NIKAMMA has a few massy moments but falters due to illogical script

Nikamma Review {2.0/5} & Review Rating

NIKAMMA is the story of a good-for-nothing guy’s love-hate relationship with his sister-in-law. Aditya aka Adi (Abhimanyu Dassani) is an unemployed youth with an unusual power. He has a photographic memory and can easily remember and recall past episodes. His elder brother, Raman (Samir Soni) dotes on him and fulfills all his wishes. But after Raman gets married to Avni (Shilpa Shetty Kundra), he begins to shower all his love on her. Adi feels neglected and in anger, he leaves the house and stays with his paternal uncle (Sachin Khedekar) for more than a year. He then returns home and finds out that Raman is getting transferred to Bengaluru while Avni is getting shifted to a city called Dhamli. Raman tells Adi to accompany Avni to Dhamli. Adi reluctantly does so. Avni takes charge of a top position in RTO and she compels Adi to do all the household chores, much to his annoyance. One day, he gets fed up and is about to run away when he bumps into Natasha aka Nikki (Shirely Setia). She instantly proposes to him. Adi is taken aback but he decides to stay back and begin an affair with Natasha. He soon finds out that she is Avni’s cousin and that she had seen Adi in Avni and Raman’s wedding. That is when she had fallen for him and had decided that she will marry him. Natasha is residing in the college hostel in Dhamli but she leaves it and shifts in Avni’s place so that she could be close to Adi. Avni is unaware of their love affair but when she finds out, she sends Natasha to her parent’s place. This angers Adi even more. On the other hand, Avni also frustrates one more individual – Vikramjit Bisht (Abhimanyu Singh). He’s touted as the next MLA and runs a taxi service called Super. In order to expand his business and ensure that passengers opt for Super, Vikramjit floods the roads with his cabs, some of which are illegal. When the bus service association raises an objection, he sets fire to one of the buses, killing 40 people on board. He is also hand-in-gloves with Avni’s senior, Arun Rastogi. Avni, however, decides to take action against Vikramjit and seizes his illegal cars. Vikramjit is so angry that he goes to RTO to kill her. At the same moment, Adi meets his uncle who tells him about the sacrifices made by Avni for his sake. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

NIKAMMA is the remake of the Telugu hit MIDDLE CLASS ABBAYI [2017]. Venu Sriram’s story has some entertaining moments but it is dated and lacks logic. Venu Sriram’s screenplay (additional screenplay by Sabbir Khan) is fine in certain portions. A few plot points are well fleshed out, especially when the hero and villain confrontation begins. However, in most parts, it does not work to the fullest as the narrative is riddled with highly unconvincing moments. Sanamjit Talwar’s dialogues are a bit dramatic, as per the requirement of the film. But the recurrent dialogues of middle-class life and Vikramjit stressing that he’ll be the next MLA gets a bit too much after a point. Moreover, Abhimanyu and Shirley addressing each other as ‘cutie’ and ‘beauty’ sounds tacky.

Sabbir Khan’s direction is not up to the mark. In several places, it gives a déjà vu of his earlier films like HEROPANTI [2014], BAAGHI [2016] etc. This is concerning the film’s tone and that the protagonist is a good-for-nothing chap who can fight well. A few scenes are very well executed, especially the action ones. However, a major problem with the film is that it gets unconvincing in several places. The way Natasha instantly decides to marry Adi is difficult to digest. And it’s bewildering that if she is so eager to marry him, why didn’t she try to woo him for 2 years? Why did she wait for him to notice her? What if he had never noticed her and married someone else? Also, the fact that Avni decides to sell her ancestral land for Adi and Natasha’s future, without their knowledge, is not easily acceptable. In fact, this is a problem with several characters in the film. Case in point being Avni making sacrifices for Adi or Adi protecting Avni while ensuring she or Natasha or anyone does not come to know. One can understand that one should not seek logic in such films. But that doesn’t mean the makers can go to any lengths, using this excuse.

NIKAMMA’s first scene, before the flashback begins, is intriguing. But the introduction of characters is done in a hurried manner. The cricket match scene of Adi is poor. The film gets a bit on track as Adi shifts to Dhamli with Avni and she forces him to do household chores. The scene where Adi trying to hire a maid is the funniest scene in the film. Adi and Natasha’s romance angle does not work since the circumstances under which it begins is bizarre. The film finally picks up at the intermission point. The drama that happens outside the RTO building is sure to be greeted with claps and whistles. Post-interval, the bet placed by Vikramjit with Adi helps in maintaining interest and anticipation to some extent. The finale is supposed to be nail biting, but it turns out to be predictable and even quite lengthy.

Nikamma: Tere Bin Kya Reprise | Abhimanyu Dassani, Shirley Setia

Speaking of performances, Abhimanyu Dassani is okay. He does very well in the action scenes but falters while doing comedy and while playing to the gallery. Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s character is not well fleshed out, but she manages to impress. Also, it’s great to see her on the big screen after ages. Shirely Setia has a terrific screen presence and gives a lovely performance. She tries her best to add fun and laughter in the first half. Abhimanyu Singh is spot-on as the baddie. He gets a bit over-the-top but it works for his character. Samir Soni is average. Vikram Gokhale (Major) is fine in the cameo. Sachin Khedekar, as always, is dependable. The actors playing Sachin Khedekar’s wife, Tipu, Umesh, Arun Rastogi and Adi’s friends are okay.

Music is nothing special. ‘Tere Bin Kya’ is well shot and the same goes for ‘Killer’. ‘Ab Meri Baari’ is like the theme song and is energetic. ‘Nikamma Kiya’ is played in the end credits. John Stewart Eduri’s background score has a massy feel. Hari K Vedantam’s cinematography is simple. Anl Arasu and Sunil Rodricks’s action is quite entertaining and what keeps the interest going. Neeta Lulla, Sonaakshi Raaj and Kartik Damani’s costumes are glamorous and appealing in the case of Shirely Setia, and realistic yet stylish in the case of Abhimanyu Dassani and Shilpa Shetty Kundra. Manan Sagar’s editing is fair although the film could have been shorter.

On the whole, NIKAMMA has a few massy moments but falters due to illogical script. At the box office, it will face a tough time.