Film: Super Star

Banner: Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision

Director: Rohit Jugraj

Cinematographer: Mahendra Shetty

Choreographer: Remo Fernandes

Editor: Sandeep Francis

Screenplay: Rahul Singh, Sudip Sharma

Story / Writer: Rohit Jugraj, Rahul Singh, Sudip Sharma

Cast: Kunal Khemu, Tulip Joshi, Aushima Sawhney, Reema Lagoo, Sharat Saxena, Vrajesh Hirjee, Darshan Jariwala, Kishori Shahane, Zafar Karachiwala, Anjan Srivastava, Rushad Rana, Kunal Kumar, Deepika Sharma, Aman Verma, Sanjay Dutt (special appearance)

Rating: 4.5/10

Sometimes destiny lands a challenge only a character can win. Super Star is about that challenge and ultimate victory of the soul in a battle of means and ends.

Super Star is the story of a young middle class boy with stars in his eyes and a dream to become a superstar. A struggling actor in the Mumbai film industry, one day he finds out there is someone else who looks exactly like him but has a destiny far different. While our man has parents who are divided in their approval of his profession, his face-sake has a rich producer-dad who is hell-bent on making his son a superstar.

Their paths cross and the former is chosen to be the stunt/dance double of the latter. Destiny plays its cards and in a swift move our protagonist is on the edge of a deadly role-reversal, something that he had always prayed for but what would come with a huge price. Whether he is willing to pay the price and the path he chooses when faced with a decision make up the film for what it is.

Inspite of having an interesting concept, Super Star fails to impress for various reasons. Most importantly the film lacks a verve that a film of this nature must have. Following close on the heels of Om Shanti Om, Super Star finds it all the more difficult to match up the aspirational or larger-than-life ‘hero’ quotient of superstars in the film. What the film desperately needed is a splash of life in its narrative. The narrative is muted and at times too insipid. It lacks the necessary swings of highs and lows that make a screenplay of this nature captivating.

The film never shifts into the fourth gear and a majority of its problems lie there. Technically, the pace of the screenplay is not slow. Events are constantly happening, characters constantly introduced or explored. But none take off, many even letting down the promise they held to take the drama even higher. While it appears to be a writing fault that no scene or character builds to a crescendo, it is always the director who tempers the rhythm of the film. Rohit Jugraj, shows a lot of promise, but fails to do complete justice to his subject in terms of commercial dream-seller cinema, or a sensitive, realist tale. As a result the film constantly hangs between these two extremes never really taking off or landing.

The film is tremendously let down by its extremely poor production values. The shoddiness of the sets, costumes, looks, extends to shabby frames, which are downright grainy at times, some even suspiciously looking like stock-footage. If each department were to be rate probably cinematography would get the least marks for failing the film technically as well as conceptually. The film has been edited well and the pace kept up makes the film watchable indeed. Music deserves a passable nod and so does choreography. Given Kunal Khemu’s dancing skills and the fact of his on-screen character, dance sequences could have added a lot of color to the slightly tasteless proceedings.

Super Star as a story demanded some great performances to bring out the inherent drama and conflict within the characters. The fact that the story did not have a compelling conflict to explore was added by the fact of average performances of its lead actors. Kunal Khemu, an actor who might have to yet discover his roots in Bolly-land, yet, has displayed good potential to grow and bloom. Super Star, sadly is not his movie. Kunal’s strength’s are sensitive, or light roles not power-packed roles that require a lot of charisma to pull it through.

Aushima Sawhney as the superstar’s love-interest is adequate. She emotes quite well for a new-comer and also commands a surprising screen presence. Tulip Joshi is terribly miscast in the role of Kunal’s childhood sweetheart. Not only are her acting skills non-existent but neither does she manage to draw significant attention or necessary sympathy to her character. Her styling is regretfully atrocious which sadly adds insult to injury.

Reema Lagoo and Sharath Saxena as Kunal’s parents form the supporting pillars that the film should be thankful for. Darshan Jariwala surprises by the lucky patch he is riding in his career by appearing in one meaty role after another despite outdoing himself in hamming movie after movie.

A worthwhile (albeit not too brightly original) concept to explore, the film lands itself in an uncomfortable mean of realism and commercialism. Thus it continuously swings from tacky to hopeful to downright placid. Not a mark of a good film leave alone experience. Super Star’s sadly not Kunal Khemu’s ticket to becoming one!