Bheja Fry Review

HOME DELIVERY - that's the film one remembers mid-way through BHEJA FRY. The concept is basic - an idiot comes to the house of an overconfident/arrogant man whose idea is to demean the lesser mortals and think of your own as a cut above ordinary.

In HOME DELIVERY it was Viveik Oberoi as the overconfident dude, in BHEJA FRY it is Rajat Kapoor as a suave high-flying executive. In HOME DELIVERY it was Boman Irani who was an idiot messing up things every time he thought they were all right, in BHEJA FRY it is Vinay Pathak's character that follows the same route.

The difference then comes in the fact that while HOME DELIVERY tended to get emotional and sentimental with humor going kaput at regular intervals, in case of BHEJA FRY humor is the lifeline of the film and lives up to its whacky title. Result? A wholehearted entertaining fare.

Rajat Kapoor and his other richie-rich friends have a strange passion - to bring along an idiot on a Friday night and make them do things unintentionally that would enliven the party and relieve them from the stress of their hectic weekly schedules. One such night, it is Bharat Bhushan's [Vinay Pathak] misfortune to be a 'bakra' as Rajat decides to rope him in as his idiot partner.

Series of events make it imperative for Vinay to stay on at Rajat's house and what follows from thereon are activities happening over the course of a single night. After seeing his wife's [Sarika] walk-out, Rajat has more misfortune knocking his doors as his back gets hurt, his mistress [Bhairavi Goswami] turns up, Sarika's ex-boyfriend [Milind Soman] walks-in unexpectedly and last but not the least, Vinay's colleague [Ranvir Shorey] too joins the fun.

And all this while there is one man who stays on to be the center of attraction - Vinay Pathak.

A man who thinks highly of him as a singer, he is also passionate about wearing the 'babudom' all around him, whether it is his walk, mannerisms, body language, facial expressions, costume or his accessories. Especially funny is his possessiveness around his scrapbook that he loves to retain with him all the time.

The underlining theme of BHEJA FRY is to live up to its title and try to make the moments irritating but still funny. Such moments are ample in the film as Vinay Pathak plays his irritant character to perfection and never fails to bring a smile on in each of the frames that he appears. He is the pillar of the film and along with Rajat Kapoor; he builds an amazing camaraderie that was required for their love-hate on-screen relationship.

Since his DIL CHAHTA HAI and MONSOON WEDDING days till CORPORATE, Rajat Kapoor has built an image of a rich suave personality. He takes this forward in BHEJA FRY too while adding on his own sense of creating a comic atmosphere. On the other hand Ranvir Shorey, with whom Vinay has been a hit-jodi from the days of television, takes a relative backseat as he shows his quirky side in the select few scenes he appears.

Milind Soman has a likeable screen presence and he maintains that in BHEJA FRY too. The ladies are fine too, though not exceptional. It is a delight to see Sarika making regular appearances now while Bhairavi is decent. Tom Alter is as usual.

It is not an easy task for a subject like this to hold on viewer's attention throughout the narrative. To his credit, debutant director Sagar Bellary does well to infuse the film with such humor [some obvious, rest subtle] and makes sure that the film's comic graph doesn't dip down at all.

Production values of the film are low as evident from the setting and cinematography, which makes it more fit for a DVD watch. But still, if you have been looking for a small film watch before biggies start arriving one after another from TA RA RUM P