HELICOPTER EELA begins on a haphazard note. The film then suddenly goes into a flashback mode and the beginning of this portion is quite convenient, especially how Eela is praised by one and all in the music industry. But the worst part of the film is how Arun decides to leave Eela and his family for a silly reason. Directed by Pradeep Sarkar. With Kajol, Riddhi Sen, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Neha Dhupia. Eela is an aspiring playback singer and single mother. She has given up all her dreams to raise her only son. But now her baby son 'Vivan' is all grown up and being a typical young millennial, doesn't want his mother's life to revolve around him. But being an over protective mother, Eela has other ideas. ‘Helicopter Eela’ film review: A soothing watch. But what lets the movie down is the simplistic manner in which the movie explores the life of a single mother. Register to read and get. The release of Ajay Devgn’s production, starring wife Kajol, Helicopter Eela has been postponed to a later date. The film was earlier slated to hit screens on September 7.
Story : HELICOPTER EELA is the story of a mother and a son. Eela Raitodkar (Kajol) is an aspiring singer and is in love with lyricist Arun (Tota Roy Choudhury). She gets a major break as a singer and actor in a pop song. However, in the middle of the song shoot, the project gets shelved after the underworld gives threats to the director, Mahesh Bhatt. Eela meanwhile gets married to Arun. Their son Vivaan is born soon. All is going well until one day when Arun gets the news that his relative, in his 30s, has passed away. This is when Eela casually remarks how all the men in his family have died before they reached the age of 40. This scares Arun who realises that his end might be near. He decides to abandon Eela, Vivaan and his mother (Kamini Khanna). Eela has to give up her singing aspirations as she gets busy in raising Vivaan. Some twenty years later, Vivaan (Riddhi Sen) is now a college student. Eela is still as paranoid about Vivaan as she was before. Vivaan feels suffocated and he advises Eela to pursue her music or complete her education so that she gets busy and doesn’t bug him. Eela decides to do the latter and she joins Vivaan’s college. If that isn’t enough, she manages to get admission in Vivaan’s class. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Mitesh Shah and Anand Gandhi’s story is adapted from the Gujarati play BETA KAAGDO, written by the latter. It is very unconvincing. Still it could have been a bit decent if the script had covered some loose ends nicely. But Mitesh Shah and Anand Gandhi’s screenplay is terribly flawed and all over the place. Also certain developments would leave the viewers stunned as it’s so senseless. Mitesh Shah’s dialogues are okay.
Direction : Pradeep Sarkar’s direction is very weak. He has given some decent films in the past but HELICOPTER EELA is his worst film yet for sure. Also the film is titled so since Eela hovers around her son like a helicopter. But this is not explained properly in the film. Hence the viewers would be confused with regards to the title.
HELICOPTER EELA begins on a haphazard note. The film then suddenly goes into a flashback mode and the beginning of this portion is quite convenient, especially how Eela is praised by one and all in the music industry. But the worst part of the film is how Arun decides to leave Eela and his family for a silly reason. It is unbelievable how this bit of the script even got approved. Moreover, Eela’s education is never stressed upon initially and there was no inclination that she is not a graduate. As a result, Eela suddenly deciding to join college seems random. Post interval, the silliness continues and things continue to happen at random. In a crucial scene, Arun arrives again and one expects things to heat up. But he leaves as suddenly as he comes back. Immediately after this scene, Eela is seen singing the song ‘Oh Krishna you’re the greatest musician’. Wonder what made the makers chose this song out of all songs. It is sure to induce unintentional laughter. The film gets a bit moving when Vivaan decides to stay away from Eela. The climax as expected is also far fetched and stretched. The end credit scenes makes one laugh wondering what exactly were the makers thinking.
Acting : Kajol delivers a fine performance and in some scenes, she does bring a smile and even leaves audiences teary eyed. In the flashback sequence however, she gets over the top. Riddhi Sen delivers a terrific performance. This National Award winning actor remains in his character and does very well. Neha Dhupia (Padma) is fine in a supporting role. Tota Roy Choudhury is laughable. Kamini Khanna is decent. Zakir Hussain (Principal Vivek Joshi) is good but in the end, it’s funny to see him getting scolded by a student. Rashi Mal (Nikita) has a good screen presence. Chirag Malhotra (Yash) has an important part and is decent. The cameos by Amitabh Bachchan, Mahesh Bhatt, Ila Arun, Baba Sehgal, Shaan, Anu Malik, Ganesh Acharya etc add to the star value.
