There were two good things about Onir's Sorry Bhai and these were Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani. Unfortunately, that was it.
I'm still puzzled about why this film was labelled 'unique', 'unusual' or any such favourable term. It is the most run-of-the-mill story of an engaged couple where the woman realises days before the wedding that she has in fact fallen out of love with her fiance and is now interested in his younger brother. There is the usual feat of parents around to object and to support and there is of course the happy ending.
The film, contrary to any claims of singularity, is a contrived coming together of cliches we had forgotten about. Be it the loving looks the actors give their Casablanca DVDs or the age-old repeat-the-name-three-times technique to demonstrate frustration. In a desperate attempt to appear 'modern', the middle-aged parents are happy to kiss in public, the young couple are happy to have sex before they get married and the best part of the film - suggestion of a live-in Sharman tells Chitrangada at one point, "Ma ne suggest kiya hai ki hum live in karein". It seems the film was trying to explore the undefined territory between the modern and the traditional by its incredibly drab plot and characters. That a young scientist can't play the fool after saying 'Maa kasam' is the point of this film. For me the struggle didn't come through, the silliness did.
Sorry Bhai has only suffered from Chitrangada Singh's mystical star status because the actress who played Gita in Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi was a whole different person— one who could act. Every sentence she uttered in this film, every emotion she adopted looked forced, and as a result the character is hardly built up in any real sense. Not that I expected much from him, but Sajay Suri was more wooden than usual. The other real disappointment however, was Sharman Joshi. The shift he demonstrated in a few moments in Rang De Basanti was lost in this one. He tried to get away with smiling through every scene in this film, whether he was happy, sad, angry or frustrated. There was no chemistry or urgency in any of the relationships with the exception of Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani who were more charming than they were in Honeymoon Travels. Sadly for the young actors, the ease between Azmi and Irani highlighted the complete lack among the other relationships in the film. It doesn't move in any way and leaves an utterly bland taste.
The idea behind Sorry Bhai was never revolutionary but it could have been handled better. Half of their cinematography work was taken care of as a result of the beautiful locale, the other half was poorly shot. The overwhelming focus on the surroundings is a good give away of how poor the story is. The dialogues could have lifted this from an ordinary story to something a little more, but they only pulled the film back into a greater sense of the ridiculous.
2 comments:
I would like to add: The songs only added some more silliness to the film, the song right at the end, which is in fact is the title song, being a biggest culprit of all. All the characters singing "Sorry Bhai" was perhaps the nail in the coffin, it completely took away any seriousness that was ever there in any of the relationships in the first place. Trivialising shifts in emotions and equations in a film, and that too, through a silly dancey song is the worst thing any director can do.
I would like to add: The songs only added some more silliness to the film; the title song that played right at the end being the biggest culprit of all. The characters, all for some fashionable purpose dressed in white, singing "Sorry Bhai" : it was perhaps the nail in the coffin for the doomed screenplay. It completely took away any seriousness that was ever there in any of the relationships in the first place. Trivialising shifts in emotions and equations in a film, and that too through a silly dancey song is the worst thing any director can do!
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