Phillauri movie review: Splendid ghost amid a hybrid theme

Cast: Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma, Mehreen Pirzada
Director: Anshai Lal

Are we yet ready to embrace a brazenly satirical horror featuring lead stars? May be not. Why then would producer Anushka Sharma’s second film (the first was NH 10), gingerly attempt to pack too many hybrid sub-plots into 138 minutes of screen time to come up with a somewhat dark but fanciful romantic film?

There’s a lot going on here: You have a gloomy incident straight out of one of India’s worst tragedies in history; a supernatural spirit hovering over a lead character’s life; a typical Punjabi household with naach gaana, and some romance crammed into its narrative. Still, to be fair, this was one film where owing to the subject of the film, it could have gone horribly wrong. Not that it’s anything great, but thanks to the performances; it’s amusing in parts.

The Canada-returned groom Kanan (Suraj Sharma of Life of Pi fame) along with his parents, flies to India to get married to his childhood sweetheart Anu (Mehreen Perzada). On his arrival in Jalandhar, the family pandit has a startling revelation to make: Kanan’s horoscope discloses that he is manglik, and to nullify its ill effects, the only astrological solution is to get him married to a tree. Kanan is not taking any of this: he is already going through commitment blues, and realises he needs more time to settle down to matrimony. And the suggestion of his taking vows with a tree angers him all the more. As a reluctant Kanan gets dragged into this marriage by both sets of parents who orchestrate to make him agree to follow the rituals, his father orders that the tree be chopped.

It is then that we get whisked off to a mysterious world where Shashi (Anushka Sharma) appears as an apparition, and intervenes into Kanan’s life. In fact, while the rituals were carried out, he was mistakenly “wedded” to Shashi, who resides in the tree. From here on, against the backdrop of all the “real” wedding preparations, Kanan follows all his encounters with his “ghostly” wife. This ghost is a friendly spirit, and lends all the support that he needs to comprehend the complexities that the sudden turn of events have brought him to. A confused Kanan is on the point of going berserk trying to keep his balance between his sanity and quirks of fate. His strange and rather incomprehensible behaviour baffles his family, specially Anu, who even suggests that they call off their wedding plans. However, the young couple set out to find the back story of Shashi who was in love with a singer Phillauri (Diljit Dosanjh) some nearly 100 years ago.

Phillauri has several elements of dark comedy, but it doesn’t quite get in that zone. The setting of yet another love story in the heartland gives it an opportunity to juxtapose a parallel in the picturesque backdrop of Punjab. As we get a glimpse into the British-led riot-torn India of the pre-Partition days, we also get to peep into a passionate love story of Phillauri and Shashi, and their scheduled nuptials. The monochrome land inhabited by India of 1919 is contrasted against the vibrant colours of today’s Punjab may showcase the distinctiveness of each era’s qualities, but what remains common to both in this split is the maudlin overtone that runs through Indian families even now.

As a feature film, the story is indeed dead. It’s kind of cute, but also weird, without a doubt. A “ghost” ensconced between a family wedding may not be to everyone’s taste, but it could still have its appeal with a few crimson blushing jokes thrown in. But for all its charm, we can’t quite figure out for whom the film is intended: Is it for the young adults? With so many sentimental songs, it isn’t edgy enough to appeal them. Is it for the adults? The sudden tragic moments try to attach a mystical significance to the quest of the lead characters, but it doesn’t go far. So it remains in a kind of muddle, in which the filmmakers’ reluctance to commit themselves is understandable — they wanted every kind of film audience.

Anushka must be the most endearing ghost I have seen on screen. She infuses her white outfit adorned look with so much prettiness that one even forgets she is an apparition. As a Punjabi kudi of 1900s, her Shashi is a pleasant departure from the firebrand-no-nonsense girl she is often seen portraying. Suraj Sharma never really gets to know what he is supposed to be doing in the story. His sudden reluctance to back off from the marriage vows seems contrived. Perhaps, it is forced into the script to let him face an encounter with a ghost. But it is Diljit Dosanjh who is quite a scene-stealer. Effortless and completely natural, he gets to hog enough screen space to come up with a plausible performance.

With an amalgam of quasi romance tragic tale, if you’d expect comic interludes to relieve you of the heaviness at time, you’d be disappointed. Wish Sharma, the producer, could zero in on what precisely she wanted to make.

The writer is a film critic and has been reviewing films for over 15 years. He also writes on music, art and culture, and other human interest stories.