Cast: Annu Kapoor, Ravi Kishan, Sanjai Mishra, Om Puri, Rahul Bagga, Hrishita Bhatt
Direction: Vinod Kapri
Ratings:
(2.5/5)Somewhere in the bowels of Haryana, lies a village called Tanakpur. Gram Pradhan Sualaal Gandass (Annu Kapoor)'s fief of sorts, Tanakpur wakes up and goes to sleep on his orders, and bestows special titles on his buffalo at animal fashion pageants. Miss Tanakpur, the Pradhan's buffalo, is victim in a rape case. While the village priest (Pandit, played by Sanjai Mishra) provides fuel and tongue to Pradhan's nefarious schemes involving his buffalo, Bheema's (Ravi Kishan) physical strength sees their execution. Caught in this melee are Sualaal's young wife Maya (Hrishita Bhatt) and police service-aspirant Arjun (Rahul Bagga). And to salvage (read: worsen) the situation is a burgundy-haired, burgundy-moustached police officer Matang Singh (Om Puri).
Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho attempts to take the viewer to the interiors of Haryana, where Khaps decide whether or not a person receives his 'hookah-paani'. In this territory, the law is respected, but 'kanoon andha nahi, kaana hota hai... usko jo dikhayenge, wahi dekhega'. Buffaloes are revered and black magic is practiced, but during trying times, fakeryzindabaad.
The script is filled with numerous ROFL-inducing moments, and consummate actors as they are, the trio of Kapoor, Kishan and Mishra is a delight to watch. However, there are those moments when one is bound to get irritated as the three overdo it. Rahul Bagga, who had upped the Indian moviegoer's curiosity back when his Mastram had hit the theatres in 2013, isn't given much scope of talking, and emotes silently for most part of the film. Hrishita Bhatt, after a point, seems on a perpetual OTT trip.
Numerous scenes in the film stand out for their comic elements. One particularly hilarious one is when a constable is asked to inspect Miss Tanakpur and he isn't able to spot her identity marks - 'aankhon ke upar teen rekhaye' - he says to the judge, "Rekha toh nahi dikh rahi ji." The judge's retort is straight from the contemporary Bollywood grapevine: "Amitabhdikh raha hai?"
Despite the uniqueness of the script and the fact that it could have been a potent, caustic indictment of the society that is the Khap-ruled villages in the interiors of India, the key point remains the words 'could have been'. Vinod Kapri's debut into Bollywood on the back of his 'Miss Tanakpur' buffalo is a bumpy ride. Heaps of squandered potential make one sigh at Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho. Added to that is the speed of the narrative. While the story is somewhat neatly paced till the interval, it is post the midpoint that it starts faltering. Crisper editing could have done wonders to Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho.
The many comic scenes elicit many a laugh, but the emotional ones fail to strike a chord. The abundance of potty-talk, again, is a bit jarring to the city-bred multiplex-visitor's palate. Some of the actors, Bagga and Bhatt, for example, fail to insert authenticity to their Haryanvi accents, and come out sounding forced. A redeeming feature of the film is the absence of songs. Apart from Naach Basanti, a rather head-on take on 'Basanti, in kutton ke saamne mat naachna' from Sholay, the story hasn't got any songs.
In all, Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho is an okay-ish one-time watch. It has as its core a real story, but in the process of dramatisation, the sting is left blunt. Watch it for a somewhat askew view of the bizarre-fest called Rural India.
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