Simran (2017) User Reviews

Simran is a sorry joke of a movie in the name of feminism

[tlrg-legend · 4/10 · 18 September 2017]

Poor Aamir Khan he put in so much of effort to loot banks in Dhoom 3 in the USA, had he spoken with Hansal Mehta he would have just used a lipstick. Frankly this is not the first time that Mehta has taken the basic intelligence of his audiences for granted. In the overrated drag called Citylights he did show us a Mumbai based security agency which had the authority to shoot people for security.

Simran proves that Kangana is a decent actress, it also proves that NanaPatekarisation of the lady is complete. Like Nana in 90s Kangana's movies, characters and dialogues are now all looking the same and boring. Simran suffers from the same weakness. Simran is a sorry joke of a movie in the name of feminism. The character of Simran evokes no sympathy and comes across as a selfish, shallow confused woman.

The screenplay's pace could make a moving snail look like a speeding Ferrari.

Stay away from this con job in the name of intellectual Cinema. If you want to see a good entertaining movie with a social message try posterboys if it is still running. That is better value for money.

Half a star because as usual Desi Martini does not allow me to give a zero.

A watchable but poorly written and executed heist film

[Peter_Young · 5/10 · 22 September 2021]

Okay, Simran tells the story of its eponymous 'heroine', a young Indian immigrant in the US who becomes a serial bank robber to repay her debts following major losses in a gambling bout. Once she performs successfully her first robbery there's no looking back for her. Said to be based on the true story of Sandeep Kaur, a young Sikh immigrant in the US who made headlines following a number of successful robberies, this crime comedy is not just about the protagonist's crimes but also her life in general. It is with the robberies that the film picks up a little but sadly it is really poorly executed and there's some sort of amateur feel to it which is very present all along and is hard to shake off. Especially for those who watch American films of the sort, even the low-budget independent ones, the film's flaws and inept handling especially of the criminal activities and characters become more strongly evident. The American actors in the bit parts are also very poor. This is not to say the film is not good at all, it is watchable although it lacks this special something that would captivate. And it's a shame when you have a leading lady who is as strong as Kangana Ranaut. She is effortless in the part, playing it with a nice touch of self-deprecation and managing to evoke some empathy from the viewers in light of her impossible tribulations. Sadly, the material lets her down and the entire thing is not fully realised. Simran is not a terrible film, for sure. It is enjoyable in parts, it is funny in others, and Ranaut does make up for some of its flaws, which is enough for one watch but doesn't call for more.

Wrong tone throws the film out of shape

[samyuktha-jayaprakash · 4/10 · 29 September 2017]

I walked into the movie theatre with no preconceived idea of the movie. The ticket was just 90 bucks and it had Kangana as the lead. How bad could it be? Very Very Very bad.

It is very easy to shake of a bad 'commercial' star film. Almost all of them are bad and no one really takes them seriously. However , it is much more frustrating to watch an amazing performer like Kangana get caught in an awful script which she apparently wrote herself!

The movie starts of very nicely. Watching an independent , hardworking NRI woman let her hair loose in Vegas was immensely fun. If the film had followed that path of her balancing work and play we would have all had a good time.

The films plot goes awry when our heroine loses all her money to gambling and ends up owing money to a shady gangster type person. Instead of trying to work for it or report to the police about the goondagiri of the moneylenders she decides to coerce her father to give money. When doesn't work out she plans to rob a bank acting like she is carrying explosives.

Read more in my review here:- https://assortedboxblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/oye-simran-arey- kingsman/

Save yourselves two hours and don't watch it.

[perisowmya · 2/10 · 19 October 2017]

I am glad I watched this movie on Amazon, at least I had the fast forward option. The acting is cringe worthy, the scenes are abysmal, the story is, well, not a story.

First, if talk about the genre, its not comedy, it's not romance, it's bad B-grade drama. The trailer and the actor made it seem like a feminist movie. That is correct if you consider a woman making bad life choices rejecting help from a nice man feminist.

The story is about a woman with no sense of finance who loses all her money gambling. She loans a lot of money form the loan sharks and ends up losing that too.The story is about her awfully unrealistic struggle to pay them back.

The script lacks depth, believe me not even a mm worth of depth. The movie tried to touch a lot of different topics, Indian woman divorcée, Indian bride having second thoughts, a Muslim friend who is against terrorism, typical Indian parents and their parenting measures, arranged marriages, Gujarati wedding song, some parts of the movie "Queen" where Kangana has fun on foreign land, promotion of contraception, gambling problems, loan sharks and their meanness, and so on and so forth. But the script didn't stick with any of the topics long enough to make actual impact.

