The glitzy show-business has attracted zillions of eyeballs for its high profile lifestyles and its larger than life scoops and scandals. Despite the fact these spicy scandals have been "breaking news" material on the small screen , they haven't been fancied by Bollywood's dream merchants on the silver screen. Filmmaker Suneel Darshan's tries to be upbeat to the core this time as he tries to give his best shot by depicting the professional rivalry in the trendy and materialistic music industry. Darshan's earlier presentations had strong impulse and feel of traditional Indian values with a tinge of "feel good factor" but this is breed apart. 'Shakalaka Boom Boom' defines the ground rules of existing high profile music industry by showcasing the behind the walls secrets. It brings out shades of jealousy, rivalry, betrayal, lust and "plagiarism" among the characters but overall the film fails to impress with its half-baked execution and mismatched scripting and screenplay. Darshan deserves accolades of being innovative in its approach but fails to fill voids in its much desired "treatment" and impressive direction. Once again a thought-provoking idea has gone awry despite the fact that the film provides some fine acting performance from lead actors with flashy on-screen entertainment.
Unfortunately, his directorial journey from average hit 'Ajay' (Sunny Deol, Karisma Kapoor) to flop 'Dosti -Friends Forever' has been a low key affair as he still falls short of one deserving hit film. 'Shakalaka Boom Boom' strikes close similarities with Hollywood's highly acclaimed 'Amadeus' (1984) and to evergreen Bollywood's classic 'Baiju Bawra' (1954) for its much unexplored theme. It's a noble idea to recreate anything euphoric but it requires great quality off and on screen work that can match with its consequential theme or subject.
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Both 'Amadeus' and 'Baiju Bawra' were historical epics in all senses and marked their ways into all-time greatest hits and got acclaimed in critic's collection with their momentous work. Like these two films, 'Shakalaka Boom Boom' talks about professional rivalry between existing demi-god status superstar (Bobby Deol) and rising singing sensation (Upen Patel) in a lavish and trendy music industry. If it has to be superlative in its approach then the film deserves to have melodious and booty-shaking soundtracks that can pump adrenaline to give it a ground-breaking cinematic appeal.
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Unfortunately, Himesh Reshammiya's over-emphasized and over-estimated music is too jarring to ears and disappoints in creating an aura of musical exuberance or supremacy that can really punctuate the theme or subject of the film. The musical entertainer should be well fitted with impressive musical scores but Reshammiya's music simply fits into the film with no big histrionics. The film has an impressive background score that builds up the tempo with a ten-minute singing composition soundtrack that creates a substance in the film. The other numbers are too sub-standard and hardly give any feel of musical entertainer. Subhash Ghai's 'Taal' and Naseer Hussain's 'Hum Kisise Kam Nahin' had mind blowing music that enthralled the listeners for decades but there is hardly any track that stays on mind.
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'Shakalaka Boom Boom' begins on an autobiographical note where successful musical genius AJ (Bobby Deol) narrates his last one year experiences to his mentor (Govind Namdeo). It was a moment of glory for music baron Kumar (Dalip Tahil) when AJ's fifth consecutive album hits jackpot. Seema (Seema Rahmani), Kumar's wife, ogles at AJ and lusts for his masculinity as he promotes him to be company's media partner. Ruhi (Kangna Ranaut) is an aspiring singer who has been struggling in the competitive New York's music industry. One day, AJ falls for Ruhi's charm and love develops between them. Sheena (Celina Jaitley) is a high profile PR in the music industry and discovers Reggae (Upen Patel) in a flashy disco club. Reggae alias Raghav is overambitious by nature and has materialistic outlook towards his goals.
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Sheena is charmed by his masculinity and promotes him well in the music industry. Reggae is introduced to AJ, Kumar and other big shots of the music industry. The first meeting between AJ and Reggae proves confrontation between them and it rages a flame of jealousy and hatred between them. AJ feels insecure about his magnanimous status in the music industry after hearing Reggae's compositions. Reggae feels special for Ruhi but she resents though finally falls for him during the flashy singing and dancing show. AJ's acrimonious venom for Reggae is multiplied and he decides to avenge it. He denies Reggae any opportunity in the music world and molests Ruhi in front of his servant. Reggae's failure shackles all his hopes and aspirations and out of his outrage he insults his father (Anupam Kher) in front of Ruhi. AJ lends his helping hand and gives him opportunity to launch his first album.
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The album flops miserably and Reggae seeks all his resurrection in AJ's help. Depression takes over Reggae's life and he takes to alcohol abuse. His physical condition grows worse and his personal life takes a downslide when Ruhi leaves him. Crooked and dishonest AJ promises him another album on Christmas and asks Reggae to narrate all his compositions. In hot pursuit of eliminating Reggae's promising career, AJ disrobes him of all his hidden musical works. Finally, nature takes over the proceeding as AJ is seriously injured in his album's concert. AJ is declared permanently deaf and thereafter he realizes all his faults and dishonesty that has made him devil out of a genius.
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The title 'Shakalaka Boom Boom' might disguise audiences of being bubble gum romantic entertainer but it will surely disappoint multiplex viewers. The film's high point lies in impressive acting, dazzling costumes, flashy choreography, slick cinematography and high profile promos that have generated the desired hype for the film. Bobby Deol delivers a good performance in a caricature of shrewd musician and delivers his role with perfection. The actor has been overplayed in depicting emotions of jealousy and hatred and in the second half simply drags with repetitive sequences. Despite his ageing looks, he maintains his perfection in dancing but deserves better characterization. Upen Patel has matured by leaps and bounds and shows enormous confidence in the role of "spoilt brat" singing sensation. The newcomer emotes impressively and delivers grim expressions of hatred and prudence of arrogant musician with perfection. Kangana Ranaut lives up to the standards of a reliable performer with a complete image makeover in long hairs and westernized clothing. Celina Jaitley is reduced to mere glam doll with loads of cleavage showing and body display. Govind Namdeo, Dalip Tahil, Vivek Vaswani, Asrani and Anupam Kher show their professionalism in well etched performances. Hot babe Seema Rehmani gets second major appearance of a hot seductress after her dare bare act in Vinod Pandey's 'Sins'.
Manish Malhotra's costumes dazzle with grace as every actor gets an opportunity to be an eye candy for the viewer. Choreography (Bosco-Ceaser) gives a feel of music video in the title track and gives romantic impulse in "Naamumkin". Cinematography (Surendra Rao) is breathtaking in capturing the flamboyant urban life, dusty Arabian look and capturing high profile interiors.
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The biggest disappointment lies in its screenplay (Rajesh Pandey) and haphazardly narrated scripting (Suneel Darshan) that denies audiences a deserving entertainer. The biggest cracks lie in its sub-plots or tracks that fail to germinate anything thematically relevant with the film. Bobby Deol and Kangana Ranaut's chemistry looks prankish and later Kangna's falling for Upen Patel's charm is still more unexplainable. Bobby Deol's jeopardizing Upen Patel's first album reports lack the quality scripting as no reason is given for its failure. It seems that the director has negative thoughts about media's power or has second thoughts about their honesty or fidelity. Why does every woman in every frame of the film lust for hot guys? The director seems to have overstretched the lecherous attitude of the rich and famous and has forgotten the basic essentials of a quality musical entertainer. The high-quality promotion and promising face value may give the film some extra life for survival but thereafter the sorry tale of mishaps will dictate its poor show at the box-office.
In nutshell, a high profile 'Shakalaka Boom Boom' has neither boom nor bloom with success.
