Producer: Vashu Bhagnani,Sanjay Suri and Onir

Director: Onir

Writer: Ashwini Malik

Stars: Sharman Joshi, Chitrangda Singh, Sanjay Suri, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani

Creative Quotient:
This is Onir’s third film after My Brother Nikhil and Bas Ek Pal.Expectedly it deals with troubled relationships. Modern parents (Azmi and Irani) with two grown up sons - Harsh (Suri) and Siddharth (Joshi) deal with familial affairs most realistically. Unlike filmmoms who drip maternal love serving up hot food with dollops of love and lard, it’s a glad change to watch Gayatri (Shabana) sulking about her elder son Harsh (who hasn’t been home for a couple of years) when he invites them over to Mauritius for his wedding. It is also heartening to watch Siddharth, the younger brother, a scientist whose theory is that ‘all matter is living’, working out a family reunion finally. The jolly Pop (Boman) keeps taking digs at his wife. And finally the bride - the tantalising Aaliyah (Chitrangda) who has a confused identity - it is unclear whether she’s a career-minded independent woman or a wanton opportunist. Right from the outset she starts eyeing her bro-in-law and over the next five days, without any apparent reason she has fallen head-over-heels for him. A trip to the local restaurant, a sailing trip and a family picnic sans her beau are enough for her to switch loyalties and pine for Siddharth. Likewise for the otherwise stoic scientist, he loses his cool over the dusky maiden and has a go at her in the trail room where he’s gone to buy a suit for his brother’s wedding! The maa kasam twist to the tale is pretty juvenile, wherein Siddharth promises his mom that he will and marry his brother’s bride- to -be !

The story and moments haven’t been fleshed out convincingly. That proves the undoing of the plot. Writer Ashwini Malik could have gone beyond the seen and the obvious and delved deeper into the sub-text. After all this was a film meant for the cognoscenti!

Technical Expertise
Of the players - Shabana and Boman are instantly likeable and strike a chord. Chitrangda makes an interesting comeback; she looks good and acts well in a role that is so ill-defined. Sharman and Sanjay fit well in their respective parts. But Sharman’s not able to personal charisma make his part endearing. Director of photography, Sachin Krishn infuses drama and colour to the proceedings by keeping the imagery as authentic and as beautiful as it really is. Irene Shar Milik’s edit is crisp and Nikhil Kovale’s art direction is snazzy. Surprisingly, in his third film, Onir chooses music that doesn’t work. Debut music director Gaurav Dayal’s scores aren’t memorable. What works definitely in the film is Shabana’s easy camaraderie and snappy encounters with everybody and Anita Dongre’s monochromatic styling.

As for Onir’s direction, his grip slackens intermittently, but he redeems himself in the finale. It’s touching and gripping. If only he had reined in the meandering narrative in-between, it would make for a pleasant weekend watch.