If I were asked to summarize the movie "Being Cyrus" in a few words, I would say it is different okay kind of movie. Part of the reason for going for the movie was that the promos projected it as what is called "parallel cinema".....it certainly is....but when you walk out of the theatre, you realise you do not carry much with you.
The story revolves around a Parsi family......the Sethna family....Dinshaw(Naseeruddin) and his wife Katie(Dimple) stay in Panchgani, in a huge dilapilated bungalow. Dinshaw is a famed potter whose best days are clearly past and who now spends his life in a mostly delirious state due to the dope he smokes. Katie is his wife....who is clearly unsatisfied with life and her husband. She wants much more from life than Dinshaw can offer her with his limited means in the small town.
This is where Cyrus(Saif) lands up for a one year stint as Dinshaw's apprentice. Katie welcomes him into the household with open arms and makes no bones about her sexual advances to Cyrus.
The cast is good. Nasseruddin Shah does not quite make an impression, maybe because we are too used to good performances from him by now. Saif is good but not outstanding...his role really does not offer him much variations in terms of acting, inspite of him being the main character of the movie. Dimple's role is clearly different from what she has ever done before. She does justice to her role as the frustrated wife who simply cannot bear her half-deaf husband and who does not think twice before expressing her sexual needs to a man probably her son's age. Boman Irani as the elder Sethna son is very good.....he plays the angry sceaming son, the irritatred neighbour, the uncaring husband and the flirtatious lover....all to near perfection. Simone Singh is the young pretty demure bride married to Boman Irani....who casts away her inhibitions and smokes her days away to glory the moment her husband leaves for work. The cast to actually watch out for is the old Mr Sethna(Honey Chhaya). He does an amazing job as the harassed father. His expressions are something to watch out for.....whether it is when his eyes light up at the sight of food....or when he reminisces his old days during the British Raj or when he is in one of his delirious states where he simply does not recognise anybody. An ace actor I must say !!! Manoj Pahwa as the violent police inspector does a good job too.
The movie does not have any songs. Though in English, the movie has a generous spattering of Gujarati...Gujarati being the language spoken by Parsis. This makes it difficult to understand parts of the movie.
The script is weak....and maybe that is the reason....it does not have such a powerful impact on the audience. The so-called mystery is cliched and not thrilling enough.
A lot of hype but not much substance :((
3 comments:
hmm.., the story line sounds like a rip off, i've even heard the tolstoy quote somewhere before, but cant recollect, looks like I'll give this the royal skip..
nice review.
Venkat,
As a young, red-blooded man, must admit it's tough to reject the advances of a mature, experienced, woman (gish...hope Rajni doesn't get ticked off enough to delete this post).
Ladies, ask any young man in his right sense of mind, who has not had his own Mrs Robinson moment :-)
Mrs. Robinson moment - I like that comment.
Anyways, Saif needs to work on his voice modulation or go for someone else's voice (which matches his but with modulations)...otherwise he's goanna go nowhere.
~A
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