Coolie No 1 is a comedy film directed by David Dhawan and produced by Vashu Bhagnani. The film, a remake of the 1995 film of the same name, stars Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal and Javed Jaffrey.
Though David Dhawan directed both Coolie No 1 in 1995 and 2020, it only got worse. Coolie No 1 was originally a Telugu movie, that was later recreated in 1995 by David Dhawan with Govinda and Karisma Kapoor. This film is nothing but a feeble attempt to recreate the same movie.
This film is about a coolie, Raju (Varun Dhawan), who falls in love with a rich girl, Sarah (Sara Ali Khan), after a photograph of her lands in his lap. However, Sarah’s father, Jefferey Rozario played by Paresh Rawal, only wants a stinking rich son-in-law. With the help of the priest and matchmaker, Jai Kishen (Javed Jaffey), Raju pretends to be the Prince of Singapore. Many lies, dramatic dialogues and bad jokes later, Raju and Sarah get together.
Except for upgrading the characters from a village setting to one of a city, where the heroine is flaunting her short dresses and high heels, nothing else has changed. This movie is a copy-paste of the 1995 film. Honestly, it’s embarrassing to see how the creators of the film thought Coolie No 1 would even run in 2020.
Govinda is incomparable, and although individually Varun Dhawan did a decent job with the impressions – it’s not the same. Individually, right from Javed Jaffrey to Rajpal Yadav, who plays Sarah’s brother, everyone a good job with their roles, however, it just did not come together as a whole picture. All of it came off as overdramatic and extra, making it more of a mockery of the actors.
Likewise, seeing such a renowned actor like Paresh Rawal say dialogues like, “Heaven on the docks, whiskey on the rocks”, was a disgrace. It was legit so upsetting to see these actors say trash dialogues, for they have done so much better in other films.
The rhyming dialogues and bad jokes made my ears bleed. What was supposed to be a comedy film, failed to even get one laugh out of the audience. The occasional dance numbers were the saving grace, for the rest of Coolie No 1 was a misery. This film is nothing but an embarrassment to the industry and the last thing we needed in 2020.
Stream it or Skip it?
Skip it! I feel awful and guilty for saying this, but this movie is terrible. Even the actors don’t deserve this. It was painful and embarrassing to watch and would not recommend anyone to go through the torture. Only the songs are somewhat bearable.
Coolie No 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Read our other reviews here.