Hindi
Poster Boys: Old-fashioned entertainer
Poster Boys is a remake of the 2014 Marathi film, Poshter Boyz. A comedy, the film also carries a social message for men to go for vasectomy as there was no shame in doing so while also not forcing only women to take that responsibility.
The characters played by Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Shreyas Talpade are three individuals from different walks of life.
Sunny is an ex-army man and a ‘chaudhary,’ the head of the house and much respected in the locality. Bobby, a schoolteacher, is a henpecked husband and a father of two daughters. Bobby’s wife is known to throw tantrums at the end of which walks off to her ‘maika.’ So much so that the driver and conductor on the bus to her village are also familiar with the couple.
The role played by Shreyas is a footloose young man, using strong-arm tactics working as a loan recovery agent along with his two childhood friends. Shreyas is in love with a girl and plans to marry her.
Sunny is preparing for his sister’s engagement ceremony but when it is time for the groom and his family, he is told that the match is off and the groom’s family did want to have anything more with Sunny’s family. However, no explanation is forthcoming.
Similarly, Shreyas’s match is vetoed by the girl’s father but he won’t explain why.
Bobby faces his usual problem, his wife walks out on him for devising a way to destroy their hope for a son. Bobby is at sea about what she means.
The three are out when, one by one, they face the cause of their problem and ostracisation by people. They see posted behind a state transport bus a poster with three of them modelling for vasectomy/nasbandi and advocating its virtues. The place the trio comes from, it is like sacrilege, something akin to losing one’s manhood! The trio becomes a butt of jokes and ridicule.
Of the three, Sunny is the mighty one but opts for peace and logic most of the time; Shreyas is aggressive and ready to fight while Bobby is the shy, xxx kind. The three, on Sunny’s say-so, decide to go to the root of this problem as to how and why their pictures were used, and who is responsible.
They realize that, in the era of digital cameras, their zest for selfies and posing for pictures has been misused.
The film is a frame-to-frame remake of its Marathi version, and has a script that cares more for gags. Some characters could have been avoided or given limited footage.
Direction is fair as Shreyas makes his directorial debut but follows the original to the T. Dialogue and gags are the lifeline and have an impact at places.
The film has one song by Daler Mehndi from Sunny Deol’s 1999 film, Arjun, that works. The production value is shoddy.
As for performances, Sunny is restrained and effective. Bobby is awkward at times but that goes with his character. Shreyas has the author -backed role of an extrovert and caters to the gallery.
Poster Boys is an average entertainer. Having opened below par, it has the weekend to cash in on. The prospects thereafter hold limited hope.
Director: Shreyas Talpade.
Cast: Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Shreyas Talpde, Samiksha Bhatnagar,Murli Sharma, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Bharti Achrekar and Randheer Rai.
Hindi
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Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
