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Superstar in waiting...

Kunal Khemu is the superstar. That might be a bit too early to predict but at least he is one in Rohit Jugraj’s Superstar. This is a story of a wannabe superstar meeting a superstar by birth. And they happen to look exactly alike (no Kumbh Mela scene here though). Just filmi.

The film flows well until it gets a little predictable in the second half. Nonetheless it remains a good watch right from scene one when Kunal introduces us to his family and to himself. He is Kunal Mehra, the wannabe star with dreams of making it big in Bollywood but in reality just a junior artiste. So his father, who’s not very happy with his son, is just like Prem’s father in Maine Pyar Kiya (clips of which flash on the split screen during the ‘intro’).

His mother, Reema Lagoo is very filmi, just like him. She watches a song on television every time it is telecast just to catch a glimpse of her son, who’s dancing just behind the hero in the second line. She is his Mother India! His girlfriend Tulip Joshi is just like Anjali of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, who silently loves him and watches all his films where he may be visible only for three seconds as an extra. He also has some equally filmi friends who inhabit his world.

Soon Kunal gets a chance of a lifetime when he finds his face printed on every newspaper in Mumbai proclaiming that he is being launched under a big banner. Thinking fate has suddenly turned the spotlight on him, he runs to the studio only to find that fate has served him a ‘double’ blow. He is being offered the role of a body double since he looks just like the producer’s son, Karan Saxena, who is being launched with so much fanfare.

The story rolls on with some intriguing twists and turns in the life of both. It turns out to be the story of the Prince and the Pauper where the pauper is the smarter one and the prince is just not interested in the glamour and glitz of tinsel town.

Is Kunal Khemu the ‘superstar’? If you go by his recipe of becoming a superstar as he puts it in the film — Shah Rukh Khan ka charm, Aamir Khan ka intensity, Hrithik ka dance... — we can just say that acting is his forte and he does justice to whatever he has to do on screen. Be it the emotional scenes or the dance-fight routine he does it with a lot of confidence. Not at all a new-kid-on-the-block, child-actor-turned-hero Kunal is able to hold his own quite convincingly.

But a film is not made just by its star-to-be. Reema Lagoo makes for an endearing and comic mom (minus the loudness of Kirron Kher in OSO). Sharat Saxena does well as the tough father with a soft core. And Darshan Gandhi Zariwala as the money-minded producer also fits the bill. Tulip and Aushima have well-fleshed-out roles that are relevant to the film. The screenplay is engaging and a couple of songs are good. For Rohit Jugraj this looks like a good beginning, if only he can forget his last faulty Factory product James.

So is Kunal Khemu a superstar? Let’s wait and watch.

(Is Kunal Khemu the next big thing? Tell t2@abpmail.com)

Madhuparna Das