This film is a story of a few students who after getting the marks just above the passing percentage are refused admission in every college. They then decide to make a fake university by the name F.A.L.T.U. (faltu meaning useless) to save their faces in front of their parents. Trouble starts when actual students with a similar dilemma arrive at their college.The story is straight forward, with no romance side stories, there are a lot of songs and dances, but it adds to the fun.The actors are fresh faces, with Arshad Warsi and Reitesh Deshmukh playing their mentors. The acting is of acceptable standards.Overall the important message of following your heart especially if the education system has failed to appreciate their other talents is portrayed in positive manner.

FALTU is primarily geared to tap the Generation-X multiplex audience (read that college crowd). It has everything to soothe their eyes and ears. Right from the hardships of being a student, goading parents, college gags, the rat-race of exam scores and of course foot tapping music. FALTU has certain good moments thereby nearly ducking itself from being categorised as fully FALTU. Overall the concept works in pockets but not in entirety. Inspiration to 3-Idiots are visible, however to make it palatable the entire creative team should have indulged in progressive brainstorming exercise and questioned every aspect to better it. In the era of "India Shining" the education system needs a revamp and no two ways to that. But the ideas suggested/ recommended in FALTU are closer to mockery than plausibility. The producer with big pockets has the might to re-launch the twinkle of his eye. Jr. Bhagnani fails to register a strong impact on a yardstick of star material. Puja Gupta can be aptly described as "out of sight, out of mind". Don't expect "Rolling on the floor laughing" comedy looking at names like Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi & Boman Irani. Akbar Khan enacts poor man's Feroz Khan. Chandan Roy Sanyal has clearly accepted the assignment either for money or goodwill. Sushmita Sen, Mallika Sherawat & Mithun Da make a cameo appearance as a gratitude to Vashu Bhagnani. "Party Abhi Baaki Hain" is sure to be a rage in the disc. Others might gain popularity over period of time. As a choreographer he is two-thumbs up, wish I could use that expression for Remo as a director. PS: Expect launch ver 3.0 sometime soon.

An inspired or copied film doesn't provide me enough excitement to write about it in details. And F.A.L.T.U. remains one of those unofficial inspired movies which fearlessly take the main idea from another director's work and then serves it with some extra toppings to the viewer as an original creation. But in this case, even the copy is not the first as there was another movie released in year 2010 which was also based on the same idea taken from the English flick "Accepted" (2006). Yes, "Accepted" too is said to be made around a similar idea used in few other movies such as "Camp Nowhere" (1994). But still this fact cannot be used as an excuse by the makers of FALTU for their copying act.Some students who are not able to get admission in any reputed college due to their low percentage think of opening a fake university online, just to show to their parents that they have been accepted there. But their idea turns out to be big problem when the university becomes famous on the net and more students apply to it unknowingly. Last year we had a small budget movie called ADMISSION OPEN which was also based on this novel original thought of Steve Pink's "Accepted". And this year we have a comparatively decent budget movie made on the same topic from the house of Vashu Bhagnani. In the original the fake university is called "SHIT" which stands for South Harmon Institute of Technology and in this present copy version it is called "FALTU"which stands for Fakirchand and Lakirchand Trust University.As a movie experience, F.A.L.T.U. gives you the same result as per its title. Its weak, its amateurish and has too many songs which irritate. Thought some of the tracks are good but coming one after another just like that, make the viewer restless. The script takes too many liberties in its execution of an interesting idea and as a result the proceedings on the screen look like childish and unbearable. Like I couldn't understand where from all that money used to come for paying the huge bills of the University? The writers also try to incorporate the idea of "Do what you want to do in your Life" in the film on the lines of "3 Idiots", but in the process fail completely. At certain points, it even gives you an impression of a film made in a hurry, which is surprising since it features the producer's son (Vashu Bhagnani) too in the lead. The director Remo D'Souza directs too simply with only the climax giving you something to rave about. Particularly the dance sequence which is his forte stands out and impresses. But again we have already witnessed some similar excellent performances in the director's TV show "Dance India Dance" too. In the acting department also, I didn't find anyone doing something great in the film out of the routine. And I really felt sad seeing Arshad Warsi, Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani being wasted in such a way. However, despite of all these drawbacks I would like to support one good idea put forward by its writers which surely deserves an applause. The thought is that if all the colleges give admissions only to the students securing above 70% then why the passing percentage is kept at 33%. In this scenario what all those majority students are supposed to do, who manage to secure only marks in between 33 and 70 percent. So to avoid all this rejection and confusion why don't keep the passing percentage only at 70% which will further motivate the students to study more harder.The idea is great, sounds logical and gets my full support too. But unfortunately I cannot recommend you to see the movie only due to this noble thought presented. So for this week, just plan to do something better than this FALTU.

