Plot:
Adapted from G.B.Shaw’s classic novel Pygmalion, Phulrani is the story of Vikram’s quest to groom a florist girl into winning a beauty pageant.
Rating:
Review:
The debate on adaptations being better or worse than the original sources have been a point of discussion for a long time now. One of the legendary classics Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is absolutely torn down in this horrendous adaptation by Vishwas Joshi. This isn’t the first Marathi adaptation of this beautiful story, the legendary play Bhakti Barve’s Tee Phulrani was also based on the same story.
In the first 15 minutes, with all the roaring fireworks, we are introduced to the glamour world where Vikram Rajadhyaksh (Subodh Bhave) is the king of beauty pageant grooming. And suddenly out of nowhere, an argument between him and a journalist, Vikram takes up the challenge of making a florist girl Shevanta (Priyadarshani Indalkar) the next Pretty Princess.
All of this is just a stunt pulled off by Vikram who makes a video of Shevanta go viral, ultimately inducting her into his academy. As Shevanta joins the academy, her natural habits create a lot of nuisances in the academy. She even gets bullied by other urban girls making her run away from the academy. Vikram, then goes to her village and convinces her to take up the challenge again. But this time, to avoid any bullying, he asks her to stay with him at his own house. And soon a love story starts to bloom between the two. Is it true love or yet again one of the tricks played by Vikram is the thread followed by the film further.
Even with so much material to derive from and learn from, Vishwas Joshi has done a terrible job as the director. Looks like he blurred the boundaries between a cinematic adaptation and a daily soap. As the writer, Guru Thakar also fails to modernise the premise and carves out an outdated love story.
The story and dialogues are so predictable that you might guess them even before the actors say them out loud. Coming to the cast, none of them are written good enough where they can even try to act. Priyadarshani Indalkar puts up an act which either you will like or get irritated in all terms. Subodh Bhave does a decent job in portraying the flirtatious gatsby. Phulrani is also Vikram Gokhale’s one of the last works before leaving us and it saddens me that he couldn’t offer anything to the table.
The cinematography and the camera work are really below average. The production design looks staged most of the time. And the dialogues are definitely the biggest let-down of the film, sometimes cheap, sometimes mundane and sometimes so cringe that you burst out laughing.
The background music is overtly loud. And the soundtrack is one of the worst I have heard in recent times. The songs start playing at random junctures all of a sudden with no meaning at all. The dubbing is also very poor.
All in all, Phulrani had the potential to be a groundbreaking adaptation with the subject and matter the makers had but ultimately turned out to be a dud. Phulrani is a stretched, outdated and a completely demolished version of a classic. Wait for the TV premieres because this sure does felt like a TV soap opera. To add salt in my wounds, a sequel was also announced after the credits.
