Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tewari Pande, Aneesha Joshi

Direction: Hansal Mehta

Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Shailesh R Singh, Amit Agarwal

Writer: Apurva Asrani

Duration:124 Min*

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Who said an Indian actress cannot carry a film? Simran is a reminder to all the naysayers that they cannot be further away from reality. Director Hansal Mehta’s recent endeavor Simran starring Kangana Ranaut is beautiful pandemonium. Simran shines as a film that makes you laugh out loud at the sheer cuteness of the lead and clench your fist during her intense moments. The flavor of a 30 something divorced Gujarati girl that Kangana brings is top-notch entertainment to say the very least. Although, in spite of a fun filled first half the movie slowly loses steam after the interval formulating a mediocre sort of film.

Ms. Ranaut’s kleptomaniac and ‘compulsive gambling’ personality is downright fun to watch. One can really see her stretch her legs with this role because it seemed like this role was designed for her and only her. Unfortunately, she overshadows the other cast members to such an extent that the movie starts to drag after the interval. Fun and games turns to serious questions about ‘consequences of actions’. The other characters in the film had little to no story arc. Regardless, her portrayal of a typical Gujju girl is worth the price of admission alone. The bargaining on the streets of Las Vegas, the chirpy gossip between fellow Gujju’s and so on is definitely spot-on. Her likable character takes a turn after her gambling stint in Las Vegas which leads to a much more layered character, something we haven’t seen in Bollywood for a while now.

This movie is fantastic during its high moments but when it gets low it gets a little boring. Nevertheless, it’s great to see that Bollywood is finally taking lead actresses seriously. I mean the male lead was barely a thread in the entire plot. He doesn’t get the girl at the end and he doesn’t remove his shirt, so that’s awesome! The movie is loosely based on a real life person, which is even more astounding. If there were not many tonal shifts from too happy to too sad, and if the story would have been written a little bit better, it could, just maybe have been a hellava better film.

All in all the film has extremely funny moments, if you’ve ever had any Guju friends or even if you’ve not. Kangana’s performance manages to keep your eye peeled and your smile intact throughout the film. Despite a bland ending it’s a damn fun time at the movies and a better time with your Gujarati friends.