Film Review: Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar

IT COULD have been as soothing as the early summer breeze at dawn. It could have been as comforting as a warm quilt on a cold night. It could have transmitted as much joy as floating paper boats in the monsoon. It could have been all this and then some more -- maybe even provided pleasure for all seasons. If only``Yeh Teraa Ghar, Yeh Meraa Ghar", released at cinema halls all over this past week, had been made with as much felicity and dexterity as Priyadarshan had invested in ``Hera Pheri'' nearly a couple of years ago. If the film had not been insufferably loud. If the lead actors had displayed greater malleability of face, greater mobility of expression, greater modulation of speech. If only this comedy had not been reduced to an unending cacophony. If only...

The way it turns out, the film is reduced to a cantankerous tale of two youngsters -- Sunil Shetty and Mahima Choudhary -- screaming their lungs out, now flailing their hands, now stomping their feet, now scratching their heads in despair. Both of them lay claim to one house -- owned by Shetty, possessed by Choudhary. One needs to sell it off to pay off his late father's debts. The other needs to live in it to perpetuate her late father's memory. One of them needs the money from its sale to keep the ancestral place in the village from the rapacious moneylender's grasp. The other has to prevent its sale because better houses need better finances which are not exactly round the corner for a woman who spends more time at bus stops and adjusting her umbrella than at the office desk.

The elements are right here, though. We have a hero who proved that he can wear something more than a tree trunk expression with ``Hera Pheri'' and has constantly been in search of roles which require him to go beyond booming guns, flexing biceps. We have Paresh Rawal, one of the most under-rated actors of contemporary times who, given the right role, can bring a house down. We have Choudhary, who may never be able to claim ``the most beautiful woman'' slot but is easy on the eye in a role of a middle-class working girl with no pretensions. She steps out of her trademark mini skirts and skimpy tops to create a visually identifiable middle-class character. And we have some eminently memorable numbers by Anand-Milind, not to forget good situational, witty dialogue.

After a few winsome moments in the first half, the film meets its Waterloo after the drinks break. Simply because there are no subtleties, no nuances. It becomes a one-track exercise with Choudhary believing that the only way to get a word in edgeways in a situational comedy is to pour her lungs out. And Shetty trying to rise above the din. He wears the same scowl, same smirk which he has in similar roles in the past. And poor Rawal being reduced to a caricature as an inspector who keeps a rose in his hand and wears romance on his sleeve.

``Yeh Teraa Ghar...''provided a delightful opportunity to weave together a seamless comedy -- a rare genre on Bollywood which believes that only falling drawers and slipping human beings raise a laugh or two. But it is an opportunity wasted if you ignore the occasional winsome and witty moment.

ZIYA US SALAM

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Entertainment
Previous : Film Review: Asokavanam
Next     : About maternal bond