Films are made for information and entertainment. In either, there has to be a level of commitment and the use of grey cells that make the film interesting to the viewer. However, when a plot is aimless and the rest of the action is as useless, it collapses under its own weight.

There have been several Bollywood movies that have flopped, but sometimes it’s more, a complete disaster. Here is one such movie that should not have been shot in the first place. If the producers thought that it can repeat Malayalam movie success by just copying it, then they were just dreaming. Another of Akshay Kumar’s projects bites the dust.

Selfiee (that is the spelling, believe me) tells the story of Vijay Kumar (played by Akshay Kumar) and an RTO employee named Om Prakash Agarwal (played by Emraan Hashmi).

Due to certain reasons, film star Vijay Kumar (Akshay Kumar) needs to get another driver’s permit. For this work, he goes to Om Prakash Agarwal (Emraan Hashmi), an RTO officer. The RTO officer is a fervent supporter of the movie star, but their miscommunication caused chaos. The entire nation and the media eventually lose track of the dispute between the two.

The story of Selfiee is told through the events that occur in the city, where a well-known movie star who wants to renew his licence runs into a supporter of the motor vehicle officer. Confusion leads to numerous disputes and problems between the leads.

RTO Transport Officer Om Prakash Agarwal and his son Gabbu are big fans of superstar Vijay Kumar. They are excited when Vijay Kumar arrives in their hometown Bhopal for a shoot and they dream of having a selfie with him. Vijay needs to submit his driving licence for a film shoot, but realizes it has been misplaced. To save his producer from losses he connects with his big fan politician Vimla Tiwari to get a licence in short time.

Om Prakash’s dream comes near when he is assigned the job to issue licence to Vijay Kumar, but requests Vimla Tiwari to convince Vijay to come to their office for a selfie. Vijay agrees, and on reaching the office he realises that there is media all over and misunderstands that Om Prakash has planned everything in order to become famous and humiliates him.

Om Prakash cannot take this humiliation from his icon and fires back at Vijay Kumar which leads to a national war between a common man and a superstar.

In a scene from the movie Selfiee, Akshay Kumar can be seen dancing and taking a selfie alongside Emraan Hashmi, who is dressed as an officer in red and white. This prompts an immediate reaction to the hype of this movie from the audience.

A snippet from Selfiee shows Akshay Kumar dressed in a sharp charcoal coloured suit alongside fellow Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi in a red and white plaid shirt dancing and clicking a selfie to a song of the titular name.

The film is Prithviraj Productions’ debut in Hindi-language cinema, and it is joining hands with Dharma Productions for the same.

Malayalam Hit Remake Movie

Driving licence, a Malayalam film released on December 19 with a budget of just Rs 4 crores, grossed approximately Rs 30 crores at the box office. The film’s main characters were played by Suraj Venjarammoodu and Prithviraj Sukumaran. It received support from Magic Frames and Prithviraj Productions. 

Review

Director Raj Mehta, who reunites with Akshay after Good Newwz, handles the movie’s first half adeptly, keeps it entertaining and breezy, and peppers it with hilarious one-liners that the actor delivers effortlessly. However, the second half, which centers around the face-off between the two heroes, is not as high on humour. It’s watchable, nevertheless, even if the parts that revolve around the licence test are a bit stretched. The outing also takes a dig at the trial by media phenomenon and the #BoycottBollywood movement. But, depicting instances of loud electronic media coverages is becoming repetitive and stale in our movies.

While the main leads shine, Abhimanyu Singh as a fading superstar Suraj and Meghna Malik as the starstruck corporator, Kamla Tiwari, are more than impressive. Abhimanyu is hilarious as Vijay’s erstwhile roomie and someone now stuck spewing cringe-worthy lines for shady films and ads. After a couple of instances, though, his parts seem forced. Social media influencer Kusha Kapila, in a cameo as a tarot card reader, does a good job. But Meghna stands out, especially with her impeccable comic timing in scenes with Akshay. Diana Penty as Vijay’s Naina, doesn’t have much of a role to play here but whatever capacity she can plays the classy and supportive wife does well. Nushrratt Bharuccha, who is familiar with the comedy genre, manages to pull off the act of a young Bhopali woman and Om Prakash’s better half, Minty, well.

Anu Mailik and Tanishk Bagchi’s ‘Main Khiladi’ redux is dance-worthy, and Lijo George-DJ Chetas’s title track, as well as Vikram Montrose’s ‘Sher,’ are pumped up.

Overall, Selfiee is an easy-breezy watch, with some good performances and several laugh-out-loud moments. If you’re looking for a rib-tickling comedy over the weekend, this one could be a good pick.

The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote “Overall, Selfiee is an easy-breezy watch, with some good performances and several laugh-out-loud moments. If you’re looking for a rib-tickling comedy over the weekend, this one could be a good pick.

Bollywood Hungama gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote ” SELFIE works due to the plot, direction, dialogues and faceoff between the actors. At the box office, the film will have to rely on strong word of mouth and spot bookings to make a mark.”

Zinia Bandyopadhyay of India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote “Akshay Kumar-Emraan Hashmi roll out a good remake that’s genuinely fun”. Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times wrote “Akshay Kumar gets up, close and personal with his superstardom in this mass entertainer”.Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost gave 2.25 out of 5 stars and wrote “A reasonably entertaining Akshay Kumar starrer after a long time”.

Production

The film was announced in January 2022  with a motion poster by Dharma Productions.

Principal photography commenced in March 2022 in Mumbai and wrapped up in December 2022.

Budget

150 crores (Approximately)

Box office collection:

The film collected Rs2.55 crore (US$320,000) India net on its opening day becoming one of the lowest openings of Akshay Kumar.

As of 10 March 2023, the film has grossed Rs19.76 crore (US$2.5 million) in India and Rs3.57 crore (US$450,000) overseas for a worldwide gross collection of Rs23.33 crore (US$2.9 million).

 Name of movie:  Selfie

Release: (Feb 24) At theater

Star cast:           

• Akshay Kumar as Vijay Kumar
• Emraan Hashmi as Om Prakash Agarwal
• Nushrratt Bharuccha
• Diana Penty
• Mohammad Talib Shah
• Mrunal Thakur
• Sunny Yadav
• Dj Virus
• Neel Vishal Mishra

Director:  Raj Mehta

Producer: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Karan Johar

Writer:  Rishabh Sharma

Music : Anu Malik, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Tanishk Bagchi, Lijo George-DJ Chetas

Production House : Dharma Productions, Cape of Good Films, Prithviraj Productions, and Magic Frames

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