Bheja Fry
is a watchable film mainly for the way Vinay Pathak
single handedly rises way, way above the film
with a crackerjack of a performance. Otherwise
the film, heavily inspired by the French comedy
The Dinner Game, is reasonable entertainment
at best and a so-so directorial debut for Sagar
Ballary.
 The
film looks at Ranjeet Thadani (Rajat Kapoor),
a bored, arrogant music company executive who
hurts his back the night he has found a prize
catch for a weekly bring- your-idiot talent dinner
hosted by his friends and him. He has to cancle
the dinner and ends up spending the evening with
this idiot, Bharat Bhushan (Vinay Pathak), a tax
official with a passion for music, who tries to
help him get his wife (Sarika) back who left him
earlier that day. The result is utter chaos let
loose by the idiot, who cannot do a single thing
without messing it up further. The plot turns
around to be a series of mini disasters that leave
Ranjeet's comfortable life in ruins. Call it the
idiot's revenge!
The film begins slowly as it leads to essentially
its one set piece, Ranjeet Thadani's house. The
film really picks up once the idiot he has called
for dinner, Bharat Bhushan, lands up at the house.
Of course the story is predictable as by the end
of the film Ranjeet is made to look into himself
and realize who is the actual idiot here. But
in such stories it is the treatment that counts
and the film does have enough moments of fine
humour and is aided by some witty dialogue and
repartee.
As mentioned above, the film is essentially a
brilliant showcase for Vinay Pathak and as the
idiot Bharat Bhushan, he is spot on. It is an
absolutely brilliantl performance, his sense of
comic timing razor sharp. It is Vinay who keeps
the laughs coming in and ensuring the film chugging
along. Whether it is his earnestness at trying
to set things rights but only making things worse
or the hurt on his face each time he is asked
to get out or his irriting gestures (redial, it's
ringing) each time on the telephone, he is a riot.
Rajat Kapoor while being the most inhibited one
has ever seen him, still seems to be not quite
at home especially in the louder scenes and always
seem to be holding something back as is he is
afraid to let go. In that sense it is a disappointing
performance. Milind Soman is adequate as Sarika's
ex lover finding Rajat's mess al the more amusing
for once but Ranvir Shourey's contorted over the
top performace sticks out like a sore thumb. Sarika
is reliably efficient in her small role. Bhairavi
Gosawmi is cast correctly as Rajat's saucy mistress
rather than any strong hitrionic ability on her
part.
 On
the flip side, the script has its share of problems.
The Rajat Kapoor - Sarika marriage for one. True
they have problems in their marriage but you never
feel Sarika has reached breaking point to leave
Rajat. And so it appears quite unbelievable when
she does do so. And this is a major flaw as this
is one of the key points of the script. There
is an inconsistent treatment of the humour in
the film. It swings from being really funny and
witty to cheesy and juvenile at places. As the
film comes to its end, its attempt to invoke a
poignant mood as Rajat realizes his mistake and
Vinay tries reconciling the husband and wife,
doesn't quite gel and gets heavy handed. The other
problem with the film is that many low budget
films go for ideas that keep locations and characers
to a minimum and similarly here majority of the
action takes place in Rajat's house. This however
ends up looking more like filmed theatre. Maybe
this is so because the filmmaker has attempted
to keep the flow more flexible following the actors
rather than follow conventional cinematic cutting.
Works well for the actors but...
Technically the Production Design is a let down,
displaying the film's low budget especially in
the film's main set piece, Rajat and Sarika's
house. (What is that chatai doing there???) You
never realize from the way the house as is presented
as to how well- to-do Rajat and Sarika are and
hence Rajat's fear of the Tax Official (Ranveer
Shourey) coming to the house and noticing the
undeclared Manjit Bawa painting and other paintings
is never believable. As mentioned above, the camerawork
is more an exuse to record the actor's performances
rather than a strong cinematic contribution to
the film. The songs by Sagar Desai are well composed
and Editor Suresh Pai keeps the film moving along
smoothly.
All in all, time-pass at best...
Read our preview of the film here.
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