Not that I am an expert on films by Claude Chabrol... But ’Being Cyrus’ is truly in the film noir genre that directors like Chabrol, Hitchcock developed into a fine art.
Went expecting the film to be in Hindi (after all I am in Lucknow where the only English films that get released are the ones dubbed in Hindi) and was pleasantly surprised to see it in English, and normal, natural spoken English at that! Excellent!
But I guess a lot of the audience came in expecting the film,
to be in Hindi
to be a typical Saif Ali Khan romantic comedy
And a lot of them were sorely disappointed... But for those of us who have been aching for a good film amongst the ’Malamaal Weekly’s and the ’Jigyaasa’s, ’Being Cyrus’ is a breath of fresh air, actually a breath of icy cold air that perks you up when you walk out of your warm home into a cold winter’s morning.
Can’t reveal the plot, because it is good and unlike ’Bluffmaster’ is not out there in the open. The structure, the editing pattern (especially during the climax) is so well done that is hard to believe that this is the director’s debut film. Only the denouement could have been more hard-hitting.
The cinematography by veteran Jehangir Choudhary is excellent (a lesson all debut directors should follow - take a experienced cinematographer).
The director has extracted great performances from the entire cast:
Saif Ali Khan - you don’t know what he is up to... whether to be on his side or against him... with that touch of vulnerability showing up from time to time...
Naseerudin Shah - another natural performance from a true actor...
Boman Irani - brings the right amount of despicability to his character... it is good to see an actor who is consistently avoiding being typecast...
Dimple Kapadia... could be much better! Let’s hope she is better in ’Banaras’...
And all the rest are perfect...
One only wonders what would have been the fate of this film if Saif Ali Khan had not been in the film... the distributors are notorious for killing a good film!
I will repeat myself:
Go see ’BEING CYRUS’ but remember that this is not a HINDI film, it is in ENGLISH. This is not your typical Saif Ali Khan Yashraj type fluffy romantic comedy...
But if you are in the mood for a good well crafted film, go catch it today!
P.S. The reason why a lot of people are not liking ’Being Cyrus’ - If Abbas-Mustan had made ’Being Cyrus’ with Shahrukh Khan like ’Baazigar’ then it would have been made more conventionally. But since it is Homi Adajania, he has taken the unconventional route, be it the setting (Parsi), the structure(non-linear), and the casting. The film needs attention like ’Memento’! Maybe not that much, much definitely more than your average pic.