‘Coffee With D’ movie review: Why such disappointment? Nation wants to know!

Directed by: Vishal Mishra
Produced by: Vinod Ramani
Cast: Sunil Grover, Anjana Sukhani, Dipannita Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Zakir Hussain
Duration: 2 hours 17 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 1.5/5

The exit of a very famous (and sometimes infamous) television journalist from a popular TV channel after years of association had sent ripples all across the social media. The journalist made his way to memes, Facebook status updates, trolls and what not! So, when Vishal Mishra promised to make a film with reference to the same person and hinted to tell us an interesting story, we all were  intrigued. The film messes up with our curiosity and how! Here I am, writing ‘Coffee With D’ movie review, sipping some over-sweetened coffee and dying a slow death.

Sunil Grover aka Arnab Ghosh (you got the hint already) hosts a prime time show on  TV channel which used to be hugely popular but is now on a downfall. Desperate to regain the TRP, Arnab invites eminent figures to his show, asks them whatever the nation wants to know (hint again!) and drives them either furious or embarrassed. But oops, his bravery only results in the prime time slot being transferred to Neha (Dipannita Sharma), a pretty (and attractive for obvious reasons) fashion journalist and he being demanded to come up with better ideas for shows. Even more desperate, Arnab decided to interview ‘D’, the biggest don of India and arguably of the world too. How, when, where are the questions that ‘Coffee With D’ answers. But wait, does it?

First and foremost disappointment is the execution. Even if instances of you watching English news channels are rare than Rakhi Sawant making sense, you still have heard this famous journalist’s name. I mean, he is almost the Salman Khan of Indian journalism when it comes to pulling crowd for either good or bad reasons. How could the makers not do justice to the character and the story? A wonderful performer like Sunil Grover is almost wasted, barring a few sequences when the true comedian in him comes out. Anjana Sukhani as Grover’s pregnant wife is bad beyond imagination. A crime reporter (as she claims herself to be) watching back-to-back crime patrol seasons (and enjoying them) with a baby kicking inside her belly? Are you kidding me? And wait, local goons pick ideas from crime patrol, gatecrash her house, try to threaten her and end up sipping cola in her drawing room, waiting to see their bhai ‘D’ on TV? She has the best hospitality ever; why doesn’t she stay in our office building? And India’s best news writer (again as  Dipannita Sharma aka Neha claims herself to be) agreeing to plan the interview of ‘D’ only if colleague Arnab sleeps with her for a night? I mean, leave ethics but you could bother about hundreds of female journalists like us. We are mostly on just maggi when we are planning interviews! Where is the nerve-maddening tension of a journalist who is about to lose his throne? Zakir Hussain (on-screen ‘D’) tries his best to deliver the character, but where’s the aura of being India’s, and probably world’s most wanted? If one day, one of our real-life dons ever came on a live TV interview, it’s possible that the satellite signals will hang out of pressure (bhavnao ko samjho, not sure if signals can actually hang). Where’s the thrill, the punch, the credibility of the situations?

Coming to technicalities. Unimpressive songs, and horribly synced sound have killed it. The film wasn’t much about exploring things visually to be honest, so let us not discuss cinematography and editing. But it’s a bad idea to not dub stuff properly. Also, so many continuity breaks! Demonetisation? End of season sale? Mumbai traffic? ‘Bigg Boss 10’? What exactly was bothering the editors?

The only two good parts of the films were Rajesh Sharma and Pankaj Tripathi. Sharma, as Arnab’s boss, does a good job as a helpless senior editor of a drowning news channel. Tripathi, as Giridhar, the right hand of ‘D’ has nailed it with his expression and appearance. Grover is fair, but we expected so much more of him. Also, so unfortunate that ‘Coffee With D’ wasted a story that could result in an excellent, full of comic sense, gripping film.

Watch only if no tickets to Lonavla are available this weekend, or if you don’t have a life!

WATCH TRAILER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNf6TSfjfI&feature=youtu.be