This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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The problem is not with the story, but the screenplay [also penned by Sujoy Ghosh]. It rests on absurdities. Okay, one expects absurdities in a fantasy, you can be pardoned for it, but at least they should have the power to keep you hooked. In this case, they don’t! You can’t overlook two major flaws in the writing… One, Amitabh refrains from revealing the past to Riteish, till Sanjay Dutt arrives on the scene and spills the beans. Two, the flashback portion – which resulted in Riteish’s parents losing their lives – is haphazard. It’s not easy to comprehend. Also, the entire track, when Amitabh loses his powers and becomes an ordinary mortal, looks gimmicky. At the same time, it looks weird when Amitabh fights an entire army of Sanju’s henchmen in the end. It gets very formulaic at this point. Not just that, even the climax is ridiculous. Sujoy Ghosh’s screenplay is bad, to put it bluntly. Given the kind of stars and budget at his disposal, the director should’ve come up with a slick entertainer, but ALADIN comes across as a feeble clone of a poor Hollywood film. Like his last outing HOME DELIVERY, this one too is high on gloss, but low on content. The visual effects are excellent at places, but tacky at times. Vishal-Shekhar’s music is strictly okay. However, too many songs in the initial reels act as roadblocks. The cinematography is top notch. ALADIN belongs to Riteish, who’s easy on the eyes. The best part is, he looks the character and enacts it without going overboard. He’s at his natural best here. Surprisingly, Amitabh Bachchan is over the top this time, which puts you off after a point. Sanjay Dutt has two standard expressions from start to end. Jacqueline Fernandez gets no scope, but she looks gorgeous nonetheless. Ratna Pathak Shah is wasted. Ditto for Victor Banerjee. And what is a wonderful actor like Mita Vashisht doing in this film? Saahil Khan and Arif Zakaria are okay.
On the whole, ALADIN is a terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. Hugely disappointing!
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