#ZedPlus #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * * *

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#Ungli(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ Aiming to touch a chord with the common man but not with any great finesse or passion. This sort of ‘expose’ vigilantism has become passé now. This film has come a couple of years too late to connect with the audience!   #DharmaProductions #KaranJohar #NilouferQuereshi #RaindropMedia #RensilD’Silva #MFilms #AAFilmsNationwide #EmraanHashmi #SanjayDutt #RandeepHooda #NehaDhupia #KanganaRanaut 

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#ZedPlus(Hindi) Rating: * * * a stirring pseudo-political satire with fine touches of humor and enlivening performances. On the lines of ‘Peepli Live’ but couldn’t manage the same bandwidth. The plotting though was a little too ambitious to be empathetically remunerative. #BeenaAhuja #ChandraprakashDwivedi #NiyatiMShah #AkshayMShah #AdilHussain #MukeshTiwari #MonaSingh #SanjayMishra #KulbhushanKharbanda #KKRaina #RahulSingh #MukundPurohitProductionPvtLtd #MandiraKashyap #WisdomTreeProductionsPvtLtd 

Hindi Film review

Johnson Thomas

A stirring socio-political satire

Film: Zed Plus    

Cast: Adil Hussain, Mona Singh, Mukesh Tiwari, Shivani Tanksale, Ekavalli Khanna, Khulbhushan Kharbanda, K K Raina

Director: Chandraprakash Dwivedi

Rating: * * *

Chandraprakash Dwivedi distinguished himself with his two maiden efforts ‘Chanakya’ on TV and ‘Pinjar’ on the big screen. So expectations were certainly high, from this his second feature film.

‘Zed Plus’ is a highly engaging attempt at socio-political satire with humor laden benefits all along the route. The script has it’s sublime moments. Unfortunately the plotting is not altogether believable.

Set in contemporary India, Fatehpur, a small town in Rajasthan. famous for it’s Peepal wale peer Dargah, where prayers are answered and wishes granted if the one asking , has a pure heart. There is neighbourhood conflict between two friends Aslam(Adil Hussain) a puncture repair wala and Habib(Mukesh Tiwari) an aspiring poet, both married and yet seeking illicit liasions with Sayeeda( Ekavalli Khanna) a pretty widow. Aslam scores and that leaves him open to Habib’s acts of jealousy. Amidst this internecine chaos enters the PM seeking panacea for all his political problems. He is down on a visit to the famous Dargah with his principal secretary(K K Raina) in tow. Aslam is the Khadim at the holy shrine on the day of the PM’s visit so he gets a chance to ask for a favor from the PM and what he gets instead is Zed Plus security round the clock, which,  though it provides him and his family with better respect and improved lifestyle, it also curbs his freedom to sneak out in the middle of the night to engage with his illicit lover.  Frustrated by the many hindrances, he becomes prey to a rival party’s shenanigans. As things start hotting up politically, Abdul realizes there’s much more worth in the simple life that he was once bent on escaping. 

The pacing is even and the plotting quite remunerative in terms of laughs. There’s plenty of wry diabolic humor to be had here. It’s only when the proceedings get far-fetched that you start to loose interest midway. But Dwivedi is quick to make the impossible look somewhat plausible and with strong support from this excellent bunch of ensemble actors, he is able to make even the most ridiculous sequence look somewhat convincing. Kulbhushan Kharbanda –who plays a south Indian PM who has a penchant for speaking in English sets up an interesting contrast against the largely Hindi speaking characters he comes in contact with during his trip to Fatehpur. The politics is played out pretty energetically but the friends-turned-foes turned friends gambit towards the endplay sticks out a little because there’s very little development towards that goal. The use of Kashmir as the metaphor that galvanizes aggression and appeasement between two foes and references to Pakistan, play on a dual level in the complex and intelligently engineered narrative. The two hour twenty minute runtime does make the engagement a little bit exhausting but the superior performances, the smart scripting and the canny dialogues make it all fruitful and worthy.

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