Simran Movie Review: Kangana Loots Banks And Hearts In This One…

Kangana Ranaut, who has been impressing us with her sheer talent since her Queen days, teams up with acclaimed filmmaker Hansal Mehta for the first time for Simran, a tragicomedy based on true events. But is the movie worth our time? Read on…

Set in Atlanta, ‘Simran’ revolves around Praful Patel, a Gujarati divorcee working in the housekeeping department of a reputed hotel, who is working her butt off to save enough money to buy an apartment of her own, despite the skepticism of her conservative parents.

While on a trip to Las Vegas with her cousin for her bachelorette, Praful gets hooked to gambling and soon, her addiction leads to her life turning upside down as she uses her saved up money to recover the amount she loses at the casino. When she borrows money (around 50 thousand dollars) from a local loan shark, she is left with no other alternative than to rob banks to raise enough money to keep the loan shark’s goon off her back.

What happens as her desperation pushes her to be a criminal, forms the rest of the plot.

Kangana has played a Gujarati character for the first time in her career and she nails her role as Praful Patel, who comes from a middle-class family and is frustrated by her conservative family background. Kangana is one of the few actresses who can make you chuckle and then bring a lump to your throat with equally effortless ease and the curly-haired lass has done it in Simran. While you wince at her recklessness, you also find yourself sympathizing with her plight and Kangana succeeds in making Praful a character, who earns your sympathy as well as your adoration. Sohum Shah, who plays her suitor, is solidly decent and the rest of the cast is quite impressive.

On the whole, Simran does have its flaws… like the fact that Praful seems to get away with robbing banks with childish ease or the fact that she gets only 10 months for her crimes. However, if you overlook the flaws, Simran is a deeply touching film, which faithfully explores the fall from grace of a believably flawed character.

Something else I liked about the film was that the makers did not delve in her marital past and come up with a sob story for her divorce in order to garner sympathy for her character. Also, Praful’s bitter-sweet relationship with her parents is quite real and relatable, unlike the way parents and their kids are portrayed in regular Bollywood films.

In conclusion, if you are a Kangana fan, Simran should make your weekend…