Aanand L Rai’s production Nakhrewaalii is a familiar yet fun rom-com featuring Ansh Duggal and Pragati Srivastava. The story follows Sumit, who moves to Delhi and faces romantic confusion. While the film has many funny one-liners and laughs, it suffers from glaring inconsistencies in the lead actor’s appearance throughout the movie.
Cast: Ansh Duggal, Pragati Srivastava, Kumud Mishra
Director: Rahul ShanklyaStar rating: ★★★
Are Aanand L Rai's production Nakhrewaalii and Ayushmann Khurrana's Dream Girl 2 long-lost cousins? Well, both revolve around gender swapping, cross dressing, mistaken identities and romantic confusion. Are there then enough differences that allow Nakhrewaalii to carve out an identity of its own? Read on to find out.
The premise
The story revolves around Sumit Mishra (Ansh Duggal), a typical good for nothing guy who believes women have it easy, whether it is reservations or getting their way in almost every sphere of life. After his girlfriend back home gets married to someone else, he moves to Delhi to pursue higher studies. Here, he meets Paridhi (Pragati Srivastava), the daughter of his landlord. Sparks fly, there's intimacy, but his mindset immediately classifies Paridhi as a girl only good for 'fun' in his own words, while another girl who likes him at his college, and is a 'virgin', is fit for marriage. His life turns upside down as he realises his feelings for Paridhi, and has to bag a government job for her parents to agree to the union. How Sumit manages that forms the rest of the plot.
The story is as old as time. But director Rahul Shanklya, along with writers Divy Nidhi Sharma, manage to keep things entertaining by peppering the first half with plenty of funny one-liners and amusing sequences.
The second half too manages to keep the laughter quotient intact, and that works in the film's favour.
Inconsistency is glaring
However there are certain inconsistencies that are hard to overlook. For instance, our male protagonist transforms into a woman for a major part of the runtime, but the continuity in his appearance is messed up. One morning, he is seen sporting a clean shaven face, only for a rather noticeable two to three day old stubble to appear by the same evening. Heck, even in a wedding sequence where the scenes unfold back to back, the inconsistency is glaring. These may seem like minor details in the larger scheme of things, but they can be distracting, especially when the premise itself relies so heavily on it. One wonders why the makers didn't pay closer attention to something so basic.
How are the performances?
In the performance department, Ansh and Pragati both have a confident screen presence. Kumud Mishra plays a key role as a government official, and he's reliable, as usual. Gopal Datt as Paridhi's father is very funny with his one liners. Akash Makhija as Jhaadi's, Sumit's best friend makes you chuckle.
The music by Vayu, Vaibhav Pani, Sharan Rawat, Gaurav Chatterji, Tanishk Bagchi is soothing and goes with the story.
Overall, Nakhrewaalii may share some DNA with Dream Girl 2, but it has enough of its own quirks and comic moments to stand independently. It isn't ambitious in its storytelling, and even tries to include a moral lesson. But with a likeable lead pair and funny moments, it largely serves its purpose.