Shimla Mirchi

STORY: When a letter, which is meant for the girl that Avinash is in love with, ends up with the girl’s mother, a comedy of errors ensues.

REVIEW: Avinash (Rajkummar Rao) is on a vacation with his family in Shimla, when he spots the feisty local girl Naina (Rakul Preet) and decides to propose to her. But, since he is shy around women when it comes to matters of the heart, he ends up working at her cafe instead so that he could be close to her. And when he finally musters the courage to ask her out through an intimate letter, the amorous note lands up with her mother Rukmani (Hema Malini) instead. Freshly divorced, Rukmani decides to give the relationship with a much younger man a try.

Made in 2015 ‘Shimla Mirchi’ was delayed by a good five years as there were no takers for this romedy. Directed by the veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, this movie is his first on-screen outing in 25 years. There are only a handful of chuckle-worthy scenes that make an appearance only in the second half. The first half is just a very long and dull build-up to a predictable climax.

Rajkummar Rao nails his character as a man punch drunk in love. Rakul, as the feisty small-town girl, too, plays her role to perfection. Hema Malini provides some comic relief, but that’s clearly unintentional. You end up laughing in scenes that are not meant to be funny. Shakti Kapoor cracking jokes in Chinese adds nothing of any real value to the plot.

‘Shimla Mirchi’ is a bland romantic comedy that needed tighter editing and a better climax. It has an interesting plot with multiple possibilities that could have added flavour to the narrative. But they remain underexplored and the result is an uninspiring, two-hour-long movie that doesn’t quite manage to tickle your funny bone.