Udaipur Movie Review | Irrfan Khan Charms as Udaipur Sweet Shop Owner

Irrfan Khan stars as Champak Bansal, a sweet shop owner in Udaipur in Angrezi Medium, which is Homi Adajania's sequel to Hindi Medium. How a single father, a small town shop owner pledges to effectuate the dream of his only daughter to study aborad.

The first 20 minutes of the film has Irrfan as Champak, a single parent hobnobbing with his 18 year old daughter Tarika, played by Radhika Madan. The rapport shared by them is harmonious and affectionate as put across by the director at the very beginning of the movie.

Irrfan's shop is named Ghasiteram, which is the cause of a legal battle between him and his brother. This legal battle has jeopardised the dream of his daughter to study abroad. A dream that she has held onto since childhood, and inspite of being an average student, has worked hard to get a scholarship in a London university.

The film pans out the emotional bond between the father - daughter in the first half, while the audience is left confused towards the middle of the movie, since the story that the movie intends to tell, is somehow lost in the sub-plots.

Udaipur has been illluminated beautifully by cinematographer Anil Mehta. His effort on the lakes of Udaipur make it look like a beautiful and classy Mediterranean coastal town.

Irrfan's brother is played by Deepak Dobriyal, who is fun to watch and entertaining in the beginning but gets repetitive as the plot progresses.

The action moves from Udaipur to London, with a set of undigestable and poor sequences when Irrfan and Dobriyal get held up at the British airport security and are deported.  How they sneak back in posing as Pakistanis even when being confronted by the police, is outlandish to say the least.

As the movie shift to London, the hold on the screenplay is lost in the complexity of the many sub-plots unfolding.  Dimple Kapadia as a single mother, Kareena Kapoor as the permanently perturbed cop and Ranveer Shourey as the shady Indian dealer come into the picture with their portions of the story.

When one would have thought that the movie will explore a father-daughter relationship and the pursuit of youthful dreams coming at the cost of losing out on emotional intimacy with parents, Angrezi Medium becomes melodramatic, with shady agents, unwanted car chases and finally a standard climax that results in dismantling the movies libertarian purpose.

The movie seems to have been written only for its laughs with no real coherence to the emotions of the character. The plot, rather than focus on a forward thinking father helping his daughter achieve her dreams, turns into a Dad, fulfilling his own dream for his daughter.  The plots regressive commitment to conservatism and made in India purpose and emotions makes it lose its sheen, however, Irrfan and Dobriyal are fun to watch.