Ugly Aur Pagli (Movie Review)

So Mallika Sherawat isn't all hot and heat. With Pyar Ke Side Effects, she demonstrated that she was much more than a sexy pin-up and she continues to prove that with Ugly Aur Pagli.

Mallika, who plays Kuhu aka Pagli, turns the life of Kabir Achrekar (Ranvir Shorey) completely upside-down when he saves her from falling in front of a Mumbai train.

Kabir's USP is that he's failed his engineering course for years and is waiting for the right professor to tire of seeing him in class and finally, pity-pass him. With no real ambition, job or girlfriend, he sort of just floats through life until, of course, a very strange Kuhu shows up.

She likes her booze. She throws up after her binge-drinking episodes. She snores. She blows her nose loudly. And, she really likes to slap him.

It's a strange relationship, so it seems. They seem like they're together, but they're not. He clearly loves her. She clearly demonstrates it in slightly deviant ways, like making him wear a petticoat and ride a seatless bike through town and greet her on her birthday with a stolen rose.

As individuals, they're poles apart. He's not particularly attractive. She's visibly the bomb. He's the devotee. And she makes no secret of being the master in the relationship.

And yet, as a couple they work. Not in that opposites attract kind of way, but in that he's actually positive and she's hurting kind of way. And that's precisely the problem with the film.

The complexity of such a strange relationship is treated too simply. Her pain from a previous relationship results in Kuhu searching for an ex-flame in Kabir, but the depth of the confusion remains rather latent. And it's not a problem with the cast, but with the story.

The plot is not mainstream Bollywood fare. Within the first 10 minutes, there are sub-plots involving the passing out of wind and throwing up of vomit, which had the young urban Indians in the cinema giggling in glee.

However, it's a boring story. Of a loser, who gets the hot girl, but doesn't know it, until he gets her back in the end.

Kabir and Kuhu enjoy many "crazy" episodes in their dating days, but on a 100 day celebration in Goa, she abruptly disappears from his life. The explanation given is that she's still in love with a dead ex-boyfriend.

Two years later, when Kuhu's parents try and set her up with their family friend's son Hemal (Gaurav Kapoor), she realises it's Kabir she wants to be with.

And the story ends on a happy note after a two-hour ride with Ugly aur Pagli.

The verdict? As cinema it's mildly passable. The cast is lovely and it was a delight to see Bharti Achrekar, an old TV favourite, back on screen as Kabir's mother. Tinnu Anand and Sushmita Mukherjee as Kuhu's parents are also delightful.

Mallika as the spoilt, hurt, demanding and feminist girlfriend fits right into her role. And Ranvir, as the loving, caring, doting boyfriend has our sympathies in parts and makes us laugh in other parts.

It's not a long film by Bollywood standards and despite four songs, which include two item numbers featuring Mallika, it felt long. A number of unnecessary little incidents in the story could easily have been avoided.

Overall, the film is highly plausible, shot extremely well and acted out as well as the characters were sketched out. Waiting out for a DVD release, on the other hand, wouldn't be an all too bad idea.

Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Mallika Sherawat, Bharti Achrekar, Tinnu Anand, Sushmita Mukherjee

Director: Sachin Kamlakar Khot

Music: Anu Malik