Simran movie review LIVE: Kangana Ranaut plays Praful Patel with conviction and credibility

Mumbai : Simran, directed by Hansal Mehta and starring Kangana Ranaut as the titular character, tells us the story of Praful — a street-smart, independent divorcee who feels somewhat claustrophobic within the confines of her Gujarati family that lives in the US.

Praful tries to escape her mundane existence by seeking life’s smaller pleasures — be it bargaining with shopkeepers, rejecting prospective suitors, using cheesy pick-up lines, or eating pizza for breakfast. When a soon-to-be-wed cousin asks Praful to come along to Las Vegas for a trip, she’s happy for a chance to get away from her family.

Before she embarks on the trip, we get a glimpse of Praful’s desires: buying a house for herself, for which she scrimps and saves every penny. ‘Namumkin ko mumkin karna Praful Patel ki pehchan hai,’ is the motto she lives by. She also works in a hotel, although that stint doesn’t go too well. Meanwhile, there is pressure at home for Praful to marry and settle down, as her family — caught up in financial woes — thinks of her as a burden. It is in this context that getting her own house assumes so much significance for Praful.

Cut to Vegas, and Praful gets a sudden and very real taste of happiness. Playing at the casino one evening, she wins a good sum of money, and experiences a rise in self-worth. But the bliss is short-lived as soon enough, Praful gets hooked to gambling — she mindlessly seeks to earn more, and then some more. What happens instead, is a tale that’s unfolded in many a casino — she ends up losing, and badly. Soon enough, all the money she had saved for her dream home is gambled away.

Praful gets some help from gangsters and naively believes the situation is resolved — but of course, it’s only gotten more complicated. She then tries to make peace with her father — but his condition for letting her move back into the family home is that she meet with a guy the family has picked out for her.

Caught in a downward spiral, she begins to lie — to her family, her creditors, the government. Her character starts t change, and Praful starts to lose her way, and herself. She starts stealing, and realises it’s easy money. And she keeps gambling, desperate to reclaim that early success and redeem herself.

Kangana Ranaut shines as Praful. Even when she’s committing these petty crimes, you really feel for Praful — and that’s thanks to the actress playing her. Kangana makes Praful and her quandary credible. You feel for her, you feel her despair, her need, her hopelessness.