Cirkus review: Tepid at best, this film over-relies on nostalgia

I raced to the movie theatre on Friday morning after having slept a mere four hours. This was a Rohit Shetty film: It was supposed to be a popcorn flick that would kick me awake!

Yet, I was groggier than before when I came out of the theatre. After all, William Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors had just had the comedy taken out of it, and the errors were evident!

The film is funny in parts, but the humour is all over the place, going from slapstick here to wordplay there, situational here to crass there.

And the worst transgression of all here is the climax, or lack thereof. The film is over even before you realise that the build-up has ended!

But let’s take a broader look at all the aspects in a broader sense.

The story

Director Rohit Shetty has made no bones about the source material. Heck, he even gives a nod to it through a poster for Shakespeare’s play in the introductory scenes!

However, the premise is slightly altered. Here we start with two doctors — Roy (Murali Sharma) and Joy (Uday Tikekar).

Dr Roy begins an experiment and Dr Joy reluctantly plays along. The experiment? Instead of adopting out two sets of twins together, he lets one set of parents adopt one child from twin set A and another from twin set B.

The purpose of this “experiment”? Apparently to prove that upbringing matters more than blood relations.

And, of course, there is a Judwaa-like catch. While one brother handles naked electric wires with nary a twitch, the other one experiences power surges like a lightning pole, and passes it on to anyone who touches him.

What’s more, the two sets of brothers are both named Roy and Joy, after the doctors!

While one set lives in Ooty, aka Udhagamandalam, another set is in Bengaluru — or erstwhile Bangalore.

What happens when they cross paths? That’s the story.

The plot, the actors, and the screenplay

The premise was always interesting, be it in Shakespeare’s times, or even in the 1980s, when Gulzar made Angoor.

However, when the “what” of a story is known, the “where” and “when” can enhance it. The “why” can add an extra layer of storytelling. However, the success of the story hinges on “how”.

As in, you know these people would be misidentified as each other. So, the “what” is answered.

Ooty in the 1970s answers the “where” and “when”, with Rohit Shetty and the people behind a camera doing a decent job of adding rose-tinted glasses to the era, its people, and their behaviour.

The “why” is weak, with several questions remaining unanswered. Like, why is the elderly Chachi, played with aplomb by Sulabha Arya, a crack shot? Or why does a midriff-baring Meenamma — apparently right out of present-day Chennai Express — make a cameo in a song in the 1970s?

And, most of all, why does Dr Roy wait so long to come out with the truth? (We can answer this one. Had he let the cat out of the bag right at the beginning or even in the middle, the film would have ended right there and then.)

And finally, if you have managed to look past all of these, there’s the “how”, which never truly comes to fruition. There is never a sense of inevitability in the story as the screenplay stumbles from one scene to the next.

And in the end, just as the viewer begins to anticipate a rollercoaster of a last few scenes, the film ends!

Is it, therefore, any surprise that some brief but sparkling performances by the likes of Ashwini Kalsekar and Anil Charanjeett seem wasted?

Appearing equally wasted are talents like Tiku Talsania, Brijendra Kala, Mukesh Tiwari, Vrajesh Hirjee, and even Johnny Lever.

Siddharth Jadhav seems to get almost as much screen time as our leads — and probably more than Pooja Hegde and Jacqueline Fernandez — and makes the most of it.

The two “heroines” are barely there, and when they are, they don’t leave a mark. Greater talents would have made hay with whatever screen time they had, making the characters more memorable.

In a refreshing change, Varun Sharma does not exactly ham it up. Maybe it’s time he gets some more serious roles and directors who can draw out some more of his talent.

As for Ranveer Singh, for several moments I thought I was hearing Kapil Dev from 83. It was as if the vocal intonations Singh used in the sports film playing arguably the greatest Indian cricketer of all time were rehashed for Cirkus.

The other departments

Now, it’s not as if the team did not try. Lijo George and DJ Chetas tried to present a foot-tapper with Current Laga Re. Here, “tried” is the operative word.

As for the other songs, Devi Sri Prasad and Badshah do manage to capture some of the nostalgia of the bygone era with Sun Zara and Ashiqui, respectively.

The choreography complements that, and the use of songs from the 1960s to the 1980s adds to the nostalgia and the visual action.

The cinematography appears good in parts, but the use of colour and the sets could be an assault on the eyes at times.

Of inspiration and perspiration

William Shakespeare was no original. For example, his Merchant of Venice seemed to have been “inspired” by the late-14th-century Italian play Il Pecorone.

However, what Shakespeare knew to do best was give the story his own twist so that it became popular with the people.

Rohit Shetty seemed to have done well along those lines, with at least five of his previous films being remakes of or taking inspiration from existing properties.

The thing is, while these films were box-office successes, Shetty’s heuristic curve nosedived. As a result, the climax of Cirkus turns out to be a pale rehash of how Bol Bachchan ended.

The music could have elevated the film. The dialogues do make an effort, but can shoulder the burden only so much.

The final verdict

In the end, Cirkus promised the moon, but gave us a reflection on the water.

Heck, even its promotional materials seem to have more action than the actual film!

Don’t believe me? See the adjacent poster.

Finally, Cirkus is not even a one-time watch in theatres.

Wait for it to be released on an OTT platform.

Here’s wishing that Rohit Shetty, who has announced Deepika Padukone as the latest entrant in his “copverse”, gets back to his entertaining ways with Singham Again.