Shimla Mirchi is Ramesh Sippy's first outing as a director after ages. The film was reportedly stuck in limbo for around five years and is said to be aimed at an OTT release. The film borrows its basic idea from the legend of Cyrano de Bergerac. A letter meant for someone is passed off to another person, leading to complications.

Based on one of world's best all time classics - THE CYRANO DE BERGERAC the 1990 French comedy-drama film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau which was actually based on the 1897 play of the same name by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Jean-Claude Carrire and Rappeneau. THE CYRANO DE BERGERAC starred the legendary French actor Grard Depardieu in lead along with Anne Brochet and Vincent Prez.

Ramesh Sippy's first theatrical release in a quarter of a century should be an event - but it's a bit of a sideshow. Completed five years ago and out in theatres only now, Shimla Mirchi feels resolutely old-fashioned (which isn't a bad thing at all) but also fusty (which is).

In 2015, when it was announced that Rajkummar Rao would be romancing Hema Malini in Ramesh Sippy's Shimla Mirchi, everyone was intrigued. Five years later, the film finally makes an appearance at theatres and it comes as a stale, bland romantic-comedy with hardly any laugh-worthy moments.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Hema Malini's on-the-road campaign in Mathura yielded some of the best memes of the year. Among them, my favourite, was Malini crouching under a haystack, held by an old frail lady. Shimla Mirchi is the cinematic version of that meme, where Malini is the film and the old lady is the script.

Avinash (Rajkummar Rao) is on a vacation with his family in Shimla, when he spots the feisty local girl Naina (Rakul Preet) and decides to propose to her. But, since he is shy around women when it comes to matters of the heart, he ends up working at her cafe instead so that he could be close to her.