Director: Pradeep Sarkar Producer: Aditya Chopra Editor: Sanjib Datta Cinematography: N Nataraja Subramanian

MUMBAI: Yash Raj Films’ Lafangey Parindey has some catchy tag lines……Neil Nitin Mukesh is described as ‘born to fight’, Deepika Padukone is ‘born to fly’ and the film itself as ‘play the game’; turns out that these taglines are just about all that is interesting or eye catching in the film.

Lafangey Parindey is old wine in new bottle. Born off the chawls of Mumbai where the harmony is so symbolic, Govinda and Diwali festivals are celebrated on walls skirting a mosque!

The hero fights blindfolded in a warehouse boxing ring to make a living and is a local legend. The heroine is, typically, a mall salesgirl and aspiring to win a talent reality show; this being the contemporary touch of the film! That she has turned blind following an accident but she won’t let that deter her and that is the story.

Warehouse boxing, didn’t they make such films in the 70s and the 80s Hollywood to be instantly copied in Indian films? The Bambaiyah lingo sounds forced and none of the players seem comfortable mouthing it. The police investigation angle is corny and lacks logic. As the love tale starts, the pace slows down, the chemistry refuses to work. There is no support from the music score except in choreography, which is excellent, especially in skating dances. Even though the hero is projected as a toughie, there is no action in the film except few boxing scenes which all look repetitive. The revelation in the end about the cause of Deepika’s blindness is flat with no drama at all.

The story hardly demands histrionics from its cast and Neil Nitin Mukesh makes the most of it, carrying one expression throughout the film. Deepika is bubbly and does well. Rest of the characters are caricatures, shadows of the lead pair.

While the money spent on the film shows, its justification does not. In that, the script is routine and direction is lacklustre.

Lafangey Parindey has not generated much interest pre-release and has opened with poor collections. That’s half the battle lost.