A tale of toiling tailor

What makes a tailor special? There are tailors with a knack for hiding curves, some who achieve mastery over seamless sewing, those who establish a rollicking rapport with customers, fast ones who can stitch a school’s worth of uniforms in one night, and those who — like Rajkummar Rao in the recent hit, Stree — can measure ladies from a distance, merely by looking at them.

Sharat Katariya’s Sui Dhaaga tells us Mauji, played by Varun Dhawan, is special — if only because he is played by Varun Dhawan. He has no discernible talent or specialisation, and this could have been potentially interesting: a hero without heroics. Unfortunately, this character is trapped in a depressingly dull film. Sui Dhaaga is so predictable that the theatrical trailer beats the film.

Entrepreneurship can make for stirring cinema. One of the most enjoyable examples is Band Baaja Baaraat, starring Dhawan’s co-star Anushka Sharma at her fiercest. That film about wedding planners gave wings to young audiences, but no such inspiration or insight can be found in this by-the-numbers affair.

Sui Dhaaga is well acted, but it is as exciting as watching a shirt pocket get monogrammed with a logo. It’s barely a Baaja.

Dhawan’s character Mauji is meant to be a happy-golucky fellow but is always shown to us flustered, on the verge of sobbing. (Maybe it’s that sweater-vest and Manoj Prabhakar moustache.) Sharma, meanwhile, simpers.