Friday, 28th November 11:15 AM IST

ZED PLUS Is Crisply Written Social Satire

Pluses:

Adil Hussain proves his mettle as an actor with impeccable performance, Mona Singh shines with an honest act, K K Raina is good and so is Khulbhushan Kharbanda, Mukesh Tiwari is hilarious, supporting cast adds some golden moments to the film, direction and writing manage to convey the message in entertaining way

Minuses:

self indulgence coupled with amateur editing stretches the running time, music doe snot add to the film, few unnecessary side tracks

Critic Rating:

4/5

Business Rating:

0.5/5

Verdict:

Watch it for rare combo of laughter and sensible cinema

Detailed Analysis:

Chandraprakash Dwivedi made one of the finest serials on small screen 'Chanakya' two decades back. He directed award winning film 'Pinjar' on partition some good 7 years back and now he is bringing us a social satire.

Film has very interesting plot. Aslam (Adil Hussain) is a very poor guy living in small village Fatehpur some where in Rajasthan. He repairs puncture tires and his wife Fatima (Mona Singh) runs a 'juti' shop. Adil has neighbor Habib (Mukesh Tiwari) who is 'shayar'. Adil and Habib turned foe after they started liking same girl at bangle shop. Although both are married but they lust this girl. There is a famous 'dargah' of 'Peepal wale baba' in village but now there is a dispute regarding management of holy place. 'Panchayat' decides that one member each from extended family of 400 members will manage 'dargah' for one day each. Prime Minister (Khulbhushan Kharbanda) is feeling pressure to save his government and he is advised to visit this holy 'dargah' in order to save his position. He decides to pay visit to this 'dargah' and suddenly full government machinery starts decorating this small village.

Aslam loses his tire shop as all unauthorized shops near highway demolished by police and his neighbor Habib manages to steal his cooter . But then Aslam turns lucky as Police comes to know that he will be 'khadim' on the day PM will visit 'dargah'. Aslam attains VIP status overnight and due to some confusion on the day of visit, PM provides Z plus security to Aslam claiming that he has a threat from neighboring country Pakistan. How all this confusion rocks the life of Aslam after he gets embroiled in politics forms the rest of the story.

Performance wise Adil Hussain delivers finest performance of his career. He displays impeccable consistency throughout and plays naive small village guy with all perfection. Mona Singh as Aslam's wife is too good and she has astounding honesty in her act. Kulbhushan Kharbanda and K K Raina are good. Then there is some senior TV and stage actors who add a lot to the film.

Film has some real average songs. Editing is below par and cinematography is average. Background score is good. Story was exciting but screenplay takes it to another level with crisp writing. Dialogues are so well written that it provides laughter as well as food for though at the same time. Art department brings authenticity to the proceeding and costume department fits the bill.

DirectorChandraprakash Dwivedi proves his command over medium with this one and his ability to chose right content with thorough execution make you wonder that why does he not make more films. He weaves social - political satire with entertainment with ease.

Film will release today and will get 400 screens which will be apt for such film. Film has no chances at box office as there are too many releases and its sad that such solid content will bite the dust in middle of crap glossy star studded films.

Go for this one if quality films matter to you!