The Party scheduled to hit the screen on April 26, is an unconventional, boisterous comedy. It was the first film ever shot with the now-standard “video-assist system”. This rollicking laugh-riot is the product of Peter Sellers characteristic capers and the clever comic timing of director, co-writer and producer, Blake Edwards. This is the only Blake-Seller partnership that is not a Pink Panther Film.
The slapstick comedy made from a 63-page screenplay (less than half the length of a usual script), has a steller cast headed by Peter Sellers as Hrundi.V.Bakshi and co-starring Claudine Longet as Michelle Monet, Marge Champion as Rosalind Dunphy, Herbert Ellis as ‘Director’ and J.Edward McKinley as Fred Clutterbuck. The film’s soundtrack is by Henri Mancini, its highlight, ‘Nothing to lose...’ sung by pop-star Claudine Longet.

The story is a take-off from the Inspector Clouseau concept of Pink Panther. It revolves around Hrundi.V.Bakshi, an aspiring actor, who has just landed in America from his homeland, India.Hrundi works for a day as an extra in a film. During the shooting of this movie set in the 1800s, Hrundi annoys the director in every possible way. Following him is an endless chain of uncontrolled catastrophies. This includes wearing an underwater watch in one scene and accidently destroying a massive ‘fort’ set. Hollywood is determined to get rid of this one-man-disaster. His director personally calls Hollywood bigwig Fred Clutterbuck pleading for Hrundi’s ouster, formally putting an end to his career. Clutterbuck writes Hrundi’s name on a piece of paper to insure that he never gets work again. Ironically, the paper turns out to be the guest list for Clutterbuck’s exclusive party. This is not just any party, it is ‘the’ party. The glitteratti of Hollywood, top-notch producers, sensational starlets and gorgeous models, are all going to be there and so is accident-prone Hrundi.

Watch out for “birdy num num”, a hilarious scene when Hrundi tries to feed a parrot and his encounters with a drunk waiter and the side-splitting toilet scene. This ’60s party scene is a satirical look at Hollywood parties with sleazy producers coming up with corny dialogues. The party has every conceivable element from Hrundi to pink elephants in a poo. Sellers has made excellent use of his gift for mimicry and accents. It is no shock when this accidently invited geek leaves the party with the hot, struggling French actress, Michelle Monet.

The 1968 comedy was for all these years kept from the Indian audiences. It was banned in our country because the bumbling idiot Hrundi, his manner and comic accent offended some “party poopers”. This raises a pertinent question? Why can’t we laugh at ourselves when the French could with ‘Inspector Clouseau’. Hrundi, in fact, is the only intelligent person in the party, according to many.

—Neha Bhayana

DREAMS UNLIMITED

After the commercially successful Monsoon Wedding, the critically acclaimed Mitr and the SFX thriller, 16 December Idream Production has at least four interesting films being readied for release this year. There’s the period drama Agnivarsha being directed by Arjun Sajnani. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Nagarjuna, Milind Soman, Raveena Tandon, Sonali Kulkarni and Prabhu Deva, this emotional epic extravaganza inspired by a story from the Mahabharat is sure to grab headlines.

Another eye-catching project is Tareek. A simple story of how an ordinary man’s life is changed forever by a terrorist attack abroad. This will be Khalid Mohammed’s second film after Fiza.

For the young ones is Jajantram, Mamantram. Believe it or not, this film with a tongue twister of a title, is a desi adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels. And then there is Bend It Like Beckham. This charming film about an ambitious Punjabi girl in UK who dreams of becoming a football star like Beckham, is already generating a lot of interest. It is directed by Gurinder Chadha who earlier created riplles with Bhaji On The Beach’ and What’s Cooking?