What happens to a movie which is well made, well stylised, well written and made with much passion...but is about the very people who should be writting the reviews for it...it gets panned violently...and does not escape even the best intending scribe’s scalpel (read pen)...especially if it’s a noir..a black comedy...a parody on the very system which happens to write the future of such an effort.
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani is such a movie and it can be well understood why it met such a fate.
Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla are two successful anchors/ TV journalists working for two rival channels. They use their sauveness, witticism, chutzpah and modern day streetsmartness laced with glamour and some tongue-in-cheek humour to clinch plum headline grabbing pieces for their channels thus boosting their TRP ratings. They are staunch rivals who try every bit of tricks up their sleeve to outdo each other.
Their Change-of-heart phenomenon occurs when they are covering the case of Paresh Raval, an old middleclass father who is sentenced to death for killing the rapist and murderer of his daughter. The villain in the first case had gotten away scot-free in typical Hindi Film fashion by conjuring up false alibis and buying off witnesses and to top it Paresh Rawal gets branded as a ruthless terrorist. When the two young TV journos realize the truth they join hands to help the wronged father.
During their endeavour they find out and fight the nexus between the politicians, media moghuls (their own bosses), authorities in every capacity et al.
The icing on the cake is the lampooning of the cash crazy and ever attention seeking media going to any length to attract publicity, who in this case try to commercialise the hanging of Paresh Raval turning it into a commercial event. There are sponsors for everything right from the hanging to the hangman.
A bit of Patriotism ( the flavour of the times) is on display when the two journos march up to the jail carrying the Tiranga and with a mass support are successful in stopping the hanging and telling the truth to the public. The film ends with a speech by Shahrukh Khan about how to bring about the reforms by people themselves by not supporting corrupt politicians and powers.
As usual Shahrukh Khan is at his good self when being directed by Aziz Mirza and it is in these movies that one tends to like the actor in him. All those who liked him in ?Yes Boss?, ?Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa? and ?Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman? will like him in this movie and wish that he does more of similar type rather than experimenting with ?Asoka? or his all other supremely hammed efforts.