Going by the name, you’d expect a ton of freaky antics in this one. So, let’s see if the movie stands up to the expectations pronounced by its title in the Freaky Ali film review.
Freaky Ali Film Review – The Story
An underachiever, Ali (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) hopes to find his manna playing professional golf. Having seen despair at every corner things can finally turn around for good for Ali. One day his uncle, Kishan Lal (Asif Basra), sees him at the golf course. Ali, a small-time extortionist, impresses him, and Kishan Lal is confident that he can achieve fame and money if he chooses to go this route.
The freaky part in all of this is that Ali has an unusually impressive swing. While that hasn’t gotten him very far until now, apart from impressing his street pals at gully cricket, all of that is about to change as Ali decides to enter the professional golf circuit.
Although his close friend Maqsood (Arbaaz Khan) is not as keen and thinks it is a waste of time, he nevertheless goes along with him. On his journey, Ali meets the glamorous manager, Megha (Amy Jackson) and a stern opponent in Peter (Jas Arora) who isn’t willing to let go off his winning streak.
Will Ali find success? No two guesses on how the rest of it pans out.
Freaky Ali Film Review – The Negatives
The story. If you have a title that spells out in no uncertain terms what to expect from the movie, you better deliver that to the audience. Alas, this one falls way short. There isn’t much freakiness here, apart from the fact that Ali has an exceptional swing. Of course, that is the pivot around which the rest of the movie plays out. Although, by itself, that is not sufficient to hold the viewer’s interest for the film’s two-hour runtime.
There is clearly a paucity of gags here. Well, to be fair, up until a point, the main story is somewhat hilarious, but the subplots are uninspiring. Several characters, such as the old man who suffers from amnesia, are unnecessary and keep dragging down the momentum of the movie.
At other times, the comic timing of the actors is questionable. Amy Jackson, who plays Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s manager, gives it her all, but the lack of acting chops are her undoing. The same goes for some of the others.
A needless cameo at the end and an equally passable climax, round up the list of pitfalls with this venture.
Freaky Ali Film Review – The Positives
Thanks mainly to another stellar performance from Nawazuddin Siddiqui that this movie stays clear of the garbage pile. Had it not been for him imbibing his character’s quirks to a tee, the movie would have been unwatchable. Also, watch out for Seema Biswas who plays Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s mother. She is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise rather painful two hours of shoddy acting.
Final Word
This one is better left for the television. It is not worth your hard-earned money, and you can do better with two hours. If nothing else, take a stroll down the beach as even that’d be more engaging than this below average fare.
Stars: 1.5/5
What do you think?