Now this is one movie which pretty much belongs to ‘Ayushmann Khurrana genre’. Over the last few years, the actor has chosen many taboo subjects and delivered successes quite regularly. From his debut release Vicky Donor (sperm donation) to his last theatrical outing Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan (same sex marriage), the actor has constantly explored films which not many would have touched with a barge pole. Now his brother Aparshakti Khurana spearheads a film which aims to ease out the so-called shame around using of condoms and in its own little way passes on the message in an entertaining way without thrusting it down the throat.
An original feature film by Dino Morea, who has produced it, Helmet has arrived straight on ZEE5 and made a sweet impression due to the kind of content that it boasts of and also its narrative which is rather seamless. That’s in fact the best part about this film set in a small town since it acts as a breezy affair. A story about three friends (Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee and Ashish Verma) who end up catching hold of an entire truckload of condoms and now have a job in hand to distribute it amongst those who need it but are way to shy to ask for it, Helmet is also an educational class on multi channel marketing that doesn’t quite require MBAs to make things happen, as long as there is passion, connect and reach.
There is a breezy feel right through the narrative that ensures that the smiles are on. Not that there are many scenes which bring on full throated laughter, but then there isn’t any boredom either that would have occasionally made you look away from the screen. Instead, you stay connected right through and watch how the three youngsters go about winning over married men, frustrated bachelors, red light women and even those who are generally shy. Some of this looks pretty straight forward while at places you do feel that there is a lot of convenience coming into play. Of course, the climax is something that you can see coming though a few more challenges coming the way of the trio would have added some sort of dramatic quotient.
Helmet is not the kind of film that requires histrionics from the actors and from that perspective Aparshakti, Abhishek and Ashish have their task cut out to be just about sufficient. There are a couple of marriage songs in there as well which seem a bit out of place in a film that is primarily plot driven. Also, though the film is meant to be an easy watch, at a couple of points the extra emphasis on the word ‘condom’ seems forced. It also hard to believe that there would be such kind of taboo around usage of contraceptives, even though there are certain statistics shown towards the end of the film to back it up. Moreover, presence of Pranutan Behl doesn’t really do much to the film and she also needs to work a bit more on her screen presence as well as the acting bit too. She is about decent in there.
The Satram Ramani directed film works as a whole as it makes for a lazy and easy outing. Watch it without much of an expectation and you would like what’s served.