The moment I saw the video of the song from this movie I knew I had to see this movie. I love these low budget independent films because they give show us moments that we can identify with yet bring something fresh onto the screen,and after a long time I went into a movie knowing almost nothing about the movie fully confident of the talents of Kher and Irani.
The first thing that struck me about this movie was its dated look, was the release of the movie delayed that much? Couldn't be as much as it looks on screen.
From the beginning you realise that this movie has bad dubbing with all the voices having the same depth, and to add to that some really pathetic lighting, I've seen some really low budget movies even from the yesteryear's but even those have higher quality shooting, dubbing, lighting than this movie, even the editing is a bit jarry.
That being said this movie is very good in almost all other aspects, the middle class Delhi family is very easy to identify with, the language is also very much like what I've heard people in Delhi speak.
The story is simple and sweet, and I've been told land grabbing is really quite an issue in many parts of India.
The acting is great all around, Kher is predictably good , Boman is much the same, the people who really stand out is the supporting cast who have really done a brilliant job, Ranvir, Vinay, Parvin Nitish Pandey and especially Navin Nischol did a splendid job, Tara Sharma voice was as annoying as ever and Khers daughter was an eye-sore and couldn't act either.
One of the most brilliant things about this movie is that how menacing Boman comes across without seeming completely evil, you almost hate him but never quite really reach that point.
The front half is low and bordered on boring for some of my friends who weren't the type to overly sympathise with independent films and do stuff like call it cinema and call anything independent brilliant much like many others do just to be with it, I too felt that the first half was considerably dry especially compared to the second half.
The humour except for a couple of scenes will never really evoke anything more than a smile and that reduces a lot of points from this movie. There a couple of scenes though that really make you laugh and luckily they are mostly towards the end of the film such as the assistant and the suitcase and the second inspections.The ads are really quite misleading as they lead you to believe that this is an all out comedy.
You identify with almost all the emotions of the protagonists and even though some of the scenes are obviously over the top and exaggerated you are still very much with them.
In the end you are left with only feel good feelings and hardly any emotions of satiated revenge (much like the feelings of the protagonists).
Like i said before technically this movie is quite weak and the soundtrack to is OK with only one song that is good.
Some brilliant performances and the strong emotional connections make this movie watchable despite the dry first half and the fact that you never really laugh.
Do watch this movie but only as a matinée or on DVD (even watching on TV wont work as the first half wont be able to hold your attention).
-s weak technically (suprisingly), you never really laugh (the ads are quite misleading), dry first half.
+/-s Tara Sharmas voice, Khers daughter
+s Brilliant acting all around, emotional connection, lots of smiles and some laughs.
total 7/10 (if you factor in the misleading ads and on absolute terms its more like 6 but the extra one point is for encouragement which such movies need and the fact its much better if not watched as a all out slapstick comedy)
The first thing that struck me about this movie was its dated look, was the release of the movie delayed that much? Couldn't be as much as it looks on screen.
From the beginning you realise that this movie has bad dubbing with all the voices having the same depth, and to add to that some really pathetic lighting, I've seen some really low budget movies even from the yesteryear's but even those have higher quality shooting, dubbing, lighting than this movie, even the editing is a bit jarry.
That being said this movie is very good in almost all other aspects, the middle class Delhi family is very easy to identify with, the language is also very much like what I've heard people in Delhi speak.
The story is simple and sweet, and I've been told land grabbing is really quite an issue in many parts of India.
The acting is great all around, Kher is predictably good , Boman is much the same, the people who really stand out is the supporting cast who have really done a brilliant job, Ranvir, Vinay, Parvin Nitish Pandey and especially Navin Nischol did a splendid job, Tara Sharma voice was as annoying as ever and Khers daughter was an eye-sore and couldn't act either.
One of the most brilliant things about this movie is that how menacing Boman comes across without seeming completely evil, you almost hate him but never quite really reach that point.
The front half is low and bordered on boring for some of my friends who weren't the type to overly sympathise with independent films and do stuff like call it cinema and call anything independent brilliant much like many others do just to be with it, I too felt that the first half was considerably dry especially compared to the second half.
The humour except for a couple of scenes will never really evoke anything more than a smile and that reduces a lot of points from this movie. There a couple of scenes though that really make you laugh and luckily they are mostly towards the end of the film such as the assistant and the suitcase and the second inspections.The ads are really quite misleading as they lead you to believe that this is an all out comedy.
You identify with almost all the emotions of the protagonists and even though some of the scenes are obviously over the top and exaggerated you are still very much with them.
In the end you are left with only feel good feelings and hardly any emotions of satiated revenge (much like the feelings of the protagonists).
Like i said before technically this movie is quite weak and the soundtrack to is OK with only one song that is good.
Some brilliant performances and the strong emotional connections make this movie watchable despite the dry first half and the fact that you never really laugh.
Do watch this movie but only as a matinée or on DVD (even watching on TV wont work as the first half wont be able to hold your attention).
-s weak technically (suprisingly), you never really laugh (the ads are quite misleading), dry first half.
+/-s Tara Sharmas voice, Khers daughter
+s Brilliant acting all around, emotional connection, lots of smiles and some laughs.
total 7/10 (if you factor in the misleading ads and on absolute terms its more like 6 but the extra one point is for encouragement which such movies need and the fact its much better if not watched as a all out slapstick comedy)