The Hindu : New Delhi News : Not a safe bet maybe, but a pretty Saif show all the way...

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Sunday, Mar 26, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Not a safe bet maybe, but a pretty Saif show all the way...

ZIYA US SALAM

SAIF SHOW: Homi Adajania's "Being Cyrus" is meant for Saif Ali Khan's fans only.

BEING CYRUS

(At Chanakya and other Delhi theatres)

Civilisation since time immemorial has recorded the tortoise as the winner. And who is to know the fate of the tortoise better than Saif Ali Khan, who after a decade in Bollywood is finally beginning to find his own little niche now.

The other Khan trio might still be bigger draws at the box office, but ask the discerning, and more importantly, the common man, Saif is getting there too.

A film like "Being Cyrus" with Saif as the sole draw would have been inconceivable a couple of years ago. Now it is par for the course.

And Saif, on his part, does nothing to detract from all the attention. He is worth all the fuss, worthy of all the fawning. But hold on, don't equate a hero's work with the director's piece. Homi Adajania's film comes riding a wave of hope. But does not swim to safe waters.

Part of that brave new world of experimental cinema, Adajania however only makes half-hearted stabs at novelty, forgets about drama, and comes up with a film that begins quite well but ends short of the good category.

At the beginning, it turns out to be a rare peek into the world of a Parsi couple: but the foray comes riddled with stereotypes. If the couple is Parsi, they have to have an offbeat lifestyle, so the husband is a sculptor, the wife gets into midis and gowns, and so on.

You ignore that and realise that Saif, a newcomer to Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia's family, is quite a scene-stealer. He lights up the screen with his spark even as Dimple rants - she is easily the weakest link of the film.

But the brooding Shah and cantankerous brother Boman Irani do not make for a pretty film, especially when an evolving romance between a young man and an ageing woman turns into a murder mystery.

Often like life, what Adajania gives us in the first half, he takes back in the second. More is the pity because here we had one story where actors were incidental, the surprise element paramount.

Watch "Being Cyrus" if you are a Saif fan. Otherwise, being smug and away from it won't be a bad idea.

SOUTEN

(At Odeon and other Delhi theatres)

This is supposed to be Padmini Kolhapure's comeback film. More likely, it is going to be Mahima Chaudhari's go-away film. It is a crying, screaming advertisement for the lady to take voluntary retirement, lest the industry and the fans force her hand. In film after film, she has been a case of mobile mediocrity. But in no recent film - the last was "Mr 100%" released this past week - did she get a real author-backed role to prove her merit. She gets one here in this Karan Razdan film which shares its name with a Sawan Kumar hit of the early 1980s. And Mahima goes on to make a mess of it.

She is desperate to prove she is young and happening. Hence she gets down to a sun-and-sand song that would have been creditworthy for an artiste specialising in pedalling vulgarity. It does her no favours, only reinforces the belief that here is a girl well past her prime but just anxious to hang on till the last of the rays fades away. With all those wrinkles on her face and skimpy costumes she does her best to shift the focus. What a sad case for a girl who promised wonderful things with good old "Pardes"!

Well, Mahima with all her screechy voice and rehearsed act as the second wife of Gulshan Grover and first flash of a guy called Vikram Singh might be a sore point, but she is merely keeping her co-stars company! Grover, who made such a good fist of playing a busy over-aged husband to Bipasha Basu in "Jism", seems completely disinterested as a rich guy too busy with his business and hunting expeditions for his wife. And Vikram? Well, whose idea was it to foist in a crucial role? He gets to sleep with one woman, and loves another! No wonder he looks completely out of sorts, all at odds with the proceedings.

Pity, Padmini Kolhapure! What on earth is she doing here? Yes, she was eminently likeable in her "Pyar Jhukta Nahin" and "Swarg Se Sundar" days. Now gone is the vim, the sparkle. And she gets a director who is quite uncertain of what he wants.

That brings us to Karan Razdan, who not so long ago gave us "Girlfriend", a story of two girls with a different affiliation. More recently, he gave us that rather bearable "Umar" which took us into the world of the aged and the helpless. This time he bares his unbearable side with a film that is nothing but a confused medley of songs and stereotype situations.

THE FAMILY STONE

(At PVR Saket and other Delhi theatres)

The Diane Keaton-starrer had to wait for the Oscar fever to subside to cultivate a rapport with the cinemagoers. Now this comedy with a couple of nice emotional touches has finally made its appearance. Incidentally it is the second English film this week where an outsider enters a family, changing its fortunes forever. If in Adajania's "Being Cyrus" the consequences are less than desirable, here the characters face no such problems as they go about stomping and screaming, sulking and smiling as newcomer Sarah Parker as Meredith is introduced by the eldest son of the family as his prospective life partner.

The story is wafer-thin, the narrative takes the proceedings forward and an array of stars like Luke Wildon, Claire Danes besides Keaton take us to a world where unpredictability is as rare as an oasis in a desert.

In the first few reels itself one realises one is in for a family get-together kind of fun - few skeletons, some heartburn, some sharp words cloaked as fun. It is Christmas time and the young and the middling, and of course, the old, have gathered for some traditional gaiety: remember the family that sings and sups together stays together. That exactly is the problem.

Everyone might have his take on life in the Stone family, but the new girl is supposed to live up to an exactitude of virtues. And Meredith does not exactly cover herself with glory with her touchy manners - perfect hair, perfect suit is her idea of a frank conversation!

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