Genre: Comedy, Drama
Starring Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, Mitun Chakraborty, Om Puri.
Review:
Probably the best underdog of the year. A director whom we have not heard of much in the recent times, Umesh Shukla, gives us this comedy drama which inevitably invokes the thinking side of our brains and enlightens us on some of the aspects of how often we cross the lines on the name of our God and our devotion towards him.
The direction could have been improved and some cheesy bits could have been removed or altered, like for example, the introduction of Akshay Kumar which was a complete rip-off from Ghost Rider. I seriously do not understand why some of our Bollywood directors resort to copying what was already shown in Hollywood in movies with A-Class stars.
However, that grudge aside, the movie and what it sets out to achieve is nothing short of brilliant. It is like a rude slap on the face of the overly devoted Indians or any overly devoted person in fact. It primarily takes Hinduism head on and the points out in numerous ways on how we spend millions of rupees on our Gods by pouring milk on the idols (which goes into waste) and donating in thousands of rupees when the temple is already rich and earning in the millions. On the other hand we refrain with detest from spending a single rupee on the poor, handicapped and disadvantaged people sitting and begging right outside those temples.
The way the story is presented is absolutely fantastic and the script has been written tightly so that the audience is never distracted. It is in fact inspired from the English movie “The man who sued God” and also adapted from a Gujarati play. They rightly say so during the opening credits and I applaud that move by the director. We often have movies made in Bollywood which are heavily inspired by other movies but rarely credit is given to them.
Story in brief:
The whole story revolves around just one character: Kanjibhai. This atheist (one who does not believe in God) is stuck with extreme bad luck when his antique shop is completely destroyed in an earthquake while rest of his community is not effected. Of course, our Kanjibhai is smart fellow and has everything insured soundly. But his bad luck streak continues when the insurance company nulls his insurance policy based on the fact that an earthquake is an “Act of God” and they can’t do anything about it.
Being an atheist, Kanjibhai finds this complete unfair and vows to get his money back either from the insurance company or the God himself. What follows is some of the most simplistic yet most convincing arguments that we have seen. The way Kanjibhai fights his own case (which idiotic lawyer would fight against God?), how he gets support from unexpected people and how the “Religious Leaders” try to bring him down is all what the movie is about.
Songs:
Not a movie for songs in my opinion and I am glad that they did not overly concentrate on bringing out top-notch songs for this. A movie like this, a drama like this can depend on a background soundtrack but not on song and dance sequences. That is exactly what was done in this movie. There are songs but they are not so critical whereby a part of the story is depicted through them.
Acting:
Paresh Rawal. There is a reason why he has been in so many hits. Right from the days of Ram Lakhan till now. We have seen him in so many comedy roles that having a comedy movie without him is hard to fathom. What was needed in this movie was very demanding. A comic personality with a zest to fight the Religious “rowdyism”. And this is what Paresh Rawal delivered. It is an outstanding performance and one that is done so well that people who see him for first time (there are not many unless you are new to Bollywood movies) will start referring to him as Kanjibhai in the future.
And then there is God. Played by our Khiladi actor, Akshay Kumar. A modern-day Lord Krishna. Akshay Kumar is yet another comedian of sorts. He handles any role with easy and the way he portrays Lord Krishna is adorable and you feel your affection towards him just the way you might feel towards Lord Krishna if you are his devotee.
Mithun Chakraborty plays the leader of the Religious movement who plans on bringing down Kanjibhai. The way he walks, his facial expressions change, and his hand movement are just brilliant! He does his role in such a way that you will love his acting but start hating his character. No one, I repeat, no one could have pulled of this character better than Mithun.
There is nothing much to write home about Om Puri. He is one of the most established actors and has done so many varied roles. Again his performance in this is top notch although shorter than you would expect.
Moral:
The movie tackles the hot topic of how Religion is being turned into a business and how people blindly put their faith and trust and more importantly, money on their loving Gods purely on the name of devotion. It shows how temples are worth millions of rupees and get richer by the second while the nation itself is still poor and there are people dying of hunger right outside the doorstep of temples. It shows how we, the public, are so cruel and do not bother to help our less advantaged people but are ready to donate our Gold necklace or a hundred thousand rupees to Gods.
The movie tells us that there is one thing above any kind of devotion or donation to our Gods and Temples, that is helping other less fortunate people.
Ending notes:
This is the kind of movies India needs. A country which is rapidly falling into corruption on scales never seen before, a country which is losing its morals and traditions faster than a bus, packed with people, hurtling down the hill. These are the kind of movies which can and will improve people and inspire at least one out of a thousand to make a stand to help the less fortunate. I only wish this movie was more heavily advertised and shown for free in certain parts of India so that the maximum number of people can get to watch it. Thank you Umesh Shukla for such an eye-opening movie.
I’ve watched:
Once and counting!
Trailer:
bollywood4outsiders 