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Khosla Ka Ghosla review
Anupam Kher's
Khosla Ka Ghosla
Review :
'Khosla Ka Ghosla' depicts
victory of human spirit
By Subhash K. Jha,
Rating:
* * * *
Film: "Khosla Ka Ghosla";
Starring: Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Parveen Dabas, Tara Sharma,
Ranveer Shorey; Director: Dibakar Banerjee; Rating:
"Khosla Ka Ghosla" tells you that sometimes you need to lose the
plot to gain it.
When Kamal Kishore Khurana (Anupam Kher) loses his precious plot
of land in Delhi's rapidly degenerating concrete jungle, he
gains a son who was about to leave for greener pastures (US).
Lucky Khosla! But we, the viewers, are even luckier. In
Khurana's loss and gain, there lurks a hugely rewarding morality
tale for us.
If "Lage Raho Munnabhai" goes Gandhian with a vengeance (no pun
intended), "Khosla Ka Ghosla" tells us, through delicious
tongue-in-cheek satire, that it's okay to use unfair means to
get what's rightfully yours.
"Khosla Ka Ghosla" is a very rare, tender and life-giving plant
that needs careful nurturing for it to yield its optimum fruits.
The film is straightforward in its depiction of the
working-class stress (done earlier in works as varied as Mahesh
Bhatt's "Saaransh" and Raj Kumar Santoshi's "Ghaatak").
It is done so simply that you tend to miss the immeasurable
amounts of unassuming talent that underline almost every scene
of this remarkable film.
Jaideep Sahni's writing talent is put to exceptional use. The
narrative captures the muddle and poignancy, irony and humour of
Delhi's middleclass through a storytelling device where less is
always more. A delectable understatement underlines almost every
character's propulsion in this film about how to lose the plot
to gain a much larger plot.
The real estate isn't the real asset
of this robustly populated mellow-drama. The human values that
one discovers in Khosla's journey from loss to redemption make
the film several notches above your run-of-the-mill morality
tale.
Debutant director Dibakar Banerjee fills the narrative with
sharply cut incidents and episodes of an ordinary family caught
in an extra-ordinary crisis. Apart from a few deliberately
thrust thematic songs, Banerjee economises on the drama to focus
on the characters and their quirks.
Khosla's dismayed realisation that his dream-house, into which
he has invested his life's savings, is in the danger of being
razed to the ground even before construction, brings to the
surface the disturbing question of the fragmentation of the
joint family.
Besides bringing father Kher and son Dabas together, this
heart-warming film also brings other characters together in
unlikely ways. The Muslim travel agent (Vinay Pathak) and the
Khosla heir who prepares to fly off to America come together to
plot the defeat of the real-estate shark (Boman Irani
replicating to some extent his "Lage Raho..." act).
While the narrative preserves the blithe spirit to bring out the
crises of the working-class, there are numerous moments that
bring a lump to your throat.
Admirably, the story of humanism and victory of the human spirit
gets progressively dramatic without losing plausibility. Scenes
where a drama group led by a frazzled Navin Nishchol help Khosla
regain his plot are done in an endearingly dare-devilish spirit.
After "Lage Raho..." this is the second film in a month to make
us feel so positive about the pitfalls of urban existence. The
credit must go above all to the writer and the actors for
infusing an effortless candour into the working-class satire.
Every performer, from Anupam and Boman to Parveen and Tara
Sharma, blends into the film's mottled fabric. Watch Tara give
spunk, substance and sensitivity to the potentially trite
girlfriend's role.
But for Anupam, this film is a special triumph. He puts an extra
amount of heart into Khosla's character making him more real
than almost anything the actor has done lately.
On the journey to Khosla's happy ending, we encounter characters
who seem like our next door neighbours - Khosla's Sardar friend,
the cunning tout who cheats Khosla, the stage actress who smokes
her way through the plot to hoodwink Boman. Every character
seems like someone you've met in that long and cumbersome
journey called life.
Thank God for stopovers like "Khosla Ka Ghosla".
IANS
Khosla Ka Ghosla Review.
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