With his Secret Superstar director Advait Chandan, bollywood megastar aamir khan is working on a hindi adaptation of Forrest Gump, late 20th-century Hollywood's preeminent Rorschach blot, which will put his "Hanks-ish likability" to the ultimate test. With the substitution of golgappa for chocolate boxes, scriptwriter Atul Kulkarni's Sending Gump east offers up new avenues of history and culture. 


The CG feather, the sentimental score, the picaresque narration and park bench philosophy, and the running with and without callipers, however, have mostly been swallowed whole by the adaptation. The one thing it risks is that a three-word explanation - hindi Forrest Gump - would tell you everything you ever needed to know about it. It meticulously replicates the merits and shortcomings of its predecessor.


Changes in emphasis are noticeable. Khan's title character emerges as an even larger momma's boy than Gump, closer in spirit and incessant commentary style to Kids in the Hall's precocious oddbod Gavin, as he unloads his genuinely tiresome life narrative onto Chandigarh's unfortunate commuters. A jealous sugar daddie plots to hide Laal's sweetheart Rupa (Kareena Kapoor, who gives the Xerox-flat characterization considerable warmth) because aids is seen to be so outdated. 


And there are more jabs at indian militarism than you might expect: in a tone-jarring prologue, Laal's ancestors suffer from recurrent border disputes, and our hero's service raises a few giggles by implying how readily unwavering conformism and pure dumb luck are interpreted for courage. Some scenes are effective. The running is still entertaining, and Khan is still incredibly expressive physically. Making the amputee friend a former fundamentalist (Manav Vij) is intriguing, but the commentary about holding hands across the temple aisle seems toned down in comparison to Khan's wry religious satire PK. 


Laal Singh Chaddha does not represent the worst Hindiization of a hollywood production; instead, it builds upon the fundamental skills Chandan shown in Secret Superstar without capturing the actual enchantment that the former movie managed to wring from tired tropes. Few would fault Khan for being cautious in the face of resurgent personal attacks and hashtags used as weapons. But his best films have made many types of statements; in this case, he seems a little terrified.
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SIBY JEYYA

11/08/2022 11:30 AM