Superstar Review
(8 votes, average: 4.63 out of 5)
Subhash K. Jha, Film: “Superstar”; Cast: Kunal Khemu, Tulip Joshi, Aushima Sawhney, Reema Lagoo, Sharat Saxena, Darshan Jariwala; Director: Rohit Jugraj; Rating: ***
It’s not often that you come away from a film thinking, “Oh hell, this one is far better than I thought!” Original, vibrant, tongue-in-cheek and yet moving in its sincerity, “Superstar” acquires its power and energy purely from its maker’s ability to infuse potentially hammy situations with a bristling believability.
You’ve seen films about doppelganger-transference where look-alikes cross the line into each other’s realm of vision to exchange lives. “The Prince and The Pauper” did it long before “Raja Aur Runk” and “Duplicate”. Most films about double roles simplify the moral lines to the extent that Ram and Shyam become figures on either sides of the coin.
Rohit Jugraj tosses that coin into the air and lets it fall languorously and neatly to the ground.
That he has set this feisty, funny and exhilarating fable of the prince and the super-prince (forget the pauper) in the film industry, is a happy occurrence that gives the narrative a zest to make in-house jokes without tripping over on its own cleverness.
This would be as good a time as any to state that Kunal Khemu, who plays the earnest junior artiste and the spoilt but still-decent producer’s son who cannot value the gift of Bollywood like his more humble middle-class doppelganger, is a revelation. He brings to the two characters more than just a surface dissimilarity.
Khemu doesn’t try to make the characters of Kunal and Karan different from each other. Often, as in a critical pre-interval sequence when the plot takes a literal somersault, we see the two as the yin and yang, mirror images looking into one another’s soul with disarming transparency.
Not too many 20-something actors today can carry off the discomforting predicament of baring their soul through tight close-ups. Khemu dares the unthinkable. Not too many actors have carried out the double-role tradition with such casual aplomb. Happily, the special effects bringing the two Khemus together is not the only thing special in the narration.
Khemu has a director who also dares to dream the impossible. While keeping the narrative on a fun and frisky plane, Jugraj brings in moral and ethical issues in the second-half when the junior-artiste is forced to replace the guy from the affluent producer’s family.
Watch out for the sequence where the junior-artiste poses as the star to visit his grieving parents. The camera microscopes the son’s dilemma as he must pretend to be a stranger before his bereaved parents. The background score by Sanjay Choudhary creates just a hint of melodrama before backing off.
Fully filmy? Yes, but not quite. Jugraj always leaves scope for subtleties. There is a mildly stirring dimension of authenticity in Jugraj’s narration as though Ram Gopal Varma’s “Rangeela” had suddenly and happily mated with Farah Khan’s “Om Shanti Om” to produce a film that takes us beyond the expected in pursuit of happiness that’s got very little to do with celebrating the spirit of the double role.
At times the glam-quotient required to make Bollywood’s dream factory look believable is overly sham. The affluent Khemu in a swimming pool with various bikini-clad blondes looks just too much like whoosh-fulfilment.
“Superstar” represents the wry and slightly cynical view of the outsider peeping nervously and enviously into the glittery world of the entertainment industry. But the sense of wonderment is well contained. Neither the humble wannabe nor the privileged producer’s son are portrayed with cynicism so that when the personality transference between the two occurs unexpectedly, we aren’t looking at a morality-play but a Bollywood take on Bollywood with the conventions turned on their head.
Jugraj constantly refers to Bollywood biggies from Amitabh Bachchan in “Deewaar” to Ayesh Jhulka in “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar” to Salman Khan in “Andaz Apna Apna”.
The in-house humour pervades the plot without overwhelming the basic layering of storytelling.
We watch the characters as spin-offs of Urmila Matondkar in “Rangeela”, Shah Rukh Khan in “Om Shanti Om” and Rishi Kapoor in “Karz”. But we’re also looking at a world where artificiality is not just a way of life and death. It is also the only way to function.
Watch “Superstar” for Jugraj’s fresh original take on Bollywood’s dream factory and Kunal Khemu’s sincere and warm performance as the wannabe and the star who share more than just a passing affinity with the Rams and Shyams of showbiz.
— IANS
its ossam, outstanding movie aspecially the actor kunal khemmu and his deadly looks in the movie and he is a real superstar.
Kunal’s performance was really outsatnding.When i was watching i didn’t feel that this is kunal’s debut movie.he performed better than sharukh and i this movie is better than jodha akbar
Kunal’s performance was really outsatnding.When i was watching i didn’t feel that this is kunal’s debut movie.he performed better than sharukh and i think this movie is better than jodha akba
SUPERSTAR is a good movie review by flop film James director Rohit Jugraj.Kunal Khemu is fantastic and should get to sign more roles in the future.Tulip is superb.Aushima is rocking.Darshan is good.Vrajesh is funny.Anjan is good.Reema is good and is back in form.Sharat is good.Aman is ok.The other actors are also good.The music is a hit but my favourite tracks are ‘Ajnabi’ and ‘Mann Tu Talbet’.The whole crew has done a good job.