The scenes have no continuation whatsoever. The mood of the movie was ever changing, it literally gave me a headache to keep up with that. I am not even going to say that the best part of the movie is when it ended, because even the ending was a disaster. It left me so unsettled that I had to create the IMDb account and just write it away. Also, I might have to go on a cleanse movie binge watching Shoojit Sarkar.

No wonder the woman had to do all those interviews, the marketing was the only thing that could bring some money back into the bad investment that was this movie.

Engrossing and well-performed

[lamemoviesguy · 7/10 · 15 September 2017]

So finally Simran is out after a 2-3 week drama surrounding its main actor's real life. And even though most of the audience who has seen the movie appears to be liking it, the film has received mixed response, even if mostly positive (primarily so because of Kangana's performance), from Indian critics.

Here's my take on what makes the movie work and what holds it from becoming a memorable cinematic piece.

I found the movie really engrossing. It slows a little bit in its second half before picking up again. What I want from a movie in the first place is that it should really hook me to my seat and Simran delivers.

I am sure that I do not need to talk about performance. Kangana seems to be getting better with her every movie that comes out, leaving her contemporaries far behind.

The story-line is quite new for Hindi cinema - it is about a flawed protagonist who lets simple human aspirations get out of hand and ruin her life. Bombshell Bandit, whose real life is the inspiration for this drama, was described by the American judge hearing her case as "one of the criminal minds that the court does not understand". It is about a very gray character - who does things we absolutely do not approve of, yet her personality and the movie make her appear innocent and somewhat likable.

And it is not just the criminal who is hard to understand but also the people around her. That she is able to rob banks based on handwritten threats and fake revolver may seem nonsense and hard to believe, but they are true to the real-life story of Bombshell Bandit. (It is probably not that the American police could not catch her, but that they probably deemed that the amounts robbed were not big enough to warrant resources for a full-fledged forensic investigation.)

That said, the movie gets messy, very messy in fact, in the second half. It is a tough topic to handle and the first part of the movie does very well. At the end of the day, this is a tragic story to show and there are no two ways about it. As Praf gets into more trouble, the movie becomes very difficult to watch for a lot of audience - after all, so many have tried their hands at gambling and felt the urge to continue. I wish the screenwriter and director had maintained the honesty of the first half of the movie in the second half, and let the story take its course. Instead, they try to assuage the audience's experience by attempting to make the robberies look light-hearted and funny (with a lively score in the background!). All the mood and the intensity that the first half has invested so much in building suddenly comes apart, and the movie begins to appear contrived and fake. Come on - these are bank robberies! Simran commits her first robbery as if it were plucking an apple from a wild tree. This is the first time she is committing a robbery - would she feel no mental dilemma and hesitation?? Though developed very well in the first half, suddenly, Simran's character appears to be a joke in the second half. And what's with Simran enjoying romance and ballads in the midst of all mental trouble? I almost feels that two different people have made the two halves of the movie.

Some people may complain that the movie packs too much and jumps over genres, but that is what real drama ought to be like. Nobody's life is a monotonous track; we live our lives in some moments of exhilaration/ comedy, some of dullness and some of tragedy; so why should any good drama be different? However, it takes extreme talent to pull off comedy in amidst suspense and tension, and the screenwriter and director are missing that flair here.

To its credit, the movie spans multiple themes, such as bad habits (esp gambling), bad company, women's (particularly divorcée) aspirations, immigrant life, marriage and sex, love, etc. but only manages to scratch the surface. In a mature Western society, these may merely be matters of common existence, but in Indian society, each of these can take on the role of a solo theme in itself and so the Indian audience can potentially feel confused and exhausted. I wish they had focused on driving home the messages of gambling dangers and lost American dream with more intensity.

Horrible movie

[ateetagrawal · 1/10 · 21 October 2017]

I wish I could give negative review.

How can a movie be this bad? What is wrong with Kangana?

First of all, the Gujarati accent is totally wrong. The characters are all confused. They have no purpose, no direction.

The lead looked like a retard to me. The movie is full of plot holes.

You can't rob 4 banks in 10 days and get away with it. Where are the security guards? Where are the cameras? I don't think this can happen even in Somalia.

Directory Hansal Mehta made a mockery of audience's intelligence. Incredibly stupid movie. Its not funny, its not intelligent, no suspense, no drama, no thrill, no romance and NO MESSAGE.

Simran is a commentary on the lost American dream, the societal lookout on an independent Indian woman and the misplaced fear on brown people post 9/11.

[commentatorship · 7/10 · 16 September 2017]

Simran is a commentary on the lost American dream, the societal lookout on an independent Indian woman and the misplaced fear on brown people post 9/11.

