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Bollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Limp, unrousing tale



Film: Kaamyaab

Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal, Sarika Singh, Avtar Gill, Manmauji, Liliput, Manoj Bakshi, Viju Khote, Guddi Maruti

Director: Hardik Mehta

Rating: * * ½

Runtime: 109 mins



An ode to the Hindi film extra from the 70’s and 80’s, Kaamyaab, supported by Shah Rukh & Gauri Khan (who apparently came on board because the film was finding no takers) tries hard to make the life of a side actor Sudheer(Sanjay Mishra) look interesting. But the bitter-sweet irony of having played nearly 499 bit parts in a career hall-marked by a sex-video misrepresentation, is totally lost in a segue of events that lacks interest and fails to intrigue.



The film opens with a TV crew from Garhwal trying to get Sudheer to speak about his 499 bit roles, some of which had catchy memorable two-bit dialogues. The episode on him is titled ‘Garhwal Ki Prerna’ and the crew are expecting him to come up with some juicy anecdotes that could boost the channels ratings. Unfortunately, Sudheer, unused to being the centre of attention, can’t put-together two sentences for the interview…and that’s probably as poignant as this film can get.



The screenplay has little to say and is imminently forgettable. The characters lined-up(especially the daughter played by Sarika Singh, the bit-player turned casting agent played by Deepak Dobriyal and the competitive in-demand extra played by Avtar Gill), may have some intense moments but the overall lack of tempo, listless narration and unbecoming spread fail to enthuse. The highlight of the film- a scene where all the Bollywood bit players (Viju Khote, Manmauji, Birbal, Lilliput and others) congregate at a Bar, may be instrumental in nostalgia recall but has little meaning in a film that prods along purposelessly, trying for bitter-sweet affect but feeling limp, listless and underdeveloped. Sanjay Mishra literally fades into the tapestry with an unmetered performance that does little to augment his stature as a bankable actor. This isn’t ‘Kaamyaab’ by any yardstick!

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