The Hindu : New Delhi News : A black comedy that takes you through bizarre experience of life

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A black comedy that takes you through bizarre experience of life

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

`BEING CYRUS': Still from the film showing Saif Ali Khan and Dimple Kapadia

NEW DELHI: It is going to be a year of change in Bollywood. With the coming months likely to see more than one actor and director try a change of style, experimenting is clearly the buzzword right now.

If Hrithik Roshan has decided to don the super hero and bad man cap in the same year, Karan Johar seems to have realised finally that there is a world of imperfect relationships out there. Abhishek Bachchan, of course, will do a complete reversal with "Umraon Jaan''.

But the actor who made heads turn for more than one reason last year, Saif Ali Khan, may well be the man to look out for. Having won over people with his brilliant comic timing in "Hum Tum'' and sensitive portrayal in "Parineeta'', Saif will now be seen in his first English film, a black comedy.

Saif will be seen in debutant Homi Adjania's "Being Cyrus'' in a rather different role. Starring Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani and Simone Singh, the film revolves round the family of a retired sculptor played by Naseeruddin and how their life changes when he opens his house to a stranger.

Being his first film, "Being Cyrus'' is special for Homi Adjania. "Being Cyrus is my contribution to the changing palette of English films coming out of India. It is an intimate film about certain bunch of individuals who do live in India, do speak English and are very similar to people anywhere in the world. Its uniqueness lies in the originality of the story and a very different style of narrative. It is a quaint film that takes the audience through a bizarre experience in Cyrus's life,'' he says.

Having already won critical acclaim at international festivals such as the Asian Film Festival at Lyon, South Asian Film Festival at New York and the Indian Film Festival in Israel, the film is finally all set for a worldwide release on March 24.

Coming as it does with a dose of reality, Homi says "Being Cyrus'' is an expression he decided to put on celluloid display.

"Real life has an underbelly that is stark, humourless and sombre. It is sinister and threatening. Often cinema tries to capture it for what it is. It pulls no punches. Ugliness and beauty, darkness and light, morbid and funny are two sides of the same coin. Cinema has the capacity of flipping that coin and making it land on its edge, capturing flashes of both sides as it slowly spins to a stop. We have attempted this approach in the writing of `Being Cyrus','' says Homi.

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