Call it Justin Beiber's memorabilia. Its still lousy strands of hair. Call it the world's most callipygian figure. Kim's booty still churns out ordure. Call it a novel educational institution winnowing talented yet malingering youngsters. It's still a fake college. Remo D'Souza's FALTU is a self indulgent, vacuous and unscrupulous hack of a movie that flagrantly screams out "I am different!" but ends up as a turgid ride.Ritesh Virani (Jackky Bhagnani), Pooja Nigam (Puja Gupta), Vishnu Vardhan (Chandan Sanya) and Nanj Nirani (Angad Bedi) as are four teenagers (!!!) who party all the time, but during the day (It's not America). Vishnu is suppressed by his dominant, pusillanimous father (one dimensional to the power of infinity and beyond!!) and he scores on grades but is inhibited from following his dream (Am I watching Three Idiots?). Pooja is flustered by her father's continual pursuit in getting here engaged ("its child marriage" she retorts when her father broaches about the topic). Ritesh's father is a scrap dealer who seems to be quite an indigent person (Ritesh, however, is a spendthrift who has the time to visit a number of places and spend lavishly). Nanj is a father-fearing loser who has a constipated face throughout the film. Vishnu excels with flying colors (in a clichéd scene where he seems dejected at getting 94% instead of 95%) while the other just scrape too but remain carefree (a variety of humdrum witnessed till now).So, one gets admission at a prestigious college while the others are repeatedly rejected. The three abjects hit upon a novel idea of establishing a fake university with the help of Google (Arshad Warsi) just to satisfy their parents. A fiasco happens when hundreds of others turn up thinking the university is legit. Riteish plays Baaji Rao, the fake principal of Fakirchand and Lakirchand Trust University (F.A.L.T.U) in a hairy appearance, probably to make him look mature as an actor.Now, my main complaint with the movie is that it celebrates a shameless concept. What happens later doesn't matter; it's the reason why it happened in the first place that holds importance. Here, we have three futilitarians who don't take anything seriously just to be labeled as creative minds. I really am offended by this concept. I, being a critic and having a dream of getting into theater, don't spend every single moment hanging out and partying just to make myself more sincere in my field of interest. It's like deeming all artists, musicians, actors, fashion designers, gym instructors brainless mutts who germinate their creativity by partying hard. There are exceptions but most of them really take their work seriously.The problem here is that never is it shown in the entire first half that any of these minds have any flair for what they want to become. It seems very impromptu and improbable.Also, the hodgepodge that the movie becomes is because of the different genres it tries to encompass, abortively. Comedy, comedy, drama, comedy, comedy, drama…. drama, musical!!! The indecisiveness devours the final product. The only slightly humorous moment is the song during the opening credit which is pedestrian wittiness. It throws onto the screen boisterous, seizure-inducing colors that really feel spunky and effervescent. Then we proceed to the barren exam sequence that has the usual tense faces among the characters and silly giggles among the audiences who always tend to feel nostalgic, even when the scene is shown in the same manner countless times in movies. Let's get nostalgic and forget that we saw such a scene just in the last film! Also, the lack of scruples revolts me. A fake university is set for an exorbitant sum, ignoring laws just to turn it worse by creating and hosting a fake website foolishly; and then making everything seem like a right step. It's something that happens when the person in charge of the film doesn't know what is right and what is wrong and pushes his opinionated views as the right one. The actions taken by the four friends in the beginning was wrong and they should not go unpunished or even shown completely in the positive manner which is what happens in the movie. The wrong is right and the right is wrong. And Mithun is there to take the final call, in an utterly uninspired climax.Akbar Khan's character as a narrow-minded father who exposes the fake university was morally right, according to me, even though he himself is a stubborn and egoistic being. Coming back to the story, I feel the impact of the climax fell completely flat as it had no relation with the rest of the film. The sudden dance competition where a gorgeous number is performed seems out of the blue for a movie focusing firstly on aimless then creative kids. Now all become fabulous performers! A very multi-talented bunch of misfits indeed! The performance was extremely lovely but entirely out of the place. I'd have rather paid Rs200 and watched the performance live.The acting is forgettable. Jackky didn't shoulder the film but sort of pillion-rode it. Angad 'Constipated' Bedi should stick to commentary and reality shows (It's become a fad for every reality star to get into films). Chandan is a shade better but I really have stopped expecting brilliance from the new stars (except Ranbir Kapoor). Puja should probably get an award for the most unnoticeable performance of 2011. Boman Irani will be typecast if he continues with such roles. Akbar Khan's performance is stilted and affected. Arshad Warsi sounds funny when he isn't supposed to (seriously guys, do away with those overtly dramatized scenes). Riteish is a fine actor but is wasted just like the others. The collegians know three emotions: happiness, sadness and anger. That is not being three-dimensional as a performer, but just 3 different emotions.The movie is quite volatile in its direction and condescending in message. Putting it simple: A bad film 2/10