Review
Ashke
Movie
Release Date: 27 July, 2018
Starcast: Amrinder G, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Jaswinder Bhalla, Hobby Dhaliwal, Sarabjit Cheema, Gurshabad, Roopi Gill, Hardeep Gill, Supneet Singh, Avy Randhawa
Produced by: Karaj Gill, Talwinder Hayre, Munish Sahni
Directed By: Amberdeep Singh
Written By: Dheeraj Rattan
Storyline: Ashkey is based on the life of a man whose team loses an inter college bhangra competition but ends up becoming the Bhangra coach for a team of desi kids born in Canada, enthusiastic to learn this dance form. Rest everything just keeps connecting in the film.
Pamma (Amrinder Gill) is the son of a policeman and his sister (Avy Randhawa) is married to a businessman (Sarabjit Cheema) in Canada. While in college Pamma is the star performer in his Bhangra team that is coached by Jaswinder Bhalla. One incidence leads to the other and Pamma falls in love with the daughter of a college principal who plays wicked and leads to the failure of Pamma’s Bhangra tea. This failure takes him Canada, where he keeps walking out of petty jobs but ends up being a coach at a school.
Review:
Ashkey is one of those films that made me feel pity on the fact ke je thoda hor time te mehnat ditti hundi es film nu ta it would have been soooo much better.
The film keeps going back and forth in time and at times you’ll feel that it’s overtly dragged but still you’ll feel light and carefree about it because it is an easy going subject. The bhangra team and college time of Pamma’s life are less energetic and don’t pump the adrenaline levels as much as they should have but for those who have been actually a part of their college bhangra teams will feel nostalgic. The college sequence introduces us to Sanjeeda Sheikh on Punjabi screens and her effortless acting leaves us contended but her voice in the film is very shrill...not dubbed properly. The second half of the film shows Pamma's Canadian life, his struggles and then a job that makes him meet his college lover as well as his future wife.
Jaswinder Bhalla is good but as a coach we felt that he should have had a more respectable role rather than being a laughing stock. As a matter of fact many times in the film, one could hear his audio levels changing, again a dubbing error.
Roopi Gill needs to brush up her dialogue delivery but overall the girl stands quite a chance to sustain in the industry.
Surprise package Sarabjit Cheema was a pleasant change in the film and we loved seeing him in there. He looked his age and carried his role well. It was a relief to not see a repetitive face from the industry playing this character.
The best performer in Ashkey was Avy Randhawa. This actress was so natural, believable and at no point did she leave her character. Purely impressed by her performance..kudos!
Lastly, we were taken aback by Amrinder Gill’s hairstyle. It made him look so old. Though his dance moves were pretty peppy but his appearance was just not neat. We have always loved this actor’s boy next door looks but in this one, he seriously looked very old and unkempt. Also, one thing that bothered us was that if Pamma had just come to Canada and had left college nearly 12 saal pehla then where was he all this time and doing what??
Rhythm Boyz’ music is known for its quality sound but this film didn’t have a single song which we could hum on the way back home. I truly missed hearing Bir Singh’s soulful voice in this film. Amrinder and Bir’s voice in this film could have done magic but..
From the direction point of view, the film looked and felt pretty weak. Some scenes were too short while others were dragged. The dialogues too were repetitive but the punches were smooth. Canada’s cinematic feel captured through Ashkey’s lens will definitely impress the Punjabis; and the desi kids angle could work as a factor for the overseas parents to make their kids watch this film.
Overall, Ashkey is a film that could have done wonders if the team had not rushed it like this. Rather, the film didn’t even have a censor certificate slide in the beginning which showed what a mis-managed arrangement has made this film.
