'Helmet' movie review: Aparshakti Khurana impresses in watchable comedy drama

The film appeals more to the Hindi heartland audience than the urban crowd

Director: Satramm Ramani

Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Pranutan Bahl and Abhishek Banerjee

Rating: 3/5

Platform: Zee5

Actor Aparshakti Khurana's latest movie Helmet is an above-average comedy-drama that caters to the 'Gen Y' audience and works mainly because of the sincere performances. The film revolves around the life of a band singer named Lucky, who is in love with a young woman from an affluent family. He decides to ask her father to let her marry her but things don't go as planned. The rest of the plot deals with what happens when he enters the condom trade following a hilarious twist.

Also Read | The script was unique, excited me as an actor: Pranutan Bahl on 'Helmet'

Not a Vicky Donor

The basic plot has shades of the 2012 release Vicky Donor, a film which too dealt with the taboo subject in a light-hearted manner. It, however, does not have the emotional depth that helped the Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer exceed expectations. This, however, does not really prove to be a major issue as Helmet delivers just what it had promised-- a few laughs.

Sticking to the basics

Well-defined characters and relatable situations are the hallmarks of a film revolving around the quintessential guy gang. Pyaar Ka Punchnama is a case in point. The film, which dealt with the romantic adventures of three working bachelors, appealed to a section of the audience despite not really being a masterpiece as the dynamics between the protagonists were reasonably relatable. This is where Helmet hits the right notes. The initial portions manage to highlight the bromance between the 'heroes'. Their conversations seem to be straight out of everyday life and cater to those from the Hindi heartland. The comic punches aren't really extraordinary but they tickle the funnybone nonetheless. The writers keep the humour as family-friendly as possible, which is no mean feat given the subject.

Not without flaws

That said, few sequences don't work as well as they could have. The scenes involving Aparshakti's 'Customer No 1', for example, drags and tries too hard to produce a laugh. The romantic sequences, featuring Aparshakti and Pranutan, don't work as they don't get enough scope in the narrative. The climax also fails to register as it is as predictable as can be. Moreover, the writers make a half-baked attempt to explore Aparshakti's tragic backstory, which doesn't do the narrative any favours.

Aparshakti makes an impact

The effective performances make up for these shortcomings. Aparshakti impresses with his unmistakable sincerity and gets the 'desi' accent right. Abhishek Banerjee, who rose to fame with his work in the series Pataal Lok, shines in the lighter sequences because of his deadpan expressions. Aashish Verma hits it out of the park in a role that has shades of Javed Jaffrey's work in Dhamaal.

Pranutan, who made her Bollywood debut with Notebook, impresses in a couple of scenes but deserved a meatier role. Sharib Hashmi and Aashish Vidhyarthi are underutilised, which is quite unfortunate as both of them have been competent performers.

Banal soundtrack

A comedy-drama needs to have catchy songs in order to get wide patronage. Vicky Donor, for example, featured the soulful Pani Da Rang, which clicked with the younger generation. Helmet, sadly, disappoints on this front as none of the songs, barring Mauka Mauka, have any recall value.

Technical aspects

The background music is quite generic and doesn't add much to the reel action. Dialogues such as 'nirodh ka virodh' work well due to the wordplay involved. The editing isn't up to the mark as a couple of scenes overstay their welcome. The other technical aspects are up to the mark.