Hichki Movie Review: Predictable To The Core

A film like Hichki comes with a lot of possibilities. After all, when there is an interesting plot at the core of it all, a leading lady who has proven her mettle for over two decades and a premium production house carrying ample clout coming together for a film, you expect something special.

That said, the promo of Hichki wasn't the kind that made one believe that something extraordinary was in the offering. Yes, the film looked different for sure but one still wondered if there would be ample entertainment quotient in there that would entice audiences by the dozen. The follow through in terms of songs and further snippets around the film were just about okay and this is the reason why when the film finally arrived on the big screen, you were just about reasonably excited.

This can well be said about the film as a whole as well. You don't really feel overtly excited about what actually plays on screen, the biggest factor being predictability that looms large right through the two hour narrative. From beginning till the interval point to the finale, you pretty much know how the graph of Hichki would shape up. There are no major ups and downs other and that is something that doesn't really augur well since at the least you expect Hichki to be some sort of a roller coaster ride.

However, director Sidharth P. Malhotra chooses to keep his story telling simple for the entire duration and hence the kind of drama or conflict that you expect is somehow missing. So even when there is an antagonist of sorts in the form of a senior teacher <Neeraj Kabi> or a bully student <Harsh Mayar> who has issues with the class teacher <Rani Mukerji> till the very end, you know how it would all eventually culminate.

As a matter of fact you can pretty much guess how a scene would end and then the next would kick-start as most of the sequences that you see on the screen are convenient with cinematic liberties galore. This is the reason why you wonder that when Rani Mukerji was returning to the big screen after four years, why there wasn't added emphasis on the written material that was put together before the shooting kick-started.

Thankfully though, the leading lady is in good form throughout and plays this easy role with comfort. With a lesser actress, sequences where the vocal syndrome is shown on screen could have possibly come across as even comical and may have made a segment of audience burst into laughter. However, all credit to Rani as well as sensitive handling of sequences by Sidharth that it all comes across as rather natural on screen and you accept this syndrome as a part of the protagonist's personality rather than something that makes you take it as a joke.

Still, if only there was added emotional depth to the scenes and there was more drama and conflict in the narrative with lesser count of predictable moments, Hichki could have been a far more engaging affair.