Music : Amit Trivedi’s music is nothing special. ‘Ruk Ruk Ruk’ is the best song of the lot and is thankfully not a remix created for the heck of it. It has a significance in the film. ‘Mumma Ki Parchai’ comes next and has quirky lyrics. ‘Yaadow Ki Almari’is a bit underwhelming while ‘Janam’ doesn’t work. Daniel B George’s background score is in sync with the film’s mood.
Review : Sirsha Ray’s cinematography is neat. Madhu Sarkar and Bhavani Patel’s production design is rich. Radhika Mehra, Shubha Mitra and Punam Mullick’s costumes is appealing. NY VFXwalla’s VFX is terrible while Dharmendra Sharma’s editing is haphazard.
On the whole, HELICOPTER EELA is a poorly made film and has too many loose ends and silly moments. At the box office, this helicopter is bound to crash!
Helicopter parenting, also known as “They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do”, is one of the themes of Pradeep Sarkar’s latest movie. Kajol stars as Eela, a former model and singer who has had to give up her career after her husband Arun (Tota Roy Chowdhury) walked out on the family when their son Vivan was a tot. Arun has been spooked by the fact that all the men in his clan have died young, and he believes that rather than collapsing on the sofa in front of his family, he will wander off to live the rest of his life elsewhere.
In a movie with greater coherence and depth than this one, Arun’s motives might have been explained better – a bent towards asceticism, perhaps, or an inability to assume responsibility. At any rate, Vivan’s grandmother (Kamini Khanna) is unmoved by Arun’s departure (he might as well have gone out for a long jog). Eela, however, reacts by evolving from mother into smotherer. She becomes the nag of nightmares who thinks nothing of landing up at Vivan’s school picnic, eavesdropping on his phone conversations, and butting into his personal space at any opportunity.
It’s a miracle that Vivan (Riddhi Sen) grows up to be a normal teenager without Norman Bates tendencies. When Eela decides to complete her neglected education and enrol in the same college course as her son, Vivan doesn’t reach for the razor. He treats the whole thing like a rash of pimples that will eventually go away. Like his grandmother, Vivan seems to know a thing or two about scripting contrivances. He knows that the entire set-up has been created to ensure a heart-tugging climax in which Eela will finally come into her own.
The delayed coming-of-tale, by Anand Gandhi and Mitesh Shah and based on Gandhi’s Gujarati play Beta Kaagdo, has an interesting premise but misses several beats. The pre-interval section is almost entirely a flashback, and suggests that Eela might have been a 1990s Indipop star if Arun hadn’t fled the coop. The post-interval bits deal with the piquant situation that arises out of Eela and Vivan sharing a classroom. Neha Dhupia stars as Padma, a boho-chic dressing teacher with a bad temper who is the only adult in a room filled with adolescents (Eela included), while Zakir Hussain plays the college principal who is always available to solve trifling matters.
The start-stop narrative, which feels jerky and disjointed, contains the ghost of a screwball comedy. Eela’s endeavours to micro-manage Vivan’s existence raises a few laughs, and suggest that the movie might have worked better as a farce about typically controlling Indian parents and fed-up children than a self-realisation fantasy. Potentially interesting questions about the challenges and loneliness faced by single mothers and a woman’s struggle to unearth her suppressed self barely get a look-in (it doesn’t helps that Vivan, rather than Eela, comes up with all the solutions). The bond between mother and son has its sweet spots, and yet, none of the characters feels sharply observed.
The sense of alienation is deepened by the plasticky nature of the production, which feels like a commercial or a television show, and Eela’s visible make-up and elegant wardrobe (she even wears a silk kurta while fixing breakfast). Kajol over-does the chirpiness and flakiness, and doesn’t have Riddhi Sen’s comfort level in the comic scenes. She settles down when the movie finally does. The extended climax is pure schmaltz, but is rousing enough to ensure that Helicopter Eela doesn’t crash-land all the way but escapes with significant damage.
