The Zoya factor: Movie Review
The Zoya Factor is a Bollywood movie starring Sonam Kapoor and Dulquer Salman. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Anuja Chauhan and is about a young woman who unwittingly becomes the lucky mascot for the Indian cricket team and the situations that develop due to it.
When a movie based on the famous novel The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan was announced last year, a lot of people were very much excited about it. After Chetan Bhagat's 5 Point Someone, numerous Indian authors have made an entry into the light-heart romance genre and few of them have been fairly successful as well. However, Bollywood has not really been keen on adapting them. So it was quite heartening news for the movie aficionados that finally a book other than that of Bhagat is making its way to the big screen. However, the finished product is not what any of us would have anticipated. As a result, the movie could muster only around 3 crores in the opening weekend, less than one-third of what Dreamgirl earned on day 1.
Plot
Sonam Kapoor plays the role of Zoya Solanki, the title character. Zoya is having a sort of crisis in her life as both her personal as well as professional life is in a mess. She has just broken up with her boyfriend while her boss isn't exactly happy with her. Dulquer Salman is Nikhil Khoda, the captain of the Indian cricket team. Fate brings Nikhil and Zoya together when the latter gets involved in an ad shoot with the team. During a conversation with the team members, Zoya reveals that she was born on the day India won the world cup in 1983. When the team wins the next match, with Zoya travelling along with the team, the members start believing that she is their lucky mascot. Nikhil, who believes in hard work and dedication find this very upsetting. At the same time, he finds himself attracted to Zoya. What happens next forms the crux of the latter part of the film. Review
The trailer of The Zoya Factor was not as intriguing as that of Chhichore and Dreamgirl, 2 other recent mid-budget movies. However, considering that cricket continues to be a rage among the youngsters, a romantic comedy with the sport essentially at the centre of it will definitely find takers. Then there were fans of the original novel as well. So even with a lacklustre response to the music (something that Chhichore too had faced), there was a hope that the movie will at least be good. However, all the hopes are dashed within 20 minutes of the movie. The movie is bland and except for a few sequences, has nothing for the audience.
The biggest problem of the movie is the actor playing the titular character. I had never considered Sonam Kapoor a serious actress but her performance in Neerja had given me some hope. Here she extinguishes even the last bit of that hope. Sonam is completely off-colour in the role which requires her to be spontaneous. Her goofy expressions throughout the movie make the character of Zoya such a drab. I have not read the book but I don't think the readers would have expected this. Giving her company is the flat screenplay of the movie. Neither romance nor comic scenes leave much of an impact on the viewer. The least you can expect from a sports genre movie is some thrilling action on the field. Alas! This movie disappoints there too.
The saving grace of the movie is Malayalam star, Dulquer Salman. His presence brings some life to the film. However, he too has a limit and so his scenes with Sonam are completely dull as the chemistry between them is zilch. None of the guys in the supporting role viz. Angad Bedi, Sanjay Kapoor and Koel Poorie shine. But again, it is more of the fault of the insipid screenplay that gives little room to them. In the end, I would like to say that it is better to wait for the big movies coming next week than to spend your hard-earned money on a movie like The Zoya Factor.