Nanu Ki Jaanu Review: Beware, Ghosts Can Haunt You If You Don't Follow Road Traffic Safety Rules!

For those who ain't aware, Abhay Deol- Patralekha starrer Nanu Ki Jaanu borrows its plot heavily from Mysskin's 2014 Tamil hit 'Pisaasu'. While the original flick revolved around dark, mystifying occurences around the protagonist post an unfortunate event and told his ill-fated romance, director Faraz Haider tries to blend in comedy with dollops of Punjabiness and sets his backdrop in Delhi when it comes to the Hindi version. He changes his hero's profession from a violonist to a crook to make way for some 'ha-ha'. Does it work? Well, sadly a big 'No'.

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Set in Noida, Anand aka Nanu (Abhay Deol) and his gang (Manu Rishi Chadha & Co.) specialize in forcibly vacating and taking over rented apartments. In between, you get to see him shaking a leg with Bigg Boss fame Sapna Chaudhary at a wedding. The lyrics go like 'Tere thumke Sapna Choudhary
Mera man Tarsaave Se'. Nope, we ain't making that up!

Moving ahead, life's a smooth ride for Naanu. Until one day when he stumbles upon a car accident of a young woman named Siddhi (Patralekha) who is found lying in a pool of blood. He rushes her to the hospital but alas, she breathes her last while holding his hand.

Soon after that incident, Nanu loses his mafia mojo and realizes that his flat is haunted by a chimney-dwelling ghost which turns out to be none other than Siddhi's spirit. She has fallen for him and is hell-bent on cleaning up his act.

A woman dies in a car accident and haunts the home of the man who killed her because she's in love with him. Sounds a terrific one-liner naa? Unfortunately, Faraz Haider messes it completely when it comes to 'Nanu Ki Jaanu'. Heard the saying, 'Too many cooks spoil the broth'? The filmmaker does exactly that and leaves you amused for all the wrong reasons instead.

Mysskin's idea of a love story in Pisaasu was an unusual one with dripping black humour at junctures. Instead in 'Nanu Ki Jaanu', you are subjected to bland mashup of genres that simply fail to connect with you. The original film came with an interesting twist in the climax. On the other hand, this Abhay Deol- Patralekha starrer has a ghost breaking out of ice and giving traffic advisorys about the hazards of fidgeting with your phone while driving, importance of wearing helmets while riding a bike and the importance of '2 seconds' in a life. Mind you, she also detests smoking and drinking. The last 15-20 minutes of the film is as unintentionally hilariously as it can get.

Speaking about the performances, Abhay Deol starts off well but slowly his performance gets drowned in the absurdity of the plot. Post interval, he looks lost just like us, the audience and you start wondering what made him take up this film in the first place!

Just like her character, Patralekha is invisible throughout the film. It's only towards the end that she drops by for a random romantic track and then gives some safety measures just in case you skip those public servicement ads.

Manu Rishi is hilarious as Abhay's right hand man but sadly his track just disappears in the second half. Brijendra Kala is impressive even if it's a brief act. Rajesh Sharma as Patralekha's bereaved father hams like there's no tomorrow. Himani Shivpuri delivers what's expected.

The songs are forgetable and act as mere fillers just adding extra minutes to the runtime. S. R Sathish Kumar's cinematography has nothing new to offer. Manu Rishi's dialogues are lacklustre and fail to recreate the 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye'. The editing is passable.

In a nutshell, Abhay Deol-Patralekha's Nanu Ki Jaanu neither spooks you nor tickles your funny bone as promised. The horror-comedy suffers heavily from poor execution and a climax gone terribly wrong. Steer clear of this idiocracy unless that's what you are looking out for. The rest can take a chilled beer. Don't say we didn't warn you before- 'Ghost ghost na raha, pyaar pyaar na raha'!