The Zoya Factor Review: Was This Just A Romantic And Glossier Version Of Chain Khuli Ki Main Khuli?
Not all of us out here might be superstitious, but we so have these believes that certain things are lucky for us. In sports especially, where millions of hope are pinned against the chosen few, these superstitions matter even more. What if by one wrong move, not just their own future, but the future of ther nation is jeopardised? Well, small and harmless beliefs are ok, but what if the madness takes another level.
That is exactly what Anuja Chauhan had talked about in The Zoya Factor , the book whose adaptation is the Sonam and Dulquer Salmaan starrer. The plot is super simple- Zoya is a junior copywriter in an ad agency who is quite unlucky, but proves to be lucky for the Indian Cricket team. And after weighing in the pros and cons, she does become the lucky mascot, but would she be able to handle it and save her love life? Well, you might have thought that this is an easy breezy love story, with Cricket in the backdrop, two good looking lead stars, so what might really go wrong. Well, probably everything else.
The film feels like a collage of ad shoots. Right from Dairy Milk to Harley Davidson to Pepsi, this is a mishmash of sso many brand endorsements that I lost count midway. In fact, they are not even sutble, there is an entire song dedicated to promote 'Pepsi'!
It looks like Sonam has been deliberately told to overact and recreate Milli from Khoobsoorat, but at times she has been given the cue to more silly that her. Whatever the character might demand , at times, this gets on your nerves. Dulquer Salmaan is good, and looks hot, so much so that my male collegue also seemed to have developed a mancrush on him.He is made to look good, sorry, yum in this one and he is so convincingly good. There is also Sanjay Kapoor and Shikander Kher, who do not have much to do at all! Angad Bedi plays tthe villain and man, he is sinister!
The punchlines aare beaten to death. The silliness and not the jokes in the film will make you laugh. But you cannot take away few brilliant sequences. After a sloppy first half, teh second half starts with a Nerolac ad and just when you feel that the death knell has rung, the film shows hope. The cricket match is nail biting, like you see in real life. In particular, there is one scene that is brilliantly shot. (Spoilers) Zoya realises that she has been made a devi and this lucky mascot thing has turned to a circus. She loses touch with the world around her and there is actually performers and jokers shown around her in what seems like a street fair. This shot, my dear friend, is really well shot!
All in all, this looks like an ad collage stretched too long, a glossy 4k video that does not amount to anything.The slo-mo romance sequences just added to my pain of sitting through the film. The film lacked pace anyway, and making the romantic sequence slo-mo was n't helping! And what's with the songs appearing every 15 mins in the 1st half! Like seriously? You could totally skip this one.