Khubsoorat
Director: Shashanka Ghosh
Actors: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan
Rating: *1/2

It’s one thing for a smart, carefree, sassy kind of girl to enter an uptight sort of household to loosen things up and have fun along the way. That was Rekha in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khubsoorat. It’s quite another thing altogether when that same chilled out character comes across as a certified imbecile (Sonam Kapoor), perpetually prone to behave like an over-friendly dement, because her Punjabi mom, who she calls by the first name Manju (Kirron Kher), behaves even more demented.

This film is as much a remake of the gentle, warm Khubsoorat (1980) as Rohit Shetty’s Bol Bachchan was a nod to Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s subtly charming Gol Maal (1979). The film is produced by Disney. Most people who have even seen its trailers will liken it more to the American hit, girly, teen franchise The Princess Diaries (2001).
Sonam plays a physiotherapist in the movie. She gets appointed to treat the jobless king of a mythical empire in the desert. Aamir Raza Husain plays this sombre king. Those who’ve grown up savouring the vibrant theatre scene in Delhi will know Hussain as the master director of stellar productions like The Fifty Day War (2000) and The Legend Of Ram (2004). It’s great to see him on the big screen. He looks and behaves every bit a blue-blooded royal, although talking in a decidedly UP accent, which is only mildly strange for an ‘emperor’ from contemporary Rajasthan.

Stranger by far is the Rajput king’s son. Together with the father and the bored mom (Ratna Pathak Shah), this thoroughly serious looking, busy as hell prince dude (Fawad Khan) lives in a massive palace that, by all accounts, appears to be located quite far away from urban civilisation. I suspect he works in the hospitality business, though it’s very hard to tell. Throughout the film and all through his day, all you can see him do is strut around in an astounding range of super-formal designer suits and bandhgalas, walking around all alone, inside his own house, between the drawing room, study or perhaps the restroom. No, seriously, who are these people?