Jaideep Varma's directorial debut Hulla, took many years to see the light of day. What I can't understand is what exactly qualified this script to be the film to start his career with.
I mean, it starts off very well. The first half is a laugh-riot, and quite brilliant. If only he could sustain my interest as well in the second half. If only he didn't stumble so badly.
Hulla starts with Raj Puri (played by Sushant Singh) moving into a new house with his wife. Since he is a stockbroker, he has a very busy and noisy day, and he expects peace and quiet at home. But things start falling apart, as the nights are interrupted by a watchman's loud whistles (to keep the thieves at bay), causing Raj to stay awake the whole night.
Raj tries his best to keep the watchman from whistling like bribing him, offering him a new job... But the watchman is under the direct orders of the building secretary Janardhan (Rajat Kapoor), and he obviously, does not want to go against Janardhan, as he may lose his job.
The starts affecting Raj's life so much that his day-to-day life falls apart. His wife and friends think that he is over-reacting, he runs losses in the company, he turns unfriendly towards his neighbours, and soon, he gets paranoid and gets upset with every little sound.
The first half of the film, like I said earlier, is fantastic. It is truly entertaining and hilarious. But the second half is very disappointing. The film seems to take you to a high pitch, and then drop unexpectedly.
The cast is very good. You start sympathising with Sushant Singh and his trauma. If you had a hard day at work, the noise would drive you up the wall as well.
Yet, you probably would not hate Janardhan's character since he is a loser, who has never kept his family happy. His wife always compares him others, hurting his ego. The only way he can get rid of his frustration is his right to order around in the building, where he is the boss.
A watchman's whistle may seem to be a trivial thing to base an entire film upon. But the way Jaideep has executed his vision makes it such an important issue that you would want to stand up for Raj's cause. If only he had made the second half as interesting...
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