Movie Review - Noor - Sonakshi Keeps It Light

Rating: **1/2

Goofy, unstable, whiny, fun loving, regular, anxious - This is how Sonakshi Sinha plays her part of Noor in the namesake film. Time and again one hears about an actor actually playing someone next door. Well, Sonakshi indeed gets one such character to her name, as director Sunhil Sippy actually allows her to play it the way she wishes to. It was actually quite fine for her too to step into this arena. After all, the film is an official adaptation of the book Karachi, You're Killing Me and the characterisation out there was pretty well laid out for the female central protagonist. All Sonakshi had to do was bring her action quotient in place for the part and the writing did the rest.

Well, while this was about Sonakshi and the manner in which she approached her jorunalist part in Noor, the film as a whole leaves a little more to desired. One actually ends up wondering what it was trying to say after all. This in fact is a perpetual point that comes into play whenever a slice of life film is put together, especially when made in Bollywood arena. The biggest of the Blockbusters in the Hindi film world are quintessential commercial flicks and hence when a narrative like this is adopted for the multiplex audience, it has to be truly handled in such a manner that the reach becomes wider for larger junta.

This is the reason why Noor eventually stays on in a restricted zone. The performances are all fine, especially with Sonakshi, her crush (Purab Kohli) and her best male friend (Kanan Gill) sticking well to the details on paper. What keeps the film in an average zone is the fact that eventually after the characters are established, the conflict has been edged and the stage has been set, one ends up wondering where would it all be headed. Yes, an issue is explored and suddenly it turns out to be a crusade no less for Sonakshi. Nothing wrong with that. However, what you look forward to is a gripping drama from this point on, something which doesn't quite turn out to be the case.

This is the reason why you wish there was more spice added to the entertainment quotient when it comes to the book's adaptation for screen. Even in the book, there were some rough edges (especially in the latter half) that had to be smoothened. Now the film too has some of those points out there on screen due to which you do feel that the one could have possibly planned out better execution.

Eventually, Noor turns out to be an average fare that did have its limitations to begin with. One did hope though that there would be a major turnaround for screen. However, as the end credits begin to roll, all that you take home is Sonakshi's confident and fun act.