The main supporting characters are all one note – the frustrated father, the emotionally fragile mother, the caring partner, the stereotypical colleagues and such caricaturish villains that it is hard to care for any of these people. And this is where Simran falters.The film struggles with identity crisis- it can't seem to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a serious film and this is most evident in the second half when things become so absurd that you will find your eyes rolling.

https://commentatorship.wordpress.com/2017/09/16/movie-review-simran/

Highly motivating

[sagarva · 1/10 · 22 October 2017]

I felt highly motivated to sign up on IMDb to give this movie a 1 star rating.

A total waste of a Sunday evening. NEver ,,,,ever ever... watching a kangana movie again

ANd now IMDb didn't allow me to post this without typing 5 lines of text. so here you go

A bubbly entertainer worthwhile for Kangana Ranaut's vivacious performance.....

[SumanShakya · 6/10 · 30 January 2018]

A divorced lady in her 30s loses all her money in Los Vegas' casino and burrows a huge sum of money from a gangster, which she loses too. To pay back, she starts to rob the banks as the notorious "The Lipstick Bandit." This summons a gullible plot of "Simran," said to be loosely based on a real life story; but nevertheless, it keeps one watching for the curiosity and entertainment it creates. Kangana Ranaut as a feisty single lady steals the show with the shades she gives to her character, and the glossy look of the film often does the wonder. Despite an ease and the implausibility the film carries, it surely is entertaining and worthwhile.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 4

Good acting is never enough when the film got no head and hands

[tulipwoodland · 1/10 · 17 September 2017]

I don't understand what message did Hansal Mehta tried to convey through this. Just a feminist card played through its trailer, while the film is nowhere near its exciting trailer. A super flaw which you won't digest is bank robbing which is so casually shown, I don't understand what was the thought in making such a pathetic film. Don't waste your money, it's a warning

Simran is just OK at best

[kimayarawat · 17 September 2017]

Praful is an NRI who lives in America and works as housekeeping staff in a hotel. America is known as land of the free and the home of the brave, but she still lives with her parents so how free and brave can she really be? Especially when she's a 30-year-old divorcée? Praful's frustration comes across as real and believable. It's not overly sentimentalized but you can feel it under your skin, nevertheless. Kangana did an good job as a Gujrati immigrant women but the script, however, doesn't match up...also it doesn't help that the movie run time is like 4 hours. First half is somewhat enjoyable but all that is ruined by the pace of the movie in the second half, the writing is weak and the direction is not so convincing, knowing that this movie is coming from an director like Hansal Mehta who has directed movies like Shahid and Citylights, looks like he has missed the mark this time.

The story is inspired from the life of Sandeep Kaur, a Punjabi Indian woman who robbed banks in the US to support her expensive lifestyle. But Simran doesn't take this devolution seriously enough. In its determination to keep the proceedings light, the plot ends up making things look too easy and convenient. I did take guilty pleasure from the car chase towards the end that had the FBI look like incompetent clowns though. Hollywood has made them look too good for ages. When it comes to romance, there's a bit of it with a Mr Nice Guy who turns up to rescue Praful from her difficult circumstances, while their relationship is sweet though, it becomes an unnecessary distraction after a point. The dude is just too nice, put him in a ghagra and he'd be a 90s heroine. The other characters in the film are all one note and don't really make an impression.

If you're a Kangana fan, you can forgive the film for its flaws if only to see 'Simran' running to catch a metaphorical train...not for a happy ending with a man, but for a beginning for herself. If you're going to watch this movie thinking the experience would be like Queen and Tanu weds Manu then prepare to be heavily disappointed cause in reality, it's far from it and just OK at best.

Kangana rocks but cant save the film

[pancholi-kota · 6/10 · 10 November 2017]

If I had not known that this film was loosely based on real events,I wud have found it incredulous and just a star vehicle.The fact that a Punjabi girl did manage to pull off some of such stunts in the US is worthy of respect.I dunt know why the director switched her regional identity from Punjabi to Gujarati,and if that has worked perfectly.Sure,with Gujjus in the mix,u can drop words like investment,stocks,fafda and thepla,and u can also take liberties with the accent.Besides,Kangana played a Punjabi girl in Queen as well,and this must have necessitated a change in the identity. KR has a raw charm.She bares her soul on the camera.She is not afraid of coming across as uncouth and unsophisticated.Even when she overacts,she has the charisma to get away woth it.And of course she overdoes her part a lot of times,but it doesn't hurt the film.Its her show,and u dunt mind watching.

