Celebrating a rare creed

Simran

Hindi (U/A)

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Hiten Kumar, Esha Tewari Pande

Director: Hansal Mehta

She is everything a heroine isn’t. She gambles, steals, has casual sex (but “only with protection”), and gets panic attack at the mention of marriage. The 30-year-old divorcee is also particularly allergic to “nice” men.

Kangana Ranaut’s Praful Patel is a delight and departure from everything Bollywood. No straitjacket for this Gujarati-American.

Flawed in every department, she is refreshingly unapologetic too. So, when in sin city Las Vegas, she goes looking for something “sinful”. Only that the gambling dens there set off the more dangerous shades of misadventure in her.

Simran celebrates a rare creed. And Kangana fits the bill as the housekeeping staff who doesn’t mind a bank robbery or two to chase her dollar dreams. From downright cheesy (“Are you tired? Because you are running in my mind,” is the pick-up line she uses on a foreigner) to emotionally charged scenes with Soham Shah (spot on as her sanskari suitor), Kangana effortlessly lifts the show.

But the movie lets her down. Its weak spine b under the weight of a powerful performance. The incoherent proceedings, especially in the second half, help little.

In effect, Kangana shines in a movie that can’t hold a candle to her spark.