Can Indian cinema compete with Hollywood? This question has been asked often enough. After watching ’Being Cyrus’ I am tempted to say ’Yes’.
The first surprise: A completely English movie from our country, and one that is not defensive about it! Wow! No songs, no meandering, sticking to the story line and a run-time of less than two hours? Amazing.
The taut narrative keeps you engaged by its peculiar humourus take on life, interspersed with moments of tension. This is not a suspense thriller. Far from keeping you on the edge of you seats, it keeps you pleasantly entertained, with characters that are believable caricatures of familiar ’types’ from a dysfunctional Parsi family.
No over the top acting here, the art of understatement has been practised to perfection by Saif, while funny man Bomman Irani is a treat to watch.
What impresses is that the murderer seems to be doing all the wrong things, which intrigues you subliminally There is no way that you can guess before the denouement, which comes as a surprise.
I wonder though whether this movie could have been made in Hindi too? It is remarkable that the director has remained true to the normal language of discourse, thus being true to the context.
Very enjoyable. Simple, but effective story. Great camera angles. Honest to goodness film.
Thanx to the emergence of multiplexes and the maturing of the audience, such movies have become possible in our country too.