*Spoiler Alert*
Anshai Lal’s first directorial adventure, Phillauri is the story of Kanan (Suraj Sharma), a confused NRI who returns to India from Canada to marry his childhood friend Anu (Mehreen Pirzada ). The twist in the tale is when Kanan is forced to marry a tree first, as he is a “manglik”, due to which a ghost Shashi (Anushka Sharma), who resides on the tree gets bound to him.
The film runs in parallel with the two couples- Kanan & Anu in the present and Shashi & Roop Lal (Diljit Dosanjh) in the past. Shashi and Roop Lal are from Phillaur, a village in Punjab; Shashi is a doctor’s sister and had always been told not to indulge in the Arts, as it was the pre-independent era, but she was a poetess and published her work anonymously. Roop is a “bhant, kanjar, piyyakad” singer with a voice every girl in the village got attracted to.
I found the narrative scenes between the past and the present a little abrupt. The entire story was about putting Shashi’s soul to rest, in peace, with her love. I felt that the first half was more fun than the second half, but in the second half, the role of Diljit didn’t let me blink an eye.
The songs were melodious but their run time was a longer when compared to other bollywood songs.
The appearance of Shashi’s was like that of an angel’s but she was called a ghost. Anushka looked beautiful with just one outfit in a combination of white and gold.
The story wasn’t practical but I feel that it can be rightfully termed as a complete entertainment package.
Overall, the film carried a new story and idea with the cast doing their best. To me, it was a ‘super natural’ experience.
Hope you like it too!
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