Date:15/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/15/stories/2007041514700200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

An exhilarating laugh riot

CLEAN COMEDY: A scene from `Bheja Fry'

Bheja Fry (Hindi)

Cast: Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Tom Alter, Milind Soman, Sarika

Director: Sagar Bellary

THE BITS and pieces players of the mainstream cinema get to the centre-stage in debutant director Sagar Bellary's off-the-mainstream film that is exhilarating at the beginning, exciting down the middle, and quite a laugh riot at the end. They bask in their own light, soak in well-deserved adulation and prove you need no Khan, no Bachchan to carry a film.

It may not be the coming of age cinema but it ranks among the very best efforts in recent times. No falling pyjamas, no banana peels. No double entendres. It is a rare film that makes you laugh when all you want to do is smile.

Super, but what is Bheja Fry all about, beyond its intriguing title? Well, it is the story of a wannabe singer, an income tax officer who would rather be at a concert than his desk. Important as Vinay Pathak's oiled-hair, blue shirt with grey trousers character is, it is not his story. He is a pivot all right, but the story is all about Rajat Kapoor, a music tycoon, who invites new singers to his parties every week to enjoy a few cheap laughs at their expense. How Pathak sings and Kapoor grimaces make you laugh. How the latter loses his wife and the former turns from a guest at the place to virtually ruling the scenes makes you roll over in laughter.

Throw in the angle of estranged wives and a little sex bomb in the vicinity and you have a film that knows no slack. No flab. Bellary sticks to the task on hand. No long song-and-dance sequences to break the rhythm, no sermons to convey a message. Here is a refreshing film that makes no pretence to convey a message.

If some of the joy comes from the witty one-liners, a lot comes from the nuances the actors impart to the characters here. Their facial expressions convey a lot, their costumes are well researched. Post-Bheja Fry, you underestimate Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak at your risk. Milind Soman plays a nice supporting hand. This is a multiplex film that has a hit written all over it. Go ahead. Enjoy. Live. Love. Laugh.

Ziya Us Salam