Movie Review – Tubelight by Suhel Johar

Tubelight Fails To Light Up

Salman Khan’s Eid release has now become one of the much awaited Bollywood events each year. So continuing the trend set by Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Kick (2014), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) and Sultan (2016), Salman Khan’s Tubelight hit the theatres today. As the opening credits will tell you, the movie is based on the 2015 American war film by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, ‘Little Boy’.

Tubelight revolves around the bromance between Laxman Singh Bisht (Salman Khan) and his brother Bharat Singh Bisht (Sohail Khan) against the backdrop of the infamous Indo-China war of 1962. Laxman Singh Bisht who is also known as Tubelight due to his slow sensibilities. Laxman’s world comes crashing down, when Indo-China war breaks out and Bharat gets drafted into the Army.

A helpless Bharat leaves a devastated Laxman behind. News from the border only worsens, as the tension continues to escalate. Seeing the carnage around him and worried for his brother, the simple – minded Laxman decides he must stop this conflict and get his brother back. On the insistence of Banney Chacha (Om Puri), Laxman befriends an Indian born Chinese kid Ghou (Matin Rey) and his mother Lee Ling (Zhu Zhu).

Initially, Laxman did perceive both mother and son as the enemy. He even cycles through the village screaming 'Chini aa gaye', scaring the daylights out of the people who are dealing with the war that is raging just beyond the mountains.

Laxman recovers only when he realises that the duo is Indian and also speak Hindi. The villagers take more time. In one scene, Laxman asks the little boy to say 'Bharat Mata ki jai' to show he is an Indian. Laxman says it, the little kid screams it. He then says that he has said it louder than Laxman has, he should be more Indian then? Patriotism gets a tight slap in the face right here.

The deep belief inside Laxman's heart keeps growing, leading to something unimaginable towards the climax of the film.

The ultimate brotherhood they tried to showcase from real life to reel life doesn’t really bring in any wow factor in spite of having a cinematic influence. Sohail Khan is a complete misfit; the bond doesn’t really bring in any emotional influence and hence the crying baby Salman doesn’t really succeed to connect, the wafer thin story fails iserably.

Tubelight is like when JP Dutta meets David Dhawan and what you get is a Sajid Khan Product. Mixture of everything and good at nothing; Kabir Khan fails to deliver with this one. Tubelight lacks a story, lacks the emotional connect, lacks good humor, lacks good music, lacks good actress, lacks good support cast, most importantly it lacks entertainment.

The least Salman Khan film can do is to make you laugh. Tubelight fails to do even this. All it does is; it showcases all the possible crying expressions Salman Khan’s face can make. Almost throughout the film you either see him crying or zipping up his fly or bending his knees stretching his arms and producing a constipated sound.

His constipation can move not just the bottle but a mountain too and there comes the keyword Yakeen or Faith.That’s the keyword Kabir Khan relies upon  to tell his story. The idea that faith can move mountains has inspired many bestselling books and blockbuster films. Tubelight is not one among them. This Salman starrer could easily have been a profound experience, a tearjerker. But Kabir Khan settles for mediocre, lukewarm comedy.

The first half of the film establishes all the characters in the film. Salman Khan tries hard to make the audirnce laugh with his moronic act but the script lets him down. However, come the second half, and even he can’t do much to save this Tubelight from fusing out. Kabir’s direction gets so off  kilter that you begin wondering if he has even directed the film. The proceedings come to a crawl at certain parts in the second half, and you may even find yourself fighting back a few yawns. Not only that, but there are also several continuity issues and factual fallacies. Scenes where Om Puri’s departure for Delhi keeps getting changed or Sohail getting shot in the shoulder, but his brain suffering from its effects, makes you question whether someone else could have ghost directed the film.

The film talks about the values of family, faith and patriotism, but with all of these, the filmmaker is unable to convert to the convergence.  Everything is so feel good that you will feel that you have not seen Salman's film but have come in for some Satsang.

The film has dual climax without any soul; you stand up and you see oh they have still something to say and you sit down again. That something lasts for another bad 20 minutes

Director Kabir Khan has put in a half hearted attempt. He seems to have relied more on the Eid  release date rather than working hard on the content of the film. Screenplay by Kabir Khan and Parveez Shaikh fails to hold your attention. Dialogues by Manurishi Chadha are just about okay. Aseem Mishra’s cinematography is awesome. Rameshwar S. Bhagat’s editing scissors needed to be more honed. Music by Pritam is mediocre while Background Score by Julius Packia is effective.

Going by the character's demand in the film, both Salman and Sohail seem overweight and are over-aged for their respective roles. Salman Khan sleep walks through the film. His deliberate attempt by to speak in a childlike accent seems a little overboard and does not come across as fake. Similarly, Sohail Khan with his bland expressions is seen more as a prop than an actor.

Late actor Om Puri as usual puts in a commendable act. Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Brijendra Kala do justice to their roles. Yashpal Sharma impresses as the army Major. Child actor Matin Ray Tangu and Chinese actress Zhu Zhu, who makes her Bollywood debut with this film look cute and perform ably. Isha Talwar is okay. Shah Rukh Khan makes his presence felt in his cameo role of a magician Go Go Pasha.

On the whole, Tubelight is a disappointing film.

 

 

 

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