Does Rohit Shetty apologize to Ranveer Singh’s supporters for wasting such a talented actor in this pointless, stupid comedy? Or perhaps he should apologize to his own followers for initially making such an antiquated and unfunny movie. In 2006, his Golmaal was successful. In 16 years, that has passed. But Shetty still seems to be living in that time period. It’s unfortunate that Ranveer had to be a part of his humour hitting a new low with Cirkus. Remember that even if Ranveer is playing two roles, none of them could save this terrible movie. Not that I had high hopes or expectations going into Cirkus, but did I really anticipate the final movie of 2022 to be this bad? Some trailers can be very misleading.
Beginning in the 1960s, Cirkus follows the adoption of two pairs of orphans by two different families, one in Bangalore and one in Ooty. However, Dr. Joy Jamnadas (Murali Sharma) swaps one twin for the other in order to conduct an experiment to support his opinion that “upbringing” is more important than “bloodlines.” As children, later as grown men, Roy and Joy (Ranveer Singh and Varun Sharma in dual roles) carry out their respective activities in various towns. While Roy is dating Bindu in Bangalore, he is married to Mala (Pooja Hegde) in Ooty (Jacqueline Fernandez). Joy is content for the time being to tag around wherever his brother goes. Unfortunately, this comedy of errors doesn’t quite work.
In the movie, there are countless characters. More colorful than the other, each one. And everyone is acting absurdly over the top. Even if they have incredibly comical appearances, some nasty men don’t even make you chuckle. Instead, after a while, they start to appear bothersome. Comedy is nowhere to be found or felt when there is so much going on and everyone is working so hard.
Ranveer is acting quite restrainedly while carrying out his instructions, but the intended impression is completely lacking. His attempts to be hilarious are clear, but the few jokes that he does make fall flat. We never feel the current in “the electric man” as he is affectionately known in Ooty for his capacity to withstand any voltage or current. Varun, who has mastered the art of humor and has great comic timing, is unable to add anything worthwhile to this historical comedy. I wonder why Shetty didn’t consider using that aspect of him rather than making him appear completely uninteresting and out of his element. I’ll say it again: Pooja, whose most recent Hindi film was Radhe Shyam, requires significant acting instruction. She is so unmemorable on film that you focus on the set decoration in the instances where she appears. Jacqueline isn’t much better in this situation and is merely used as a prop to increase the glam factor.
Sanjay Mishra, who plays Bindu’s obnoxious and too-trendy father, may appear to be the most promising of the lot, but his shrieking accent makes him a pain in the neck. Then there’s a neighborhood thief, but Cirkus makes him into a haphazardly caricatured figure with an odd hairstyle who mainly makes amusing expressions. Momo worships Johnny Lever’s character Polson Bhai, who doesn’t contribute anything other than to round out this ridiculous cast of villains. It goes on from here. There are at least 10 additional supporting performers who each have a small role, and Rohit manages to make them all seem amusing even when they aren’t.
I hardly remember one sequence in Cirkus that could elicit the kind of real laughter viewers are accustomed to seeing in a Rohit Shetty movie. Even if Deepika Padukone makes a brief appearance in the song Current Laga Re, it’s too late to make up for all the joy that was lost.
Cirkus is an adaptation of The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare. It might take some time, so I’ll leave you with that thought and let this settle in. Only watch it if you are a die-hard admirer of Ranveer Singh and have the guts to see him get so horribly inebriated.
