Right from Akshay Kumar’s hilarious meta-references to Emraan Hashmi’s earnest performance, Selfiee has its own share of enjoyable frames despite being not so ‘picture-perfect’.
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Emraan Hashmi, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Diana Penty, Abhimanyu Singh, Meghna Malik
Director: Raj Mehta
Writer: Original Story by Sachy, Screenplay- Rishhabh Sharma
There is a scene in Selfiee where Naina (Diana Penty) jokes about her better-half, superstar Vijay Kumar (Akshay Kumar)’s gummy smile. In another sequence, we see Vijay proudly boasting about how he does four films in a year which includes two 0TT movies, 27 ads, 17 live events and some reality shows. Selfiee is at its entertaining best when Khiladi Kumar lets you chuckle at his own expense.
What’s Yay: Laugh-a-loud moments, intriguing premise
What’s Nay: Weak female characters, an inconsistent second half
Story
Set in Bhopal, Selfiee begins with an introduction to Om Prakash Aggarwal (Emraan Hashmi), an RTO officer who is a diehard fan of superstar Vijay Kumar (Akshay Kumar). Such is his craze for the actor that at one point, he even tells his wife Minty (Nushrratt Bharuccha), “Agar Vijay Sir ke dance ke baare mein kuch kaha naa toh apna divorce ho jayega.”
Later, Om Prakash’s joy knows no bounds when Vijay lands up in Bhopal for a film shoot. He and his son even rush to catch a glimpse of the hero. Meanwhile, Vijay soon learns that he needs a driving licence urgently to wrap up the film’s climax and save the pushy producer from incurring losses.
At this juncture, the city’s fawny corporator Vimla Tiwari (Meghna Malik) steps in and seeks help from Om Prakash. The latter agrees to aid Vijay without following the usual tedious process and asks for a selfie in exchange. Unfortunately, things take a nasty turn due to a misunderstanding and Om and Prakash end up having a huge showdown in public. What follows next is a battle of egos between a superstar and his biggest fan!
Direction
For those who don’t know, Selfiee is an official remake of Prithviraj Sukumaran-Suraj Venjaramoodu’s Malayalam hit, Driving Licence. Instead of adapting the film frame by frame, director Raj Mehta and his team ditch the serious undertones of the original film and offer a more commercial palette. The end result is that Selfiee turns out to be a mixed bag. While it has its set of entertaining moments, the film blurs at places when Raj resorts to caricaturish humour and flat writing.
The film never dives into the complicated relationship that actors share with their fans and offers a sanitised version to avoid judgement of any kind. Further, the second half of Selfiee is punctuated with some dull moments. Also, it’s high time that filmmakers do away with the ‘Arnab Goswami’ spoof-like depiction of the media. It’s not funny anymore.
Performances
Akshay Kumar portrays the superstardom that he enjoys in real life on screen and at times, it’s fun to watch him take the joke on himself. There are portions where you get a glimpse of his nineties’ swag which most of us missed a lot. It’s also refreshing to watch the actor display his comic timing again after playing a social crusader of sorts for the last couple of years.
Emraan Hashmi pulls off a sincere act and holds his ground in front of a seasoned superstar like Akshay Kumar. The actor also excels in the emotional sequences. Abhimanyu Singh knows how to make you laugh even with a garish character.
Selfiee falters a bit when it comes to its female characters. Mrunal Thakur adds some glitter with her cameo while the other two ladies- Nushrratt Bharuccha and Diana Penty pop in and out of the frame without giving you any memories to cherish. Meghna Malik offers a few laughs.
Technical Aspects
Rajeev Ravi’s cinematography captures the larger-than-life frames featuring Akshay Kumar in an eye-catchy way. Ritesh Soni’s editing is in sync with the story-telling.
Music
With respect to the film’s music, the Selfiee title track and the revamped version of ‘Main Khiladi Tu Anari’ turn out to be earworms.
Verdict
To sum it up, Selfiee is a fancy filter version of Driving Licence that occasionally loses its focus but still makes for an entertaining picture.
