In the context of the movie, F*ugly means the ‘fight against ugly’ as opposed to the popular meaning that first comes to our mind when we hear the word. The film is set in Delhi and after this ‘Dilli’ness is established during the title credits, a pretty dramatic scene takes place. This sets the ball rolling for the rest of the movie, which, through its course, switches between flashback and present day. All these Indian residents, Dev (Mohit Marwah), Devi (Kiara Advani), Gaurav (Arfi Lamba) and Aditya (Vijender Singh) have some grouse with their country. But they don’t want to sit back and complain. They’d rather actually do something about it.
On paper, it’s a great idea. The youth of the country will not take things lying down and bring about change instead. But on film, it hasn’t been very well executed. For a film that shows the fight against ugly, there isn’t much positivity and too much emphasis on the ugly. At times, it gets unnecessarily gruesome. Although Jimmy Sheirgill shines in his role as Chautala, it’s not the first time we’ve seen him play this grey shade. It could get repetitive if he continues to do the same kind of roles.
While on the subject of performances, for three of the four leads, it is their first feature film. Even if you consider that they haven’t faced a camera before, they still need to work on their acting chops. Especially when the competition is so tough. Take Patralekhaa‘s debut performance in Citylights, for instance.
Also, since the content of the movie is so heavy, there is hardly any relief in terms of humour or music. You don’t really remember the songs once they’re over. And why is there a Sana Saeed item number thrown in? Totally unnecessary. The Fugly title track is only a promotional video and hence, doesn’t play in the film, not even at the end. The humour comes in major intervals and isn’t enough.
Basically, the balance is off and one of the major issues is the length of the film. Even though the runtime may be alright, it drops in the second half and seems unnecessarily stretched.
The problem with a film like Fugly is that it takes off on a good note, raises your expectations and then disappoints you. In a star-driven country like ours, Fugly doesn’t have too much to boast of and can only survive based on content. And I think it’s lacking in that area. The movie showed promise and I wish it had been better. But there wasn’t much to take home.