Santa Banta Pvt. Ltd. Review | Santa Banta Pvt. Ltd. Movie Review | Santa Banta Pvt. Ltd. 2016 Public Review | Film Review
santa banta pvt. limited. revision {/5} & review rating
Jokes have often been heard revolving around two funny but good-natured characters named Santa Singh and Banta Singh. Inspired by them, director Akashdeep Sabir has made a film called Santa Banta Pvt Ltd. Whether the movie will be as successful as the santa and banta ‘brand’ or become a ‘laughing stock’ at the box office, let’s break it down.
The movie starts with the animated introduction of two best friends namely Santeshwar Singh Solad aka Santa (Boman Irani) and Banteshwar Singh Bolad aka Banta (Vir Das) leading their crazy but simple lives in Punjab. Meanwhile, in Fiji, High Commissioner Shankar (Ayub Khan) is suddenly kidnapped under mysterious circumstances, an incident that causes great unease among officials in Brute (Investigation and Analysis Wing) in both India and Fiji. Rough Indian officials then plan to send two secret agents Santa and Banta to rescue Shankar. When Brute’s Indian Officer (Vijay Raaz) fails to locate Brute’s assigned Santa and Banta, he is petrified and frightened. That’s when he runs into the namesake santa-banta in the form of boman irani and vir das. The duo is then transported to Fiji for the sole purpose of tracking down Shankar. when santa-banta arrives in fiji, what happens next is beyond his imagination. Out there, they land meeting Shankar’s wife Kareena Roy (Neha Dhupia), Shankar’s best friend Sonu Sultan (Ram Kapoor), and also raw Fijian agents Cutie (Lisa Haydon), Akbar Ilahabaadi (Sanjay mishra) and the kukri ‘gang’. -nepal performance no. 1 gift (johnny lever). After her initial setbacks while ‘investigating’ the case, one fine day Kareena Roy meets Santa and Banta and confesses to them that she has a strong feeling that her husband has not been kidnapped, but has gone to jail. hiding on her own. Meanwhile, Sonu Sultan learns the truth about Santa and Banta and hires his henchmen to take them out. If Santa and Banta, despite not being “qualified” for the job, can unravel Shankar’s mysterious kidnapping, does Sonu Sultan manage to take down the duo? What happens to Shankar in the end is what shapes the rest of the movie.
From the beginning, the script of the film (asad ajmeri – akashdeep) fails to establish any kind of connection with the audience. and it’s this disconnect that actually acts as a roadblock to the film at regular intervals, making the film an extremely dull and lackluster affair. It will not be wrong to say that the film has (asad ajmeri – pawan soni) an apology for a script. and it is purely for this reason, that even the movie script absolutely falls flat on its face. It seems that, with this type of script, the audience is either being tested on their patience level or being taken for a royal ride! one really wonders how (and under what unavoidable circumstances) the movie’s script got approved in the first place. On top of that, one also wonders why some of Bollywood’s most seasoned actors gave their go-ahead to be a part of this nonsensical movie. to all the aforementioned factors is added the insipid direction (akashdeep) that takes the film nowhere. The director has failed miserably in his task of creating a film that shares his name with the duo (Santa and Banta), who are best known for their nonsensical but hilarious jokes. But, with this movie, Akashdeep seems to have mocked not only the movie, but also the laurels enjoyed by the characters Santa and Banta. the film has a vague first half as much as the meaningless second half. the jokes in the film (which are supposed to invoke laughter) completely backfire and end up irritating (to the core) the audience after a while. with the kind of procedures the movie exhibits, one really feels that instead of resorting to the one-liners/one-liners that the movie has, the filmmakers could have incorporated jokes/gags from the myriad joke bank of santa-banta which is available for free. In its entirety, Santa Banta Pvt Ltd could easily qualify as one of the worst movies of 2016 so far.
As for the performances, the film rests entirely on the shoulders and antics (in that order) of the duo of vir das and boman irani. While Vir Das is not new to this kind of wacky and quirky role (most of his past movies are testament to this), it is the seasoned Boman Irani who manages to maintain some balance in the film. while the camaraderie between the two is decent, it’s the film’s lackluster and weak script that plays the spoilsport. The film’s heroines, namely Neha Dhupia and Lisa Haydon, do their job by providing the glamor quotient. The talents of seasoned actors like Johny Lever, Ram Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, and Sanjay Mishra, which could have been used in a very appropriate way, end up looking spaced out or wasted in the film. nothing, but the desperately poor script is the only reason for this.
With absolutely no hummable songs to show off, the film’s music (jaidev kumar, jassi katyal, nadeem amjad) is a huge disappointment. while the cinematography of the film (chirantan das) is totally average, the editing of the film (nitin rokade) is nothing good to write about.
In general, santa banta pvt ltd. suffers due to a weak script. at the box office, it will be a flop and its prospects will remain bleak.
