Selfiee stars Akshay Kumar as superstar Vijay Kumar, Emraan Hashmi as RTO Inspector Om Prakash Aggarwal, Nushrratt Bharuccha as Minty Aggarwal, Diana Penty, Abhimanyu Singh and others. It is a Hindi remake of 2019 Malayalam movie Driving Licence that stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Suraj Venjaramoodu. The Hindi film is directed by Raj Mehta and produced by Dharma Productions, Magic Frames, Prithviraj Productions, Cape of Good Films and Star Studios.
The runtime is of 143 minutes. The music is by Anu Malik, Tanishk Bagchi, Yo Yo Honey Singh and others.
Selfiee Movie Review Contains No Spoilers
Vijay Kumar is a Bollywood superstar, and Om Prakash Aggarwal thinks he is one of Vijay’s biggest fans. Vijay travels to Bhopal (where Om lives) for a film shoot. The superstar in the film has to reapply for his driving licence for the filming purpose. However, a big misunderstanding between the star and the fan led to clashes. They’re at loggerheads, and we have to wait till the end to see how their tiff ends.
When the trailer of Selfiee was released, I wondered about the intention of making the film when we already had Fan (2016). In 2022, Ayushmann Khurrana starred in An Action Hero, another Hindi film where the superstar is in trouble because of a fan. Akshay and Emraan starrer belong to the similar category, and it is not even an original story. It’s a remake of the Malayalam movie Driving Licence. After watching the movie, I still want to know the intention behind remaking the familiar story because the movie isn’t enjoyable.
Selfiee has a lot of issues. Let’s talk about the story first. Raj Mehta wants us to accept that Vijay Kumar is a big superstar and Om is his biggest fan. Within 15 minutes, they attempt to plant this idea in our minds. Sadly, the execution is so on the surface and doesn’t feel compelling, even with all the frenzy around Vijay. The mania for him appears more like obsessive blind devotion instead of fondness as a fan.
I still gave the makers and the actors the benefit of the doubt that in their world, Vijay is a superstar, and Om is his biggest fan. But everything that leads to their clash is extremely laughable and kiddish. The reasons for the misunderstanding, Vijay Kumar’s outburst, and everything that happens in the first half are ridiculous.
I liked when Om Prakash Aggarwal reacted to the actions of his favourite actor because Emraan’s performance was genuine. But I couldn’t take Om seriously when he would express his love for his favourite star. Akshay’s Vijay Kumar didn’t have the star personality, which feels like a big missing factor. He didn’t have that aura and style we expect superstars to have. While watching An Action Hero, I even believed Ayushmann was a superstar. But Akshay failed to convince me he’s a superstar; he lacked that appeal.
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The second half of Selfiee is not good and tough to sit through. Even Emraan couldn’t save the immature premise. Whenever Vijay and Om weren’t on screen, the story would focus on Abhimanyu Singh’s character. Treating an actor of his calibre for such a cheap portrayal and uncomfortable scenes is blasphemous.
Akshay Kumar’s movies rarely have women with meaningful roles, especially in the last few years. Selfiee is just another example. Nushrratt Bharuccha is used as a joke, and Diana Penty, who has better charisma on screen than her superstar husband, is severely underutilised. Meghna Malik is in the film to be at the receiving end of stupid jokes.
The music didn’t do anything for me. The song featuring Akshay Kumar and Mrunal Thakur is awkward. The BGM is too loud and adds no good effect to the over-the-top and odd story. Main Khiladi is just a promotional song, and it strikes a chord because it is a remake of Akshay’s popular 90s track.
Selfiee Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, Selfiee is a movie about a superstar and a fan where the superstar feels like a background character. The portrayal should’ve been much better for one to believe that two intense and fiery characters are at loggerheads. Emraan has acted well, but his portrayal as a superstar’s bhakt just doesn’t seem right. Akshay makes a superstar look meh. So you wonder why is this grown up man obsessed with a star with hardly any enchanting qualities? Barring a few jokes, most of them were indecent.
To generate some laughs, filmmakers now show loud journalists yelling on TV and targeting celebrities. The sensationalisation by media worked in a few movies like A Thursday and An Action Hero. But here, the main cause for all the trouble between two men was so silly that everything else felt insincere.
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