CAST
PLOT
A manglik boy marries a tree to ward off threats to his love-life, but the tree had a spirit of Shashi residing in it. Now the ghost(Shashi) hijacks a wedding claiming groom to be her husband.
Ever since I watched the trailer of ‘Phillauri’, I was excited. After all, how many times do you get to see the concept of a ghost hijacking an Indian wedding, claiming to be the wife of the groom? Not only that, but the backstory of Anushka too was a fan to the fires of my curiosity, plus the beautiful songs, cinematography and performances that it promised. Did it really deliver what it promised? Read to find out.
Half of the story we know from the trailer. Kanan (Suraj Sharma) returns to India to marry his childhood sweetheart Annu (Mehreen Pirzada). The twist is in the kundlis and it turns out that he is a manglik(some disorder in the stars), and eventually will have to be married to a tree first. The needful is done, but the impact is felt by Kanan when he is greeted by a beautiful ghost Shashi, who was in the tree, and by that sense is now his wife.
Shashi follows him around and it is when the bride-to-be Annu discovers her presence that she asks Shashi if she has some unfinished business in the mortal world. Which, takes us to the rich fields of early 19th century, when amongst the waves of independence and revolting youth, there is a poet Shashi, and a singer, her beloved, Phillauri (Diljit Dosanjh), who goes to Jalandhar with the promise of coming back as he makes his name as a singer, but never returns, leaving Shashi behind.
The first half is full of comic moments, goofy scenes, and crisp storyline which keeps one bound and engaged. We anticipate as to what will happen next. It is then that the inevitable happens. The movie falls apart in the second half, only to lead to a comical climax of ghost reunion, which could have been portrayed with emotional touch.
Shashi’s backstory was something everyone was curious about and wanted to know more, but that is where the movie goes totally drab and haywire, leading viewers to think when will it end, which is certainly not good for any movie. There are certain distortions of historical events as well, but we are not revealing the same and leaving you to be the judge of that.
Anyway, the attempt is a decent one, and ‘Phillauri’ must get appreciation for that. It is an amalgamation of love, heartbreak, separation and ultimate reunion. It is flawed, but can be given a chance.
We would give this Anushka Sharma-starrer 3 on 5. You can watch it once.
