What is it all about?
Another satirical peek at religion but less clever than OMG and PK.. in a rare casting coup where three b-town brilliant talents Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal and Annu Kapoor unite to shine with remarkable brilliance in their roles but the movie adds nothing new to the genre.
This official remake of the British comedy Infidel, Dharam Sankat Mein also thinly reminds the 1961 B.R. Chopra’s National award winner ‘Dharamputra’ marking the first major appearance of this year’s Dada Saheb Phalke winner Sashi Kapoor who played a Hindu fundamentalist who hates Muslims only to find later that he is actually a Muslim by birth.
Dharamputra however is a serious take that had depth that touched the volatile partition era and also questioned the basics of humanity and religion. Dharam Sankat Mein lacks the sharpness in its humour like PK and OMG the satire is limited and lacks innovations and now it has become a cliché norm to make caricatures of Hindu Godmen and Muslim clergy.
Paresh Rawal as Dharampal shines brightly throughout giving a knock out performance of a happily go lucky Hindu businessman who goes through an identity crisis at the age of 50 when he discovers he was actually a Muslim by birth who got adopted by a Hindu family.
David Baddiel script gets it rightly light hearted and amusing as the doctors ordered till here but after the plot's big turning point, the movie loses its focus and tries to add more things going on and on.. The occasional spurt of brilliance like the outstanding Naseeruddin Shah as the MSG inspired rock star Neel Anand Baba is simply hilarious we needed more quirkiness in this satirical reality take but alas it restores to get a bit preachy and knocks the unwanted dramatic gates like conversion, babagiri, and all.
The rapport between Paresh and Annu Kapor who plays a liberal Muslim neighbor holding the ‘permit’ to drink in Ahmedabad is super... we needed more punches like that and less of Paresh Muslim tanning sessions with Annu Kapoor which like the film after an interesting point goes on and on. This is the reason why satire is not everybody cup of tea and first time director Fuwad Khan falls prey to the common problem of having an idea but not the required execution and innovation.
Further the movie is marred with an interesting and boring second half and a hush hush ending that spoils the acting heroics of the three B-town veterans Paresh, Naseer and Annu.
A Satirical is the mirror of the society which tells the pain Fuwad and David could have made a better and more relevant film having such outstanding talents at his disposal.
Waiting for a satire on the recent ‘ghar wapsi’ imbroglio.. on the above story line.. anyone..
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