As for the character she plays,Lipstick Bandit is out-of-control.Its one thing to rebel,quite another to be a gambling and alcohol addict.And then to rob banks to pay off ur debts ! U might love KR,but u have mixed feelings about Simran,and that is where lies the brilliance of the actress.There is definitely a story to tell,and it is told with doable sincerity.Yet the screenplay cud have been a tad tighter,and other characters made rounder.KR floats alone amidst a crowd of caricatures.Now we know that the west is paranoid after 9/11 but then u cant just present the cops as retards.

This film can be watched for KR.Its not a boring film.But why shud HAnsal Mehta (Aligarh,shahid,city lights) waste his time here ? well,I have heard he and Rajkumar are ready with Omerta .Simran must have provided some comic relief in the interlude.

Worst movie, I don't understand what is the message that's being conveyed in this movie !

[kutekrish · 1/10 · 20 October 2017]

Praful (Kangana Ranaut) and her parents live in Atlanta, US. She is one of the house keeping staff in a hotel. She tries to save money and buy a house in the US but her father is not into it. Her friend invites her to join her in Las Vegas for a weekend and while she is there, she gambles & wins $2,000. She instantly becomes fond of gambling and wants to gamble more and eventually loses all her savings (close to $8,000). Her friend literally pulls her out of the place and puts her in the flight back to Atlanta.

When she is back, the bank informs her of her poor credit history and that she has spent $8,000 in just one day and rejects her loan. Frustrated, she arranges for more money (from where!?!) and goes back to Vegas in an attempt to win back, but loses terribly again. She gets drunk and takes $32,000 loan from a private money lender against her Social Security Card (US's Aadhar Card) & Driver's license and loses that too

The private lender follows her back home and asks her to pay-back $50,000 with interest. She doesn't have that much money and tries her hand in robbing banks! She robs a total of 4 banks and collects $42,000 and keeps it in her workplace but due to lack of her focus on work, she gets suspended. The manager at workplace finds out that she has been stealing and takes all her money. The private lender gets impressed by her "smartness" and gives her a gun and asks her to rob another bank. She successfully robs $90,000 and on her way back, gets chased by police. She leads the police to the manager and gets him arrested and surrenders herself.

Possibly the worst movie I have seen in a long, long time.

[hypothetical_alien15 · 3/10 · 17 September 2017]

I don't know where to begin. I watched this movie after reading some unfavorable reviews and knew what I was up against. I had zero expectations and decided to catch a screening only because I had time to kill and this movie had the best ratings out of the many that were being screened. Unfortunately, I underestimated the true potential for Indian cinema's bizarrely terrible mainstream products. This was perhaps the highlight of amateurish modern-day direction and the writing was only a shade better to begin with, but oh boy, did that change fast.

I'd hate to spoil the movie for you, but let me just say that there is plenty of action, all of which is the most non-sensical bullshit produced this year. There is plenty of drama; perhaps a tad extra for my taste but nothing out of the ordinary for a Bollywood film trying its best to be serious. There is plenty of humour, all of which is wrought with so much cringe that your face hurts from contorting it into odd shapes and forms. And then there is the absolute insanity that is Kangana Ranaut's performance as a five year-old child.

But hey, maybe you enjoy shitshows like the vast majority of Indian audiences that patronize cinema halls across the country. Maybe you enjoy shoddily written character plots, bad acting, abysmal direction, and the occasional racial stereotyping portrayed so conveniently. Maybe you just love seeing glimpses of a foreign country you've never been to and dream of settling down in for god-knows-what reason and seek inspiration only through fictional films that have no semblance of reality. But hey, maybe you're just an idiot.

In short, Simran was a traumatising experience and I doubt I could watch another Bollywood film this year because I might have just developed a new phobia.

Kangana alone can carry a film on her shoulders

[drsaicat · 7/10 · 29 July 2020]

I must say I am impressed by Kangana Ranaut's performance in this film. Her acting is so outstanding, that she reminds me of the greatest of the actors who can , 'become" their characters. She has beautifully portrayed her state of mind on her expressions and carried the entire film on her shoulders. I am not aware of any actress in present day Bollywood (Except Kajol and Rani) who can do this. The film is successful in what it was trying to do, I.e to tell a story. This is the story of a real life Indian girl who is actually in the prison. The film is her story. Not every movie is meant for giving a message to the society. But if you want a message, here it is " Don't be like Praful, or you will end up in jail". Lol

useless overacting

[bharalinipon2 · 1/10 · 19 September 2017]

I have been noticing her for overacting from a last few movies . This is by far worst . no story , no acting and nothing to see. Just money waster . Hope she starts working on her acting than drama over TV for popularity . People should start appreciating real small movies actor who do the hard work , instead of these kind of arrogant jerk I will rate this trash 1/10

Kangana is a natural

[shubhamjohri-2012 · 6/10 · 5 June 2021]

Kangana is a natural and slays the role. But the viewer wonders how an amateur thief like her character is able to pull off successive bank heists with such ease. The plot dumbs down the police forces.

too dumb

[sanjaypillai · 1/10 · 15 September 2017]

There is no sensible plot. Couple of stupid jokes here and there. Looks like nobody bothered to edit it. Dabaang looked more coherent than this one. don't waste your money , don't even download the torrent. after the interval we were like what the hell is happening. Spoiler: you commit 4 armed robbery and you get out of jail in 1 year?

