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Movie : Coolie No.1
Star Cast : Khesari Lal Yadav , Kajal Raghwani , Pooja Ganguly , Sanjay Pandey , Dev Singh , Mahesh Acharya ,& Others
Director : Lal Babu Pandit
Producer : Surendra Prasad
D.O.P : Shravanan Natrajan
Lyrics : Pyare Lal Kavi Ji , Azad Singh , Shyam Dehati
Music Director :- Shyam - Azad
Mixing Engineer : Satish Pujari
Written By : Manoj K Kushwaha
Post Production : Audio Lab Mumbai
Art Dir ector : Samrat Chandra
Edit By : Atanu Ghosh
Action : Satish Anna
Marketing By : Vijay Kumar Yadav
Choreographer : Kanu Mukharjee , Mahesh Acharya
PRO : Sanjay Bhusan Patiyala
Publicity Designer :- Shakti Art Narsu
Banner : Prakriti Films
With the passage of time, people’s taste and preferences change and it is necessary for us to keep up with the change, otherwise we may fall behind. What audiences loved 25 years ago, it is not necessary that they will welcome it with open arms several years later, but Coolie No 1 director David Dhawan seems to be unfussed about it. Few minutes into the film and you will know that the Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan-starrer film is still stuck in the 90s. Despite a formidable cast taking the centre stage, filmmaker David Dhawan does little to bring novelty to his story telling. You can breathe a sigh of relief because yes, Varun Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 is not a frame-by-frame copy of its original version, but it borrows the premise from the Govinda-starrer 1995 super-hit film. The script has been redone in parts but most of the dialogues are just cut, copy and paste from the original.
A railway porter or coolie Raju (Varun Dhawan) falls in love with the son of Sara (Sara Ali Khan), seeing her photo (Sara Ali Khan) (Kahan Tha Na, still stuck in the 90s!). Now, Sarah's father, Jeffrey Rosaria (Paresh Rawal), doesn't want a Tom, **** or Harry's daughters to marry, he wants a suitor so that the rich can take a chartered plane even if they go for vegetables. So, when Jai Jai Kishen (Javed Jaffrey) brings a potential home match for good, Jeffrey insults him and calls him a ‘broker’ to bring a home that is not up to his standard. Jay Kishan is angry with Jeffrey Rosaria's behavior and demands revenge. When he arrives at Raju's train station, he plans to marry her to Sara and teaches Jeffrey that lesson. Raju and Jay Kish assured Jeffrey Rosaria that the former is a billionaire and marries Sara, but beware, this is the beginning of all their problems.
David Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 is marred by some unconvincing sequences that make no sense at all and could have been done away with; making room for some fine moments on-screen. Just to give Raju a hero-like attribute in the film, an unnecessary railway station sequence has been employed. A kid suddenly gets down on the railway tracks to grab a toy and then there is an approaching train. What you witness next is Varun Dhawan, who is several meters away, jumping and running at a lightning speed to save the toddler. In a crowded railway station only one person spots the kid on the track and that’s our hero, Raju, Coolie No 1. Another question that popped up was, how is it so easy for a humble coolie to find the resources to convince someone that he is a billionaire? To top it all, you also make mistakes like see a man in a driver’s dress and still confuse him for a plumber, like how?
David Dhawan's Coolie No. 1 has old wine in a new bottle. Most of her efforts to change the location in the film, keeping the trends (Instagram obsession), make-up and costumes relevant to today's pay generation, but the essence of the characters is lost somewhere (Wahi Khadus Ladki Ka Baap, no woman takes charge in the film and she 90 Villain of the year). 90s film is full of stereotypes. Like the original version of the film, Rumi Jaffrey has also written the screenplay for Coolie No.1. Most of what you saw in the 1995 film has been retained. There is no significant change in the story except for a twist or two here or there. Farhad Sanji is credited with writing the dialogues for the film. The dialogues are audible, more than what you have heard (in Govinda's Coolie No. 1). Please, don't get us started on one-liners.
Remaking a film has its own share of complexities, more so when you are revamping a classic. The makers and the actors have to deal with constant comparisons with the original version. Varun Dhawan is a brilliant actor and we have been a witness to his incredible acting prowess over the years, but is this his best shot till date? Well, we have seen better. Varun is charming and energetic and you can see the honest effort he has put into the film. The audience is sure to draw comparisons between Govinda and Varun Dhawan after watching the film, which is inevitable.
Sara Ali Khan lights up the screen with her presence every time but apart from that she is doing very little in this film. Sara looks beautiful and charming and we like her expressions. Having said that, the hope here is that she chooses some important roles in the future that will give her a chance to be excited for herself. Like Karisma Kapoor's role in the film, Sara also got minimal scope to play with her character.
Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever should be credited for bringing some light moments to the screen. Javed Jaffrey has enough on-screen representation as a pundit with a tendency to seek revenge from Jeffrey Rosaria and he plays an average part. Sahil Vaid and Shikha Talsania play supporting roles in the film and sadly there is not a single scene where these actors got a chance to stand. What Shakti Kapoor played in the original version was the misfortune of Rajkrisht Yadav falling.
Varun Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 frankly doesn’t match up to what Govinda gave us in the 1995 version because it is almost impossible to fill into the latter’s shoes when it comes to his comic timing. If you loved Govinda’s Coolie No 1, this one will definitely not appeal to you because there’s not much happening here that you did not already witness earlier. We're going with 3 stars out of 5 for Coolie No 1.
