REVIEW: Detective Naani is a bore!

In all fairness you have to give it to Romila Mukherjee, who has brought together some very prominent faces from the television together for her first feature film Detective Naani.

The film that tells the story of an enterprising grandmother solving a mystery case stars Ava Mukherjee, the popular grandmother figure from the Dabur advertisements. There is also Amrita Saluja, the hip Whirlpool mom whom Kajol replaced recently. Shweta Gulati, the girl who starred in an immensely popular television show called Remix also puts up an appearance here.

Sadly though, none of these ladies manage to create the remotest impact – a far cry from the sales and TRPs they managed to garner through their commercials and television serials.

The story of Detective Naani is pretty straightforward. You have the eponymous Naani (Mukherjee) who stumbles upon a murder that no one has witnessed.

When she gets little or no help from the CID, Naani decides to take matters in her own hands. Unknown to her, her aspiring detective grandson (Zain Khan) also joins in the investigations.

Not to be outdone a bunch of neighbours who seem to have nothing better to do think it wise to help Naani with her investigations rather than report to the police.

On the side you have a romance brewing between two college-going teenagers played by Shweta Gulati and Amit Varma. Giving them company and mixing pleasure with work is the CID officer (played by former Gladrags winner Ankur Nayyar) who is attracted to Naani's divorcee daughter (played by Amrita Saluja).

In an interview somewhere, Romila Mukherjee was quoted as saying that the movie isn't a kiddie flick and she was hoping to target everyone from '6 to 60'. Perhaps that is the reason there are songs and dances, a small teenybopper romantic track and a prominent presence of children in the movie.

Unfortunately these are the very reasons why the movie ends up being such a hotchpotch. It stretches for as long as 135-odd minutes and manages to give out some rather confusing signals.

What for instance, should we take home after watching this movie? That it is okay for a kid to jump into the boot of the car and follow a bunch of goons? Or it's fine for elderly persons take matters in their hands simply because they have nothing better to do with their time? Or worse still it is perfectly safe to go out and meet some random bloke you've been chatting with online?

Indeed, the movie seems to base itself on some vague idea of bravado. The never-ending screenplay, below average direction and some rather sloppy performances don't make this movie remotely interesting.

There are films that you can discount for having their heart in the right place. You cannot say the same in the case of Detective Naani.

Verdict: Kids, if you ever decide to watch this movie don't try any of it at home.

Rating: 1/5