Ranchi Diaries movie review: Waste of time, money and sleep

Directed By: Sattwik Mohanty
Produced By: Anupam Kher, Rashmin Majithia, Sattwik Mohanty
Cast: Anupam Kher, Jimmy Sheirgill, Himansh Kohli, Soundarya Sharma, Satish Kaushik
Duration: 1 hours 37 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 1/5

This morning I woke up quite early to travel from South Mumbai to Juhu, to watch a film titled ‘Ranchi Diaries’ (we are sure many of you may not even have heard about it). It’s a film starring Anupam Kher, Jimmy Sheirgill, Soundarya Sharma, Himansh Kohli and Taaha Shah Badusha (we are sure apart from Kher and Sheirgill you are clueless about the rest of them). Well, don’t think much because you would be wasting your precious time and energy in that.

So, what is ‘Ranchi Diaries’ all about? Well, even I am thinking the same. Let me think… Okay, got it. So, in a simple way, let me tell you that the movie is about ‘a bank robbery gone wrong’. Wow, isn’t that a great concept? Maybe it is, on papers, but then when the writers start writing the film, it just goes haywire. I mean in the first half there are sequences where I actually felt like getting up and leaving the cinema hall. My brain started yelling, “ho kya raha hai yaar”. And then came the second half, which was also not a relief. I just wanted this movie to end. Finally, it ended and how.

Director Sattwik Mohanty has made a khichdi. There are too many things happening, but nothing is sensible here. He has also tried to put some funny scenes. Believe me, he has, but we never laughed at any of it. We have watched this film with just one expression and one thing in mind, “ho kya raha hai”, throughout.

But yes, the best part about the film is that the makers have made Taaha, Himansh and Soundarya wear burkhas in half of the film and we don’t get to see their expressions. Thank God! Okay, so these three actors have tried their best to act, just tried (when they are not in burkha), but their forced accent spoils everything. Talking about Anupam Kher, actually let’s not talk about him. He is hardly there in the movie. One actor we feel really bad about is Jimmy Sheirgill, for he surely deserves better films. We are tired of seeing him in such bechara kind of roles. It’s high time Bollywood offered him something new.

Earlier this year, we had seen a film titled ‘Bank Chor’, it was also about ‘a bank robbery gone wrong’. The film had kept us on the edge of the seats with its back to back surprises. ‘Ranchi Diaries’ too keeps us on the edge of the seats, but only to leave the theatre as soon as possible. Believe us, there were hardly some ten or twelve people in theatre and they didn’t even wait to watch the promotional song at the end. I was the only one watching it.

So, if you want to waste your money, time and sleep (have a good nap at home instead of a theatre), then this is a perfect film for you.

P.S. There’s a PM Narendra Modi connection at the end of the film, and we are not surprised. ?

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