Simran Dvd

Simran is a 2017 Indian heist film directed by Hansal Mehta in a screenplay written by Apurva Asrani. Loosely based on the real- life story of Sandeep Kaur, the film stars Kangana Ranaut as Praful Patel, a divorcee, who loses her savings in a gambling bout. She takes a loan in order to repair the damage but when she is unable to repay it, she finds herself drawn into a life of crime. Hiten Kumar, Kishori Shahane and Sohum Shah are featured in supporting roles.

Simran was released worldwide on 15 September 2017. The film received mixed reviews, with critics widely praising Ranaut’s performance but criticising the screenplay and execution. It became a moderate box office hit grossing ₹27.69 crores against its ₹17 crore budget, but was deemed a box office disappointment owing to Ranaut’s star power. For her performance, Ranaut received nominations for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, and Screen Award for Best Actress.

Plot

Praful Patel (Kangana Ranaut) is a young divorcee who lives with her parents and works in the housekeeping department in one of the five-star hotels of Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

She shares a bitter relationship with her dad who is always blaming her for her mistakes in the past, instead of giving her moral support; so now, Praful wants to move out and buy her own house.

She has applied for a loan and her loan gets pre-approved. In the meantime, Praful decides to go with her cousin on a trip to Las Vegas (her cousin pays for all tickets and accommodations).

In Las Vegas, she plays baccarat for the first time and wins big in her first few rounds. She quickly gets addicted to the game. The next day, she returns to the casino but ends up losing not only the money she won the previous day but a large chunk of her savings also.

Praful then returns to Atlanta after a week, only to find out that her bank application to the bank has been rejected as her credit rating is very low. Praful seeks her father’s help but he insists that she should meet a young man named Sameer (Sohum Shah) who has been selected as her suitor.

After meeting with the suitor, she has mixed feelings about marriage and agrees to get engaged. However, her addiction to gambling takes a toll on her and Praful gives her last shot to gambling and goes back to Vegas.

Unfortunately, she ultimately loses all her savings so a private money lender spots Praful (who is now drunk) in the casino and offers her money. The drunk Praful – not in her right senses- takes $32,000 from the moneylender and in exchange gives him her driving license.

Praful loses all that borrowed money (along with her hard-earned savings) and has to return penniless to her home.

Praful tries to explain to her father her bad situation and needing his financial help, but in fear of retaliation and hostility, she is reluctant. Her parents want her to begin her wedding preparations and plans with Sameer, who by now gets impressed by her personality.

At a relative’s wedding, Praful and Sameer meet again and dance, and get to know each other. However, Praful is threatened by the loan sharks to pay within 10 days or face death, so she is disturbed and anxious, unable to concentrate on her wedding plans.

Therefore, Praful develops the habit of stealing whereby first she disguises herself (wearing oversized sunglasses and a hood) and approaches a cashier at a gas station shop. She collects only $10,000 so she has to go and rob a bank (which she learns how to on YouTube), with a disguise, and hands a note written with red lipstick that says money should be given to her otherwise she will blow the whole bank as she is strapped to a bomb.

Praful’s second robbery gets foiled by a bank manager who bumps into her when she tries to rob the bank similarly. When the manager asks her name, Praful tells her name ‘Simran’, the name of a popular character from an Indian blockbuster film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge which her mother ultimately watches often.

Although Praful’s plan to rob the bank gets foiled, she manages to escape and similarly robs another bank.

Praful Patel has now become a most wanted criminal with the name ‘Simran – The Lipstick Bandit’. Despite robbing 3 to 4 banks successfully, Praful is still short of collecting fifty thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, Praful develops a liking towards Sameer, and confides in him her bad habits of gambling and stealing which he does not take seriously, thinking it is some kind of a joke. Trouble comes back when loan sharks attack Praful in her hotel for the money and Praful’s ex-boyfriend Mike – the general manager of the hotel steals the money from her locker room and refuses to give the money back to her until and unless she submits to his sexual advances/desires.

Praful ultimately hits him and gets suspended from the hotel, after which she tells the loan sharks that her money has been stolen. By now, these loan sharks know that Praful is actually ‘Simran – The Lipstick Bandit’, so they ask her to rob one more bank and this time with a bigger amount—for which they offer her a gun to finish the job.

Devastated and dejected, Praful calls off her relationship with Sameer and asks him to leave and by telling him the truth. Enraged by this, Praful’s father slaps her and asks her to leave his house.

Praful leaves her home and stays with her best friend Salma (Esha Tewari) for a night. The next day Praful attacks the same bank that rejected her bank loan and flees the place after stealing the money.

Sameer is still in love with Praful and to help her, he transfers a huge amount of fifty thousand dollars in her bank account.

Praful, before leaving the city of Atlanta, calls him at a lonely place and tells him that he should find another girl, as he is a nice man and he deserves someone better; not someone like her.

Sameer refuses and asks her to surrender to the police and end this dirty game once and for all; after which Praful’s dad calls her and asks for forgiveness. Praful is happy at this and returns home but the police cars have surrounded her and are following her car to arrest her.

Praful drives off because she did not want to get arrested in her neighbourhood, which is full of Indians, and her parents would be very ashamed of her there. The ultimate chase begins as Praful’s car is found empty by the police. Praful had taken a taxi and was almost near the airport, but then she decides to surrender on a lonely highway. She asks the taxi to stop at the curbside and then she calls 9-1-1 and surrenders herself.

After her arrest, there is a trial whereby the judge adjudicates Praful to be imprisoned for 10 months, but she is released after 3–4 months due to good behaviour. Her ex-boyfriend Mike is also imprisoned for stealing her money and also for his sexual advance.

During a meeting session in prison, Praful tells her father that she wants to invest all his money into the stock market. Enraged by this, Praful’s father becomes angry and grabs her neck angrily, venting his frustration that all his hard-earned money will blow up in smoke due to her crazy intentions.

The film ends with titles suggesting that Praful has been released from jail and she has sold the rights of her movie to be made to a Bollywood producer for fifty thousand dollars.

Cast

Kangana Ranaut as Praful Patel a.k.a. “Simran – The Lipstick Bandit”
Hiten Kumar as Praful’s father
Kishori Shahane as Praful’s mother
Sohum Shah as Sameer Mehta
Rajiv Nema as Sameer’s uncle
Monica Chitkara as Sameer’s aunt
Usha Jarajani as Praful’s maternal grandmother
Rupinder Nagra as Mike Mehndi
Aneesha Joshi as Amber
Esha Tewari as Salma
James Cole as Steven
Catherine Dyer as Cynthia
Mark Justice (actor) as Adam
Rusty Meyers as Michael
Jeff Rose as Robert
Timothy Ryan Hickernell as Joe
Maiya Boyd as Salma’s daughter Malala
Jason Louder as Mr Bugs
Albert Roberts as Jerry
Nikhil Dhawan as Nikhil
Mona Mathews as Aunt
Suraj Vyas as Dave Mehta