Rating: 2/5 Stars (Two stars)

Star Cast: Khushmeet Gill, Rajesh Puri, Sushmita Mukherjee and Amole Gupte (in a cameo)

Director: Amole Gupte

Sniff Movie Review
Sniff Movie Review

What’s Good: The script… but, the treatment given to it could have been much, much, better

What’s Bad: Besides slowing down at many places, the film tends to go around in circles not reaching anywhere

Loo Break: Lots of them!

Watch or Not?: Can be avoided, as the film does not qualify as a ‘must-watch’.

User Rating:

The film starts off with the introduction of the film’s protagonist Sunny Gill (Khushmeet Gill), who cannot smell anything because of his ‘defunct’ olfactory lobe. Despite visiting many doctors, there seems no solution in sight for the young boy. One day, a ‘chance miracle’ in his school’s old science laboratory, not just miraculously activates his olfactory lobes, but also helps him to sniff smells which are as far as 2 kilometers! One day, Sunny’s society and his neighbouring Parsi Society experience sudden thefts of their vehicles. The society members gather and try to come up with a solution, but, all of these yields zero results. That’s when Sunny Gill and his friends step in and come up with a ‘home-made’ and economical solution to catch the car thief. But, while doing so, Sunny gets taken away by the car thieves who plan to kill him as they fear that he might lead them to the police. What ultimately happens to Sunny Gill, do the car thieves kill him, does Sunny Gill outwit the thieves and escape from there, what happens to his extra active sense of smell is what forms the rest of the film.

Sniff Movie Review
Sniff Movie Review

Sniff Review: Script Analysis

This is one of the few films in Bollywood, where, despite the script being the king, it falters badly in totality. Amole Gupte had a unique premise to work around in this film. The sad part is that he fails to weave the same magic like his previous films. In cases like these, where the film gets made on a moderate budget; it’s the script that is generally the king. But, in the case of Sniff!!!, besides the faltering script, even, many of the actors land up doing an extremely average job. Despite all these dull moments, the film does have its own moments of comical elements. Even the message that Amole Gupte wanted to deliver through the film just does not come across as convincing enough. While the film’s first half tries to set the ambience of the film, the second half goes for a complete toss. There are moments (mostly in the second half) when the film starts getting on your nerves. Trimming (read ‘crisp editing’) at a few places could have worked majorly in the favour of the film.

Sniff Review: Star Performance

Needless to say that the film rides totally on the young shoulders of Khushmeet Gill, who is definitely a star in the making. The way in which he has handles complex situations is remarkable. Despite his young age, it’s really amazing to see the way he has surrendered himself to the script as well as the director and his vision. It just won’t be wrong to call Khushmeet Gill as a ‘director’s actor’. Besides Khushmeet Gill, the film sees the presence of the veteran actors like Rajesh Puri, Sushmita Mukherjee, who are just about bearable. On the other hand, Amole Gupte’s cameo act seems thrusted and wasted.

Sniff Review: Direction, Music

The film’s director Amole Gupte has time and again, proved that he can extract flawless performances from children with utmost ease. Testimonies to the same standard in the form of his earlier films Hawa Hawai and Stanley Ka Dabba. The sad part is that Amole Gupte fails miserably with Sniff. One of the reasons could be the fact that, after the success of his earlier films and seeing the sensitivity with which he handles his films, expectations from him about Sniff were sky high. One expected Amole Gupte to weave the same kind of magic with Sniff as well. But, this time round, he fails to live up to the humongous expectations of everyone. One cannot deny the fact that Amole Gupte is one of the very few film makers who understand the nuances, gradations and the finer points of children, which makes it easy for him to extract mature performances from them without going overboard. Because of the lack of a strong script, Amole Gupte fails to make a cut with Sniff. The film’s music is very average. Neither it elevates the film, nor it dampens the film.

Sniff Review: The Last Word

Even though the film has a unique premise, the film can be avoided without any regret.

Sniff Trailer

Sniff releases on 25th August, 2017.

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