Engaging comedy drama offers many memorable moments

THE Bollywood remake of 2018 Tamil movie Kolamaavu Kokila recently premiered on streaming site Hotstar.

The quirky comedy-drama revolves around a young woman, who inadvertently becomes a drug smuggler to pay for her mother’s cancer treatment. It isn’t long before she gets caught in the crossfire between determined cops and ruthless drug smugglers. She must use her quick mind to survive and find a way out.

The accomplished Hindi language remake is a surprisingly solid effort and has enough entertainment value to keep you engaged.

The nice blend of comedy and drama powers a good story that does offer up plenty of memorable moments. There is clever use of language to trigger humorous situations and most of the characters are well-defined.

Lead star Janhvi Kapoor shows the first signs of being a good actress with an accomplished performance in the title role. She goes through a range of emotions and is particularly good in the comedy scenes, especially when delivering a funny scene with a deadpan expression.

That is largely due to good direction, which keeps the story moving at a swift pace instead of letting it drag, and mixes up humour with darker moments well.

What prevents the film from flipping into top gear is that it loses a lot of momentum in the second half. After a punchy first half, which includes a great interval, the film loses its way and rolls around to what can best be described as an above average conclusion. That doesn’t prevent this from being one of the better Bollywood films this year.

The film is likely going to be a big turning point for lead star Janhvi, who is superb in it.