I was waiting outside the cinema hall for the previous show goers to leave, and I heard comments to this effect most often, “sachi mein bheja fry hai…’. That didn’t tell me much, neither as to how much they enjoyed it nor what to expect from it myself. But one thing it did tell me was, the film lived up to its promise.
Bheja Fry stars ‘non-stars’ with Rajat Kapur and Sarika as the lead pair(the lead couple is Vinay and Rajat Kapur), Ranvir Sheorey, Milind Soman, and forgettable appearances by Tom Alter and Harsh Chhaya(wonder what made them agree to it).
About the cast – Sarika is back and now that she is, I feel we missed a good part of her while she was away. She is genuine in her role(though marred with inconsistencies) as a dissenting, yet loving, singer wife, while Rajat Kapur is below the mark playing a nasty music company honcho. Bhumika Goswami plays Kapur’s nymphomanical-bimbo mistress in the film, and that’s all there is to say about that. Milind Soman is surprisingly affable as he relents from *trying *to act. He talks a little, laughs a lot and carries his part off with ease. The one moment where he could’ve done more comes later in the film – at the door, when he is about to leave, but we shall surpass that for better things to come in this film. And that clearly, is the, by now well-famous VJ duo of Vinay and Ranvir. They have brought a certain freshness to comedy which has long been missing from Hindi cinema. The scenes where they are together including one over the phone, where Ranvir is almost inconspicuous in the background are hilarious, though repeatedly violating the sense of secularity that one may expect in our society(Note – ‘expect’ is the word). Vinay holds fort through the film and with great charm.
The plot involves a ‘dinner party’ where the idea is to make a simpleton the subject of ridicule, by condescending raheez-zaade, who spend so much time in hunt for their bakras, one wonders how they got so raheez as to afford such vanity. This search brings Vinay and Rajat together, and keeps them so for the most part of a bheja frying film…
The film isn’t all perfect… I’ve read that it’s a remake of a French film – that dampens my enthusiasm about the film. The other shortcoming is that the production value, the setting looks like it’s adapted from stage – it lacks the scale that a film provides and it’s almost like watching a stage play, but on film. That said, the production value isn’t anything to write about, but then again with a 60lakh budget, we’re not expecting Karan Johar-esque sets are we? Camerawork, editing and direction – all get the job done, but that’s about all. There were a few times when I felt the film could’ve done with a better pace, it seems like we’re going round in circles – but then again, they filed their disclaimer when they called the film ‘Bheja Fry’.
What has still helped the film make around 5 Crores in revenues(from non-reliable sources) are the performances, or rather, performance by Vinay. I wish they had put Ranvir to better use than wasting him in a non-believably twisted face character – but he’s still relish-able. Some clearly endearing moments are when Vinay breaks into songs, and the telecon he has (SPOILER) with Sarika at the end… and the funny moments that are going to make their way into everyday life are ‘it’s ringing’, ‘redial’… with the methodical scrapbook wrapping and unwrapping being the highpoint of comic improvisation(due credit to whoever came up with it).
I hope Ballary does another comedy, and hopefully an original this time, just to prove a couple of things: that this was no fluke and to further push the comedy envelope… nice work!
- Kartick Sitaraman