‘Cirkus’ Review: Rohit Shetty Film Is Like A Disappointing Secret Santa Gift
A disappointed Ranveerian!
When I watched Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi, it was only after Ranveer Singh’s entry that I sat up and enjoyed the otherwise assembly-line film before me. That’s how obsessed I am with RS and his energy. In the hands of a director like Shetty, Ranveer’s talents should ideally thrive. Instead, and I am pained to report this, we get Cirkus, a film that takes a trope as old as time and does nothing new with it. Rohit Shetty has gathered the best comedians from all of his prior films, actors who are true comedy MVPs, and given them gags that are a stretch and jokes that are unfunny. The result is a film that feels like a disappointing Secret Santa gift. Especially for a Ranveer Singh fan, who expected the double role to bring double enjoyment, but instead only got double disappointment.
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Cirkus tastes like grapes we’ve eaten before. The whole double-role comedy of errors trope that we’ve seen in beloved films like Angoor and Judwaa is employed here. There’s also a doctor, played by Murli Sharma, who is the sutradhaar, trying to prove to us, the audience and the characters in the film, that in the Nature vs Nurture debate, it’s all about the latter. You’ve got two sets of orphan twins, mixed up intentionally and separated during their adoption, and for humour’s sake, named the same—Roy and Joy. Chalo theek hai, I’ll buy it.
One sibling duo, adopted by an Ooty couple, inherits a circus. The shocking star attraction at the circus is Ranveer Singh’s Roy, who is immune to electric currents. The other sibling duo, adopted by a rich Bangalore couple, inherit money and affluence, but this Roy bears the brunt (or should I say, current?) of his identical twin’s electric antics, i.e. the electric shock. As for both the Joys, played by Varun Sharma, they are your run-of-the-mill agyaakaari sidekicks, so unidimensional that they don’t even get love interests or a personality. Initially living their peaceful separate lives, a business trip brings the Bangalore siblings to Ooty, where mistaken identities lead to the usual comedy of errors.
Now, as an audience, the expectation from a film like Cirkus is a mindlessly entertaining time, if nothing else. But believe me you, the film’s first half had me struggling harder to understand what was happening than I’ve ever done even in a Christopher Nolan film. The fact that both sets of Roy and Joy look EXACTLY the same had me confused that I rarely understood whose story we were following when the scene changed. Of course, to give either of them discoverable qualities would require actually fleshing out these characters. But at least some overt way of distinguishing their story would’ve helped.
Then there’s the film’s setting. It’s set in the 60s because of the circus of it all. And because had this been contemporary, a quick video call from a smartphone would’ve solved all the confusion. I get the 60s vibe, but must every city look the same? The Bangalore and Ooty sets could as well be interchangeable. I wouldn’t know the difference. Just like you can’t tell the Roys and Joys apart, you can’t tell their locations apart either unless there are tea plantations in the picture.
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Eventually, I began noticing little things, like one Varun Sharma’s moustache being thinner than the other’s. Or that the rich Roy had a more silky manner of talking compared to the overtly alpha male mannerisms of the circus performer/owner Roy.
Cirkus is like an Avengers Assemble for comedians, veteran and new, from past Rohit Shetty films. And I know the man is capable of making us laugh until our insides hurt. But with this one, not even the comic timing of Johnny Lever or the physical comedy of Siddharth Jadhav could help you forget just how stretched and forced some of the humour felt. The one consistently hilarious performer is Sanjay Mishra as the heroine ka ameer baap. His hilarious fake rich-people accent is never not funny, he steels every scene he is in, and manages to give us a nostalgic roundup of his past characters in the Rohit Shetty universe, including ‘Dhondu, Just Chill!’ from All The Best!
The female characters continue to be poorly written, with absolutely nothing to do other than look pretty and dance with the hero in songs. They don’t effect any considerable impact on the plot, some of them could’ve been off-camera characters, and it wouldn’t change a thing about this story. The only actress that I actually enjoyed watching on screen was Deepika Padukone, looking gorgeous and reuniting with her husband, Ranveer Singh, on screen for the dance number ‘Current Laga Re’. Their chemistry is magic, even though a bit subdued.
And subdued is my biggest problem with how Cirkus uses Ranveer Singh, an actor known for his OTT-ness IRL. Shetty managed to utilise Singh’s larger-than-life persona so well in Simmba, yet he fails spectacularly here. Singh is the most unfunny of the lot and the real ‘shock’ that I got was why he agreed to do a film like this where the character he plays does not let him play to his strengths. Anyone could’ve played this character! Why waste a talent like RS on this?
Also Read: What To Watch From December 19 To 25: Cirkus, Emily In Paris S3, And More
Verdict
Rehashing tropes is not a crime, but the emphasis on rehash. You have to offer some new spin on it for the audience to actually spend their time and money on it. The question begs to be asked then, why make a film like Cirkus, with zero novelty in its plot or gags? It feels more like an employment Yojana for actors from the Rohit Shetty universe. Or in the case of Deepika’s cameo, an announcement of new additions to it.
The 1.5 stars I give it are purely for Sanjay Mishra’s act and ‘Current Laga Re’, and because the bar is so low these days, for having original songs in the film that are not bad. As for the die-hard Ranveer Singh fan, this is a disappointing Christmas gift.
Cirkus is currently in theatres.
