Patiala House Review, Rating : Old school fun

Give this much to Akshay Kumar. He has rid himself of the ludicrous clown he was rehashing for donkey’s years now, forcing us to doze off in the annual stock of five duds he habitually unleashed. Patiala House is surprisingly refreshing for the very makeover the superstar goes for. This time, he opts to play a character rather than an image.

The film is also director Nikhil Advani’s best so far. It won’t be the grandest mainstream affair of the year. At least Advani has narrated a decent tale far removed from the apologetic fare he peddled by way of Chandni Chowk To China and Salaam- e- Ishq in the recent past.

Advani’s fetish for old- school, played- togallery cinema gets a cricket twist in Patiala House , a film that sets out to address identity crisis plaguing the Indian diaspora abroad.

The mix is a heady one — a house bursting with hyper Punjabiyat, random dash of Bhangra and Hip Hop, designer perfect London, big melodrama, bigger cricket, and Bollywood’s Punjabi flavour of the season Anushka Sharma popping up at the right moments.

So you have a very Punjabi Southall household headed by Bauji Rishi Kapoor at his belligerent best (or worst, as you choose to look at it). Bauji is forever growling about how he hates the gora s. Point being that he is a first generation settler in the UK, but the man is so addicted with his racism babble that he won’t let son Gattu (Akshay) relate to the Brits in any way.

Big problem, actually. Gattu it turns out is a damn good fast bowler and, born and brought up in London, he naturally wants to play for England. He is good enough to make the national squad cut but then Bauji’s living up his Amrish Puri moments with a bolshie bellow: “ Mera beta England ke liye nahin khelega ”. The film is predictable in a feel- good way.

And as the English take on arch rivals Aussies, you know how it will end, long before it does. If Patiala House is still enjoyable, it’s because of Advani and Anvita Dutt Guptan’s frothy screenplay.

But the biggest plus here has to be Akshay. Given very few lines to speak, the actor underplays Gattu admirably, wracked as he is between love for his father and his cricketing dreams. You almost feared the script goofed it up for Akshay with the final long- drawn bhaashan he is given to mouth, about dreams and misery. But he pulls it off with ample screen presence.

It’s two and half hours of loud fun, the way Bollywood made films once upon a time. For added effect you get a smattering of yesteryears’ and presentday cricketing heroes too, playing out cameos.

Rating - 3 / 5