikram) is pacy and incorporates some fine emotional and funny moments. Hussain Dalal's dialogues are one of the strengths of the film. Rohit Dhawan's direction is fine. He handles the scale and mass elements well. He also scores in the emotional moments. Moreover, he has not done a complete copy-paste of the original film. He has made a few scenes compact and kept the duration in check, at 152 minutes. At the same time, however, he has omitted some massy scenes from the original version, a few of which were very memorable. Ideally, those sequences needed to be there in SHEHZADA as it would have uplifted the film to another level. Moreover, the humour could have been more as the film had the scope to be a laugh-a-minute riot. SHEHZADA commences with an intriguing hospital scene where the babies are swapped. Kartik Aaryan's entry is heroic and so is the scene where he fights the goons. The scene where he fights the rude client of Samara in the cafe is interesting. The film however picks up well with the scene where Randeep is attacked. The intermission point is very arresting. Post interval, Bantu and Valmiki's conversation on the street neatly takes the film forward. Bantu entering the Jindal mansion for the first time is memorable. The scenes of Raj are altered here compared to the original and it works. Also what works are the scene of Inspector Yadav (Rajpal Yadav) and the breakdown scene between Randeep and Yashu. The climax is touching but also a bit underwhelming. Speaking of performances, Kartik Aaryan looks dashing and gives his all to the performance. He is apt for the part and wonderfully plays to the gallery. As expected, he's great in comic scenes but watch out for him when he does action. Kriti Sanon looks stunning and performs ably. Sadly, she's hardly there in the second half. Paresh Rawal, as always, is dependable and plays a difficult part with panache. Sachin Khedekar is adorable. Manisha Koirala is graceful but gets limited scope. Ronit Roy is fine, especially in the breakdown scene. Ankur Rathee is superb and his role is much better fleshed out as compared to the original version. Vinay Rana and Sunny Hinduja (Sarang) are okay as the villains. Rajpal Yadav is too funny and one wishes he had more to do in the film. Ashwin Mushran (Kailash mama), Ali Asgar (Arun) and Kunal Vijaykar (Cadbury) are passable. Debattama Saha (Nisha; Bantu's sister) and Rakesh Bedi are wasted. Pritam Chakraborty's music is of chartbuster variety. The title track, 'Mere Sawaal Ka' and 'Chedkhaniyan' are the best of the lot. 'Munda Sona Hoon Main' and 'Character Dheela 2.0' work more due to the picturization. Julius Packiam's background score is exhilarating. The theme of the film is catchy and massy. Sudeep Chatterjee and Sanjay F Gupta's cinematography is appropriate. Ganesh Acharya and Bosco-Caesar's choreography is entertaining. Aki Narula's costumes for Kartik Aaryan are appealing and suit his character who is a prince but is not living as one. Tanya Ghavri's costumes for Kriti Sanon are quite hot. The actress looks beautiful in the song 'Chedkhaniyan'. Suresh Selvarajan's production design is rich. ANL Arasu's action is too good and not violent or gory. Cygnesia Animations and Famous Studios' VFX is fine. Ritesh Soni's editing is razor sharp. On the whole, SHEHZADA is a family mass entertainer and impresses due to the funny and emotional moments, action scenes, and Kartik Aaryan's superlative performance.Read more

The film, which is a remake of a Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, starts on a promising note, as a nurse and an office clerk, Valmiki (Paresh Rawal), exchange the latter’s son with a business magnate Randeep Jindal’s (Ronit Bose Roy). For 25 years, Valmiki’s son Bantu is trapped in a middle-class household with his spiteful father. The film follows the young guy as he discovers who he really is and vows to protect his real family from a villainous drug mafioso, Sarang (Sunny Hinduja). With too many tracks — such as Bantu’s hotshot lawyer girlfriend Samara (Kriti Sanon) being set to marry a mollycoddled Raj Jindal (Ankur Rathee), family members embezzling money, Randeep and his wife Yashu’s (Manisha Koirala) strained marriage, and above all, dreaded criminals insistent on using Jindals’ business to peddle drugs, the central theme of what fate holds for the two exchanged boys gets sidelined. These are also incoherently stitched together, as are many other sequences, such as Bantu bravely taking on goons who harass his younger sister, rescuing Samara from a client who cannot take no for an answer, to smashing Sarang’s men. Kartik is effortless as the incorrigible, brave and good-hearted Bantu and does well in the action sequences, but there’s nothing fresh about his performance here. Kriti Sanon looks stunning in every frame but has little to do. Paresh Rawal and Ronit perform exceedingly well, and one wishes the latter had a more extended screen-time. Rajpal Yadav makes a cameo and does his regular goofy act that elicits laughter, but the sequence does not take the story forward. The fight choreography deserves a special mention, with its slow-motion and macro videography, and also Sudeep Chatterjee’s cinematography is also good. While the title track sung by Sonu Nigam, ‘Shehzada’, stands out, the others are just average. Shehzada is meant to be enjoyed for its campy humour, irreverent hero, and action sequences. If watching a mass entertainer with a gang of friends is your jam, you could make a trip to the theatre for this one.Read more