Good acting by Kangana..

[zacheusp · 6/10 · 6 August 2020]

The movie is not bad.. Not like usual Bollywood movies.. With its bold theme, it is a good entertainer. Kangana is good as always ably supported by other actors. Three things I liked most are : 1. Main protagonist with her false sense of rebelliousness, finally coming to her senses and reconciliating with her parents. 2. The anguish and helplessness of her father who always wanted the betterment of her. We all can connect with him. 3. Her fiance trying to help her in spite of knowing her true nature..

Ssssss

[shankhan-59574 · 3/10 · 17 September 2017]

What I expected from the lead character all went wrong. Weak story no creativity, no suspense only drama Queen. Whole movie is a joke. Nothing new related to other Bollywood movies which we have seen earlier. Then why to spend our time and money on some movies which teaches nothing new to learn. People will forget this movie very soon and count it as one of her failure movies of actress Kangana.

I believed on Kangana and went to watch movie which I found is crap. This movie has nothing to be discussed therefore i will give it 1 rating. Maybe kids would like this movie.

I call it . . Healthy Movie for Mind!

[LanternSwapnil · 10/10 · 23 July 2020]

I really like these kind of movies where there is no emotional too much drama or fight where villains are flying in slow motion. Kangana looks very cute and I really enjoyed the highs and lows of her life in this movie. I really enjoyed it for the whole time. I don't have any point to reduce a single rating here.

Kangana Ranaut the best...

[melvinsolomon · 7/10 · 20 September 2018]

7 rating is top for this movie...the role for simran is well played by kangana..her acting styles are gaining glamour from movie to movie... The movie doesn't give any boredom but their are flaws in the movie but regained its grip by the next minute... Its a one time watchable movie...

Obsession to explore lead actress previous played characters spoiled the fun

[dineshprakash · 2/10 · 15 September 2017]

When director didn't have resources he made sensible movie like 'Shahid' and now after having resources he dumped his reputation in dustbin called Simran. Yes here is also a religion biased presumption angle in a scene in the name of sensitivity. Screenplay of film industry people life. There is literally nothing in the name of novelty or creativity. Its very obvious that they just tried to mess with some cute memorable characters. Too much gamble scenes as everyone knows rule f gambling! Notable chunk of conversation are in English with typical accent. A boy, who is cheesy, gentle, sober, at the verge of stupid, silently falls for a not so good girl, (yes here she doesn't indulge in drink rather do more nasty things), whom he came to meet for marriage purpose. Hope you could have imagined and remembered the original one. His degraded version is here. Makers thought to explore aboard good location so story is based there, no she didn't go there to celebrate her single honeymoon. Main lead girl has some dysfunctional family, top of note bitter father because she had failed love marriage and divorcée now. Girl is smart and cunning, so she tries to manipulate her father for money but after losing money in gamble she takes money from some stranger, typical negative looking money without thinking of consequences, was she mad!? And this is key turning point of movie!! Watching bank robbing videos and doing that is shown and justified like it was like peeing in open on highway. The way she acts sick to fool flat selling agent is too much sick scene. Joke about good and not good girls boyfriend angle shown in trailer is lame. Every time consciously or subconsciously you feel shadow of her past characters. Shockingly there was lots of controversy for owning credit of this junk. Performance wise only Sohum Shah as Sameer is OK.

Funny movie. Definitely waste of money and time.

[DeadMan66 · 1/10 · 16 September 2017]

What I expected from the lead character all went wrong. Weak story no creativity, no suspense only drama Queen. Whole movie is a joke. Nothing new related to other Bollywood movies which we have seen earlier. Then why to spend our time and money on some movies which teaches nothing new to learn. People will forget this movie very soon and count it as one of her failure movies of actress Kangana.

I believed on kangana and went to watch movie which I found is crap. This movie has nothing to be discussed therefore i will give it 1 rating. Maybe kids would like this movie.

It was different

[RShameem79 · 7/10 · 6 September 2020]

The movie was different from the usual Bollywood movies. I enjoyed the film.