Boman Irani presides over 3/4 th or more of the movie. This fact saves the day.
Directed by Shyam Benegal and written by Ashok Mishra the movie should have been something special but somehow the story and screenplay don't gel. The lack of wit, humour and sarcasm in the Screenplay barring a few scenes leave the task to entertain the audience solely upon the Story which I must say is a tough ask for any story , at any given point of time.
The story moves at a slow pace in the first half and somehow fails to churn out a plausible relationship between the various elements introduced in the movie. Trying to weave an unconventional pattern or should I say more of a traditional folklore pattern in terms of narration Benegal fails to strike the right notes for some reason.
The movie gains pace with time but throws up nothing which is new and groundbreaking in terms of story or treatment of subject matter.
The second half moves at a good , entertaining pace but that's about it.
The story reminds one of good old Hindi Literature where the common man's plight is depicted in a self mocking way. In that sense it was a tad different than the content available today, but that by itself doesn't elevate the movie to a higher cinematic plane.
The screenplay most of all lets the story down. Genuine Humour is missing from it and it is only the situational humour which accounts for any comic elements. The Dialogues lack punch and wit is evidently absent , although one would have expected such a movie to have sharp witted innuendos in abundance. The Characters speak and are tolerable in parts. No real sting in the Screenplay, it's quite morose actually.
With some needless and tawdry elements in place the movie tarnishes it's own clean image .
In the performance department Boman Irani stands out . His exhibition of a Hyderabadi man should be applauded if not for it's perfection then at least for his versatility. On the whole the acting was good , may be overdone in some instances but no real complaints. Yashpal Sharma does well again , so do the other actors . One thing though, some of them didn't fit in at all with their character . Minisha Lamba, Rajit Kapoor and to some extent Dattani all exuded a misfit's aroma on screen.
The real problem lay with the story and more so with the screenplay.
Could have been a much more funny and relevant movie but for it's inherent defects in the above mentioned departments.
Directed by Shyam Benegal and written by Ashok Mishra the movie should have been something special but somehow the story and screenplay don't gel. The lack of wit, humour and sarcasm in the Screenplay barring a few scenes leave the task to entertain the audience solely upon the Story which I must say is a tough ask for any story , at any given point of time.
The story moves at a slow pace in the first half and somehow fails to churn out a plausible relationship between the various elements introduced in the movie. Trying to weave an unconventional pattern or should I say more of a traditional folklore pattern in terms of narration Benegal fails to strike the right notes for some reason.
The movie gains pace with time but throws up nothing which is new and groundbreaking in terms of story or treatment of subject matter.
The second half moves at a good , entertaining pace but that's about it.
The story reminds one of good old Hindi Literature where the common man's plight is depicted in a self mocking way. In that sense it was a tad different than the content available today, but that by itself doesn't elevate the movie to a higher cinematic plane.
The screenplay most of all lets the story down. Genuine Humour is missing from it and it is only the situational humour which accounts for any comic elements. The Dialogues lack punch and wit is evidently absent , although one would have expected such a movie to have sharp witted innuendos in abundance. The Characters speak and are tolerable in parts. No real sting in the Screenplay, it's quite morose actually.
With some needless and tawdry elements in place the movie tarnishes it's own clean image .
In the performance department Boman Irani stands out . His exhibition of a Hyderabadi man should be applauded if not for it's perfection then at least for his versatility. On the whole the acting was good , may be overdone in some instances but no real complaints. Yashpal Sharma does well again , so do the other actors . One thing though, some of them didn't fit in at all with their character . Minisha Lamba, Rajit Kapoor and to some extent Dattani all exuded a misfit's aroma on screen.
The real problem lay with the story and more so with the screenplay.
Could have been a much more funny and relevant movie but for it's inherent defects in the above mentioned departments.