Tere Bin Laden( TBL) reminded me of Pakistan’s win in the 2009 T20 cricket world cup.
No, it’s not a movie about cricket but it has the same formula for success where Abhishek Sharma is the captain steering the ship with zeal, there is team effort from five to six individual players and then there is a certain Ali Zafar who acts as’Shahid Afridi’ catalyst for the victory.
Out of the 120 minutes I sat in the theater, without exaggeration I had a smile for 70 minutes and I laughed for 40 minutes. Agreed that I am a compulsive laugher, it still was rib-tickling. It’s not a senseless Akshay Kumar comedy of errors, mind you. It’s an intelligent satire and a different take on the terrorism threat the world is facing. More importantly, it delivers the message of peace more interestingly than the over-doing films like My Name is Khan and New York, both of which I did not enjoy much.
First ten minutes into the film and you know that you are up to. The toilet scene in the beginning and Ali’s attempts in the plane to copy CNN accents are funny. As the movie progresses and story unfolds, the joy rides keep getting funnier. At the interval, it looked fantastic but I feared that it might go down in the second half. Fortunately, it did not. The best thing is that it’s not dragged unnecessarily and is shorter than your normal Hindi films.
The movie marks the arrival of Ali Zafar, who will probably become the first major successful Pakistani actor in bollywood considering that TBL has already grossed over 10 crores at the Indian box office. His screen presence is phenomenal; his confidence is that of a veteran, his smile is lightening; his comic timing can put some so-called entertainers of bollywood to shame. Not even once he goes overboard and takes the movie on his shoulders throughout. His slightly Punjabi-accented-Urdu at times left a bit to think but that does not bother as it has no significance on the story. It will be interesting to see how he fares in his next movies, which I am sure he will get after this performance. He should. There was only one scene that could come remotely close to being emotional, hence, his serious portrayal could not be judged. Ali, in TBL, is absolutely fantastic. I would not be surprised if he bags a couple of new-comer awards at the end of the year.
Abhishek Sharma is another new star to the list of debutant directors after Nishikan Kamat( Mumbai Meri Jaan), Sriram Raghavan( Johnny Gaddar) and Neeraj Pandey( A Wednesday) but he has taken a totally different route as compared to them. His attention to details is amazing. He carries some jokes throughout the movie( The Pappu Umbrella that opens downwards and not upwards) without giving a feeling that it’s dragged. His focus on out-of-focus actors on the screen is exemplary. Just like Ali, I am sure we will see a lot more of him in future. Casting Ali for his first film also turned out to be a master stroke. The storytelling is without loopholes.
The other actors contribute with sincerity. Saugandha gets the biggest role of her career thus far as Zoya and does better than what she did in Jaane Tu and Let’s Dance. The look-alike of Bin Laden( Pradhuman Sing) is hilarious. His scenes with Saugandha leave you in giggles. His Arabic and Punjabi are funny. Imagine Bin Laden singing with a girl’HABIBI GEORGE BUSH’. Ali’s partner, the cameraman, is as good a comedian as it gets.
Cinematography is nothing to write home about but the art director needs pats on the back for creating Karachi like he did. Olper’s buntings on the shops and Dr. ZIauddin Road on the walls was brilliant.
Even when the movie was over, I kept sitting to see the final credits and guess what; it offered more when it unfolded the future of those characters? an all-spiky Bin Laden! The downside of the movie? eh? What downside? TBL was hilarious. I enjoyed every bit of it and would love to watch it again and again.