Director: Homi Adajania
Cast: Boman Irani, Dimple Kapadia, Manoj Pahwa, Naseeruddin Shah, Saif Ali Khan & Simone Singh
This film is a psychological drama about an outsider struggling to get inside himself. The entire film is in English with a running time of 90mins.
This is the story of six people based in a ’Parsi’ household of the Sethnas. The Sethna family is headed by Fardoonjee Sethna (Honey Chhaya), an aging man, his two sons Dinshaw (Naseeruddin Shah) and Farokh (Boman Irani) and their wives Katy (Dimple Kapadia) and Tina (Simone Singh).At some stage in their lives, the entire family stayed together but with time, internal conflicts drove them apart into separate households.
Dinshaw and Katy live in Panchgani, a small hill station near Mumbai while Farokh and Tina stay with Fardoonjee in an old building based in Mumbai.Dinshaw was a sculptor by profession and when he comes across Cyrus (Saif Ali Khan), a complete stranger, he allows him to stay at his house as a paying guest.Cyrus becomes close to the family and soon finds himself to be an integral part of the Sethnas.
Meanwhile an extra marital affair starts in the household. As a result, tension mounts as skeletons start to come out of the closets.A deep-rooted secret starts to unravel and a mystery around the character of Cyrus starts engulfing everyone.
Who is he? Where has he come from? What’s his purpose?
As a viewer, you may have preconceived notions about such crossover films with the end result being a bore.But Homi Adajania and his writer deserve all the credit for narrating a story that’s uniqe and captivating.In most cases, the film starts off well but runs out of steam as it progresses. That’s not the case with Being Cyrus. This one starts with a bang, with the engaging moments in the first half slowly taking you to an environment you can identify with.
But it’s the post-interval portions and the twists in the story that give the film that extra sheen. One is extremely inquisitive about the finale, but the conclusion to the story doesn’t let you down one bit.
Any flaws? Or is it a flawless film? Yes, there’re no flaws whatsoever!
Director Homi Adajania deserves distinction marks for handling the subject in the most convincing fashion. The past two years have seen a number of first-timers explode on the big screen, but he supersedes just about everyone. His style of storytelling is refreshingly different and most importantly, here’s a director who concentrates more on substance than style in his maiden effort.
The usage of the background score during conversations is another brilliant stroke. Cinematography is first-rate. The film captures the authentic look of Parsi Family to precision. The background score is another area that deserves the kudos. The dialogues have rustic flavor and are soaked in acid at times, so vital for a film of this genre.
Frankly speaking, Being Cyrus wouldn’t be what it is without Saif. The actor looks and performs the part with such an ease that it’s indeed difficult to imagine another actor playing the part with such efficiency .Dimple is a delight .Naseer is first rate.Boman is dependable as always.
All up Being Cyrus is one film that stays with you even after the show has concluded. Well crafted and told in the most natural fashion, it should prove to be the cynosure of many movie buffs in days to come.
PS-I happen to catch the premiere of Movie held in Mumbai yesterday night.
It releases from Friday 24th March all over.