Munna Michael movie review: This tribute to Michael Jackson is a shame

Director: Sabbir Khan

Cast: Tiger Shroff, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Nidhhi Agerwal, Pankaj Tripathii and Ronit Roy

Excessive promotions, aggressive social media campaigns; the makers of Munna Michael did not leave a single stone unturned to promote the movie. The film is supposed to be a tribute to the late pop icon Michael Jackson, but falls flat in every aspect. Director Sabbir Khan, who is known for making potboilers, brings a film essentially meant to be a dance tribute but one that forgets what its forte is, midway.

Munna Michael (Tiger Shroff) stays with his father Ronit Roy, who once dreamt to become like Michael Jackson but couldn’t. Since his childhood, Munna aspires to become a dancer and wants to fulfil his father’s dream but he is against of it. Munna performs with his troop in night clubs to survive and incidentally meets Pankaj Tripathi and indulges in a fight.

Meanwhile, Pankaj makes his elder brother, a crazy gangster Mahindar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), meet Munna who in turn offers him a deal. Mahindar is madly in love with a local dancer Dolly (Nidhhi Agerwal) and wants to learn dancing to win her heart someday. He hires Munna as his dance coach but fate favours the latter and Dolly falls for him. Who will get Dolly in the end is what forms the basic crux of the film.

Sabbir Khan, who earlier made Kambakht Ishq, Heropanti and Baaghi has totally misunderstood the sensibilities of Indian audiences with this film. Munna Michael, however, is even a step down for his skills as a director. Though the movie has its own comical elements, even they can’t help the film to survive.

Scenes like when Munna gets shot by Pankaj and manages to board a flight to perform in the finals of a dancing reality show are way too dramatic. To add to that, when Dolly reaches the final, Munna comes to rescue her onstage to impress the judges. Wonder who was in the finals, Dolly or Munna? Despite bleeding badly, Munna sets the stage on fire with his moves. Where has that bullet gone? Actually it’s inside him only forever. Logic takes a back seat in Sabbir Khan’s films.

Of course, Tiger steals the show with his dance moves and action sequences, but unfortunately that’s not enough to make him the saving grace of the movie. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays an adamant lover impresses with his comic performance. A great performer like Pankaj Tripathii is totally wasted in the film. He is good in his part but he surely doesn’t deserve small roles like this. Ronit Roy is just about okay and last but not the least, newcomer Nidhhi Agerwal is awful. In the entire film, she tries to ape Deepika Padukone. Her dance moves, attitude and even her dresses will remind you of Deepika Padukone. Her introductory song Shake Kara itself is a bad rip off of Deepika’s Lovely song from Happy New Year.

Meet Bros, Tanishq Bagchi and Vishal Mishra’s music is hardly bearable and a few dance portions of the movie are reminiscent of Hrithik Roshan’s Bang Bang. Tiger Shroff’s fans might like the film but it doesn’t fly and sinks without a trace.