Songs
Director : Ashwani Dhir
Cast : Ajay Devgn, Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal
Meet an urban and upwardly mobile family that has never had a houseguest before. Puneet (Ajay Devgan) is a mediocre film writer who is writing a script about a blind woman who can see and a mute man who can speak. His interior designer wife Munmun (Konkana Sen Sharma) struggles with her spoken Hindi, but rants in Bengali when she is angry. Their young son too gets pulled up at school for being a weak Hindi student.
Based on a short story by the late satirist, Sharad Joshi, the film opens with laborious explanations on the meaning of ‘Athithi Daivo Bhawa’ (Sanskrit for ‘The Guest is akin to God).
The heavily pre-empted guest arrives at Puneet and Munmun’s doorstep in the form of a never-seen-before relative from Gorakhpur. The harmless looking Chachaji (Paresh Rawal), armed with a dhoti and gamcha invades, rather unpleasantly, the family’s intimate nuclear set-up. Chachaji slaps the watchman, gargles like a garbled gargoyle at 5 in the morning, and brace your self, farts noisy stinkers all over the house.
Much to the chagrin of Puneet & Munmun, Chachaji begins to make their home his own and even orders extensive food preparations from the independent Munmun.
The frustrated couple soon realizes that chachaji has no return date in mind and they try different methods to get rid of him. But it all seems to be in vain as chachaji is made of sterner stuff.
Is the humor your cup of tea? Decide for yourself.
In one scene, the couple get an actor friend to fake a call from chachaji’s village informing chachaji that his wife has died (yes, the writers must have forgone the basics of humanity for the sake of comedy) Predictably, it is revealed that chachiji had passed away 5 years ago and chachaji gets the actor-friend thrashed by the cops. The irate couple goes to the extent of hiring an underworld don to threaten chachaji into leaving, but to their dismay, the thug begins to worship the chacha who has his traditional values intact. .
In spite of a dodgy screenplay and scenes that go on and on, the clever casting does somewhat manage to hold it together. Paresh Rawal plays the part of the unwanted guest excellently, and refrains from making him loud and menacing. Ajay Devgan manages to stay his subdued self for most of the film and shares neat chemistry with Konkana Sharma. Konkana gets her comedy quite right. Together, the couple put in a natural performance.
A really funny moment has chachaji in a temple, singing a bhajan for Durga Maa to the tune of, brace yourself again, ‘Beedi Jalaile’ the Bipasha Basu hit song. Also funny are the scenes where Munmun follows chachaji around the house with a can of air freshener to combat his deadly flatulence.
Undoubtedly, anyone who has had a difficult houseguest will relate to plight of the family. Not only is their privacy interminably invaded, but they also have to exasperationgly tune their western minds towards the rural values of the ‘desi’ uncle. This aspect of the story is particularly interesting, exposing a whole generation of city bred children, like Puneet and Munmun’s son, who know very little about the significance of Indian culture and its values.
The film has a soulful message, the comic timing comes out right and the acting is well controlled. Unfortunately, the rest of the filmmaking is not in control. The script is strangely schizophrenic, ranging from great one-liners to illogical babble. The is editing is indulgent and the gags stay on screen stay well beyond their punch lines.
‘Athithi Tum Kab Jaoge’ builds up moments nicely, but like all flatulence, it throws up far more than it can digest. Watch; but with a can of air freshener next to your popcorn.
No comments:
Post a Comment