Pappu Can't Dance Saala Movie Review: This Pappu's Got No Chance, Saala!

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It's a pity, because the man is actually a talented actor. However, in recent times, Vinay Pathak has been content in typecasting himself in the same sort of roles over and over again, playing reticent, geeky, off-beat characters, whose comedy comes from their small-town India values and their excessively verbose Hindi. It was funny when he tried it out the first time around, in films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, and Bheja Fry. However, in follow ups like Dasvidaniya, Utt Pataang and Bheja Fry 2, the act has quickly gotten boring. Pathak, however, seems to be impervious to it, and this month, he's at it again, in a film titled Pappu Can't Dance Saala.

To be fair, one can't fault Pathak's acting in these films, given the everyman charm he brings to his roles. However, more often than not, the sort of characters he portrays are part of some rather dull, even inane storylines. That is also the case with Saurabh Shukla's Pappu Can't Dance Saala, where the writer-director pairs Pathak with Neha Dhupia in an attempted comedy about an unlikely romance.

Shukla's film is set in a government colony in Mumbai, where, the simple, straightforward Vidyadhar, from Banaras, and spunky, party-hard dancer, Mahek, from Kolhapur, are neighbours, both renting their flats illegally. Vidyadhar doesn't approve of Mahek's lifestyle and her ways, but when the building is raided and Mahek's flat is sealed, she decides to camp out at his place, thinking that he ratted her out to the authorities. Thrown together as inadvertent roommates, the two soon find an unwitting friend in each other, even as Mahek continues to try and make it big in her field, while Vidyadhar just tries to accept her values as she is. Where the friendship turns into a romance is the rest of the story.

The main problem with the film is the acutely drab pacing that the story proceeds at. It's a simple, straight-forward affair, but Shukla puts it through the stereotypical hoops and stretches it to a feature length of over two hours, lettings Vidyadhar spout on the dirt and filth of the city for quite a while before getting to the point. The film's humour works in its first half, but virtually disappears post-interval. Even otherwise, the film tries to get by with minimal effort in terms of the narrative, with no thought put into character development or conflicts between the two lead characters.

Though Vinay Pathak's act is definitely repetitive, it still doesn't negate his talents as an actor and his Vidyadhar is endearing and comic in parts. Neha Dhupia manages to make a fair job of her role as Mahek, as well, though she can't quite cut it as a Maharasthrian girl who spouts Bambaiyya slang. Rajat Kapoor is okay as Mahek's choregrapher Palash, though it's a passable role. The same goes for Naseeruddin Shah, who brings his sparkle to a cameo as Vidyadhar's father.

The film's music doesn't offer up much hope, with little that comes to mind of composer Malhar's work on the film.

Though alternative, independent cinema is meant to break out of the formulae that trap big-budget blockbusters, in Bollywood, it seems like even indie directors have come up with a static formula of their own. Pappu Can't Dance Saala is a prime example of this condition. With a narrow narrative and a dull story, even its performances can't set it apart from the run-of-the-mill. Clearly, in Saurabh Shukla's latest directorial outing, Pappu's got no chance, saala!