Ungli

4 friendly-neighbourhood vigilantes (Randeep Hooda, Kangna Ranaut, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam) get inspired to form the ‘Ungli’ gang to put the corrupt in their place. Given the task of reigning in these young-bloods, Inspector Nikhil (Emraan Hashmi) along with his supervisor, ACP Kale (Sanjay Dutt), infiltrate the gang.

Ungli has good intentions and a good ensemble cast. That’s about all the positives from this otherwise drag of a 2 hour movie.

The film more predictable than a daily soap and includes some cringe-worthy dialogues that are delivered in a deadpan manner by the cast which looks stuck in a wrong place and the wrong time all the time. The movie has a very decidedly dated look and feel in terms of the script and dialogues. The starting scene of the movie of a pensioner who is struggling to get his pension and is forced to bribe corrupt officials itself sets the tone of the movie, where you keep remembering that none of the plot points or situations have any sense of novelty in them. It’s all a case of been there, seen that.

So eventually, we have a group of 4 individuals who decide to take up the law in their hands to teach the corrupt a lesson. The fun and zany moments of the movie are in the various ways the officials and the perpetrators are taught these lessons. In fact, it wouldn’t be half bad if some of those methods were to be actually used in real life. However, the rest of the screenplay moves at a snail’s pace  and the disinterested look of the actors, specially Kangna (totally miscast) and Emraan (extremely deadpan) makes you want to gag yourself. Randeep Hooda sails through his part and makes you root for the gang. Angad Bedi and Neil Bhoopalam are impressive too. Sanjay Dutt isn’t half bad and carries off his serious ACP Kale with elan.

The plot is extremely thin in terms of the turning points and the whole ‘rooting for the vigilantes’ theme has been explored in much better ways before. In fact, the writer-director Rensil D’Silva (who wrote Rang De Basanti) has played way too safe with the theme and the script doesn’t turn any heads as it just plays to the gallery. Braver writing and grittier execution might have saved this film. As it is, it simply doesn’t work.

Hindi, Drama, Action, Color