The question is not whether Kunal Khemu justifies the title of Super Star. Rather the question is whether Super Star justifies the energy exuberated by Kunal Khemu. So after all the Om Makhija, Anthony Gonsalves, Sameer Khan and Nikhat Bano of recent times, here’s another account on an aspiring actor who wants to make it big in Bollywood. And this wannabe actor has a recipe of blending portions of Bachchan and Khans to create his own Superstar potion. Only if the director could create a comparable concoction by seeking similar inspiration from his field, things could have been better.
Super Star is a double role drama. For a change the look-alikes are not brothers separated at birth or reincarnated in rebirths. Here, one is a junior artist who is struggling for a break. The other wants to break-free from acting that he is forced into by his producer father. Having lost hopes from his son, the producer replaces him with his look-alike who works under the son’s byline.
And if standing two Kunal Khemu was getting a bit difficult for you, one is knocked off in an accident. The one surviving steps into the shoes of the departed soul. If you are anticipating mystery and mayhem to follow, you are mistaken for the only outcome is melodrama. Predictability seeps into the plot and the film opts for a very convenient climax where our hero gives an emotional speech of confession. Alas all sins are not pardonable.
Apart from the lead protagonist, the other characterizations are conventionally clichéd. There’s a regular doting mother (Reema Lagoo), a concerned father (Sharat Saxena) and a girl-next-door girlfriend (Tulip Joshi). Darshan Zariwala as the producer father hits a hattrick of repeating an almost similar negative act post Aap Ka Suroor and Halla Bol . He has acclimatized himself to the hysterical hamming that a standard Bollywood villain demands with his over-expressive antiques. And Aman Verma as a sting operation journalist? Look who’s acting?
Even with a team of four story-writers and two screenplay writers, the film doesn’t boast of a flawless script. The conflicts of the characters do come across but aren’t established convincingly. While the director doesn’t pit the two look-alikes against each other, he isn’t even successful in setting up some smooth chemistry between the two, which he intends to. One wonders why Kunal doesn’t reveal his identity to his parents and waits to come clean only in the climax. Then there is an investigating journalist who is hell bent on learning the true identity of the Kunal clone. But when he actually learns it, he just abandons the juicy gossip. In that case why were we subjected to his spy mission? And when the director isn’t able to stretch the second half any further, he simply packs up the play with an end of convenience. No wit or thrill employed!
Kunal Khemu is the only saving grace of this half-baked recipe. Super Star is not a bad film but had a lot of potential to be better, which it isn’t able to tap.
Super Star ends up being like the numerous shooting stars shown in the film that sparkles for a moment but fades off soon after.
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