Roy Review: A ROYal Bore

Vikramjit Singh’s ‘Roy’ is replete with eye candy: Arjun Rampal (till he sports a beard!), Jacqueline Fernandez (in a double role), Ranbir Kapoor and the lush locales of Malaysia. But that’s the best that can be said about this story of a lonely filmmaker and his beleaguered script that desperately needs a muse.

Cinematographer Himman Dhamija beautifully captures the subjects and the setting in warm tones and adds character to an otherwise luster-less film.

Filmmaker Kabir Garewal (Arjun Rampal) is shooting his latest project about a slick art thief in Malaysia. His protagonist, Roy (Ranbir Kapoor) wants to steal a painting from the collection of a rich and lonely Tia (Jacqueline Fernandez). But in the course of this plan, Roy falls in love with Tia. From reel to real: while shooting his movie, Kabir finds himself increasingly attracted to another filmmaker Ayesha (Jacqueline Fernandez) who happens to be staying at the same hotel. The notorious philanderer is unable to stop thinking of Ayesha long after she has returned to the U.K.

Kabir and Roy’s stories run on parallel trajectories, but the latter’s fate is in the hands of the writer-director and as Kabir loses his inspiration and falls victim to a deep heartbreak, Roy’s story is also suspended in time.

Singh uses silences a little too often and fails to take the film to a peak. It meanders along at the same tempo, with the actors doing their best. Its shocking to finally see a film where Ranbir Kapoor is unable to stoke up any chemistry with his leading lady, which probably says more about Fernandez’s tepid performance than his efforts. In fact she is (not surprisingly) the weakest plank in the story as she plays both Tia and Ayesha in almost the same woe-is-me way. Actually that’s the same expression the audience has by the end of the film!

Rating: **

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