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Bollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Sitcom theatrics

Film: Doordarshan

Cast: Mahie Gill, Dolly Ahluwalia, Manu Rishi Chadha, Supriya Shukla, Rajesh Sharma, Mehak Manwani, Sumit Gulati, Shardul Rana Writer & Director: Gagan Puri

Rating: * *

Runtime: 114 mins



The set-up here is distinctly theatrical. Sunny(Shardul Rana) is in his ‘Mastram’ phase making gooey eyes at his landlord’s ( Rajesh Sharma) pretty daughter while his hapless father Sunil(Manu Rishi Chadha) is grappling with having to handle two teenage kids, a comatose mother Darshan Kaur( Dolly Ahluwalia) and a recalcitrant wife Priya( Mahie Gill) who is separated and angling for a divorce.



The narrative was expected to come alive after Darshan wakes up from her three-decade old coma and the family in their eagerness to prevent a relapse decide to allow time to stand still 30 years in the past. The milestone highlighting that aspect is the Doordarshan news signature tune. Other than the basic set-up elaborating a dysfunctional north Indian family and its many antics, there’s little here of interest. The writing is so unimaginative that situations ripe for humour fail to bring a smile to your face. The entire cast appears to be going through the motions in the hope that their mere presence might just tease a laugh or two from the audience but even that is not forthcoming here. Dolly Ahluwalia is unbearably melodramatic as she wakes up from the cold and tries to get on the job of completing unfinished business. It’s even more ridiculous to see the two ageing leads garbed in school uniform trying to convince the old reprobate that time has indeed stood still. Maybe the writer/director thought that old people are devoid of brains or why else would he construct such an improbable, implausible scenario? This sort of imagining is better suited for theatre or a sitcom …and that too with a large dose of humour thrown in. This film is neither cinematic nor humorous. It’s just tedious and boring!

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