The Hindu : Karnataka News : Abstracting godliness from the guest

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Monday, Mar 08, 2010
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Abstracting godliness from the guest

Heady combination:It's a rare film that gives away everything in its title, but manages to hold viewer interest.

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge (Hindi)

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal

Director: Ashwni Dhir

It is rare to have a film which gives away everything in its title but still manages to hold interest. Director Ashwni Dhir's light-hearted but ‘soapy' comment on a guest, who outstays his welcome, is timely as in the march of civilisation, the guest is becoming an endangered species and the one with a rustic background has almost become extinct.

The plot gives a familiar feeling as in the fast-paced life of metros where people have no time to worship God – even the aartis are played by deejays – how can they stop and take note of a well meaning house guest. Film writer Puneet and his interior designer wife Munmun (Ajay Devgn and Konkona Sen Sharma) are no different. Their son doesn't even know the meaning of that famous phrase enshrined in the Taittreya Upanishad that put the guest on the same footing as the god. Even as the couple is contemplating on how to give him a practical example, Puneet's uncle Lambodar (Paresh Rawal) surfaces from Gorakhpur. As expected after the initial bonhomie, the guest becomes a pain in the neck. Uncle has a kicking solution for every problem but will his rustic contraptions work in urban life? His early-rising schedule and demands for rich food demolishes Munmun's lifestyle and his bucolic sense of humour almost renders his writer nephew jobless. Ashwni cleverly places the two Indias in one home. And without getting judgmental, he lets the humour emanate as the two hug or clash with each other! Take the scene where uncle explains to the society kids that how moon is closer to Mumbai than Delhi or the way he nitpicks the maidservant, a crucial member in every middle-class urban family whom nobody dares to annoy! The fun bubble is inflated with lot of ‘gaseous' humour and some of the familiar situations are overtly dramatised as Ashwni doesn't believe in leaving much for imagination. He could not leave behind the episodic pattern of his “Office Office” days but all along he manages to slip in that pricking feeling that we are headed for a robotic life sans cross-connections!

ANUJ KUMAR

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