The story:-
Kunal Mehra(Kunal Khemu)is a junior artist who dances and fights in the films.Kunal’s father Abhiram Mehra(Sharat Saxena)dislikes Kunal’s job of a junior artist and wants Kunal to do a simple job.Kunal’s mother Suman Mehra(Reema Lagoo)who supports Kunal in every way.Kunal has a neighbour Sharma(Anjan Shrivastava)who has a son in America and always makes Abhiram jealous by telling him about the laptop which Sharma’s son has sent to him from America.Kunal has a childhood friend Mausam(Tulip Joshi)who loves Kunal but doesn’t say it.One day Karan Saxena,(Kunal Khemu in a double role)son of producer M.G.Saxena(Darshan Jariwala)who has taken divorce from his wife and has given 2 flops has taken 40 crore rupees from the market for a film with Karan in the film.Kunal meets Mishra,(Vrajesh Hirjee)the P.A.(Personal Assistant)of M.G.Saxena where Kunal comes to know that the photo published in the paper is of Karan and not Kunal.Kunal feels his dreams are shattered and he won’t be able to be a junior artist in any film bcoz the people will say that Kunal is Karan’s duplicate.Karan enters the film.Karan likes to party more than doing the film shooting.Karan is in love with his co-star Barkha(Aushima Sawhney).M.G.Saxena doesn’t remembers Karan’s birthday but Karan’s servant who is dumb remembers it.Karan reaches 4 hours late on the set(M.G.Saxena tells Karan to reach on the set at 9 am sharp)and Karan doesn’t even does the scene properly.Vicky(Aman Verma)blackmails Karan and Barkha that if he doesn’t get money by evening then the MMS clip which contains a love scene between Barkha and Karan in swimming pool will be shown on all TV channels.Due to Karan’s no interest in doing the shooting and Karan’s phoebia of height Mishra shows the portfolio of Kunal to M.G.Saxena.Kunal does the work of a stuntman and dancer in place of Karan to show that it is Karan and not Kunal.Kunal’s friends-Mausam,Danny and Tiffin become friends of Karan.Kunal also becomes the best friend of Karan.One night Kunal and Karan go on a long drive.Karan promises Kunal that one day Kunal will be a hero in a film produced by Karan.Karan gives the ROLEX 650 which M.G.Saxena gave Karan as the signing amount of the film to Kunal as the signing amount of the film.An accident happens due to which Karan goes in coma and Kunal dies.Kunal’s dead body is sent to his parents in Mumbai.When Karan becomes conscious he tells M.G.Saxena that he is Kunal and not Karan.M.G.Saxena at first doesn’t believe it but later misuses Kunal for the completion of the film since Kunal did all the stunt and the dances in place of Karan.Kunal agrees.Kunal meets Abhiram and Sushma who think Kunal is dead.Kunal tries to reveal his secret to Abhiram and Sushma but is stopped by Mishra.M.G.Saxena tells him to act as Karan in real life till the release of the film.The reporter who is the friend of Mausam gets to know the truth.Barkha tells Kunal that she knew that her co-star after the accident of both Kunal and Karan was actually Kunal and not Karan-when Karan fought with some goons when Vicky tried to tease Barkha in a disco and when Karan walked on the edge of the roof without falling(Karan did it once but he got down which Kunal didn’t do).Kunal after the premiere reveals in front of the media and the audience that he is Kunal Mehra,a junior artist who was assigned to do the role of Karan in real life till the release of the film by M.G.Saxena and the person died in the accident was the superstar Karan Saxena.Mausam runs away and sits near the same poster where Kunal turned angry by his father’s request of Kunal to take a simple job.Kunal proposes to Mausam and Mausam agrees.Everything ends happily.The movie is another oscar entry after LAGAAN,PAHELI,EKLAVYA-THE ROYAL GUARD,TAARE ZAMEEN PAR(if it happens)etc.A very good movie by Rohit Jugraj.I give it *****=5 stars.
I think the movie was awesome !
Though sometimes Kunal was sounding still like a KID , but i must say that he has done an awesome job anyways. Khemu totally captured the screen, he has shown all his pros in one movie. His emotions, comedy, fight scenes, angry young man attitude all has come up really well.
Overall, I would say that compared to other movies in market these dayz, This one was ATLEAST - Nice enough to Watch.
4.5 /5 rating - perfect….
Good Job !!!