F.A.L.T.U. is Complete Fun Fare – Go Watch it.

Great promotional tactics and innovative release methods has already put F.A.L.T.U. ahead of its competition. Thankfully, it’s not a case of all noise and no show. F.A.L.T.U. is the exact opposite of its name and delivers on all counts.

World Cup weekend brought in lots of positivity. F.A.L.T.U. may as well benefit from this feel-good wave, but F.A.L.T.U. stands on its own two feet and there is no doubt about that. Bollywood seldom sees the release of any good youth movies… and then, a college based movie which has some actual youngsters (as against middle aged men posing as college students) is a rare treat. While F.A.L.T.U. scores on all points, it scores a big 5 star in the field of earnestness.

F.A.L.T.U. entertains at all times and that is the most important thing. Whether the story seems to be partially lifted from Hollywood’s Accepted or whether the treatment reminds of you of 3 Idiots, you forget all that as the story progresses. The full masti and dhamaal on-screen sucks you into its vortex and when the song “Char Baj Gaye” comes on, you can’t help singing along.

The Cast:

Jackky Bhagnani is cute. He is earnest and he delivers the goods. He dances well and fits well into the masti-seeking average college going boy. Puja Gupta fits the bill too and as the only female member of this all-boys flick, she holds her ground. She looks beautiful and acts well. Chandan Roy Sanyal looks great in his role and lends tremendous support. Angad Bedi is okay and Riteish Deshmukh is his usual semi-dependable, semi-comic self…he shows nothing new here, just like his last ten movies. Boman Irani is dependable as always. Even yesteryears actress Rameshwari also does a wasted cameo.

Story and Direction:

F.A.L.T.U.’s story has been partially adapted from the English movie accepted where the protagonists set up a fake university in order to fool their parents. Our leading gang of boys do the same when presented with the impossible situation of having to break it upon their parents that their percentages are too low for them to get admission to any college. In order to get their parents to believe that they are actually studying in a good college they set up the whole façade with the help of Google Chand (Arshad Warsi). This way their parents would be happy and assured about their children’s education and the F.A.L.T.U. gang can continue enjoying their party-cum-life. A defunct building serves as their supposed college campus and a website helps strengthen the illusion. Riteish Deshmukh is brought onboard as the principal Baji Rao. This drama is acted out for one day in order to trick their parents. Mayhem breaks loose when several other students who themselves had low scores secure admission to the university through the website. The protagonists’ friend who had great marks (played by Angad Bedi) also joins them in the same college. The charade continues till Jackky (known as Riteish in the movie) realizes that they could do better with their lives and decides to turn things around.

The movie addresses the hot issue that faces the students, teachers and administrators each year around the time of admissions. In a fun and frolic filled atmosphere F.A.L.T.U. brings forward this very burning issue. Interestingly, Jackky and Pooja show no sign of a romantic involvement which is probably a first in Indian movies.

Remo D’Souza’s direction is spot-on and doesn’t sag anywhere. For a movie which has some very inexperienced actors, the man at the helm does his job really well. Being a top choreographer makes the dances a treat to watch.

VERDICT:

Great for unwinding, F.A.L.T.U. makes for excellent weekend fare. The songs are immensely enjoyable and watchable. Go watch it and have fun. See it for the good time you had in college and for all that you missed out on while trying to get better percentages.