Khosla Ka Ghosla is a film that has a plausible storyline, identifiable situations and characters in the film and it is also portrayed in an extremely witty and intelligent manner. The film is interesting mostly because it depicts the plight of the common man and this is quite identifiable with the audiences. It is an extremely simple film which does not have anything extraordinary nor does it depict the plight of the underdog, but what it does depict is the average common man’s daily life struggle. This is what makes the movie different and a complete joy to watch, it is a refreshing film that has come after over the top bollywood films with either black or white characters.
The plot revolves around a family like any other normal family living in Delhi with each member having their own dreams and aspirations. However a twist of fate makes this family which had once strayed from each other come back together and stand by each other in their time of crisis. Many different aspects of society like land grabbing by greedy land builders, bribery and corruption within the system and other socio-political aspects are depicted. But all this is depicted in a witty manner where the director makes use of black humour and irony to depict the circumstances. Khosla Ka Ghosla is a great entertainer. The film has been produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Savita Raj and it is the directorial debut of Dibakar Banerjee. The star cast consists of Anupam Kher (Kamal Khosla), Boman Irani (Kishen Khurana), Parvin Dabbas (Cherry), Tara Sharma (Meghna), Ranvir Shorey (Bunty), Vinay Pathak (Asif), Naveen Nischol (Bapu) and Kiran Juneja (Mrs. Khosla).
Mr. Khosla (Anupam), the family head is a typical middle class husband and father to two sons. He is from the old school of thought who believes in honesty and the judicious legal system that is until he faces a crisis. Mr. Khosla has invested his life’s earnings to buy a piece of land on which he plans to have his dream home. He is busy with the nitty gritties of his daily life like getting close to his younger son, Chiraunjilal or Cherry (Parvin) and getting his elder wastrel son Bunty (Ranvir) to go out and do something with his life, meanwhile an unscrupulous land builder, Khurana (Boman) usurps his land. Elder son Cherry is disgruntled with his name, his life; he is not really interested in the land and wants to escape to America for a better life. Younger son Bunty idles away his time. While each is lost in his own world Mr. Khosla is conveniently duped. But when this problem arises it draws the entire family together and on seeing their father’s plight they all decide to help him get back his land.
Mr. Khosla being the traditional optimist knocks on all the legal doors, that of a politician the police and finally even some goons. But all of them want him to pay a huge price so that he can buy back his own legal land. This is when his sons finally step in; Cherry takes the help of his girlfriend’s (Tara) theater company and also the visa tout Asif (Vinay). The group decides to get their land back by playing Khurana’s own dirty game.
Scriptwriter Jaideep Sahni’s script is incorporated with real life situations, common man’s plight, corrupt legal system, humour and wit. Debutant director Dibakar Banerjee’s execution too is first rate, his approach is extremely simple and casual which manages to keep the audiences interested in the story but he also incorporates irony and wit not in an obvious manner but in a subtle way which is woven into the script well. The ordinary way that he depicts each sequence in the film makes the audience identify with the situations. Even the characters have been given very real roles where they are imperfect and falter which just makes them more like the audience. Apart from making the film seem like its one that belongs to the common man, Dibakar also manages to depict society and its state of affairs like the corrupt legal system, employing goons to achieve justice, the dilemma of the man who is faced with this tragedy etc very well. Dibakar delivers a realistic film that depicts ordinary daily life of the common man with an uncanny clarity and adeptness.
However the director attempts dramatic creative liberties when the Khoslas decide to employ the help of the theater company to outwit Khurana in his own unscrupulous game. It’s a bit far fetched to think that any middle class common man would employ such means. Nonetheless the manner in which even this is done is fun and interesting. Also at times the pace of the film tends to slow down and the editing could have been better.
There is definitely no scope for music but the promotional song ‘Chak De Phattey’ is interesting. The dialogues by Jaideep Sahni are witty, simple and suit the situations aptly. Even the set up of the film is very realistic and identifiable. Every character’s quirks and eccentricities are endearing. Performances by the cast are extremely convincing and although they tend to have caricature mannerisms they are no doubt good. Anupam Kher as Mr. Khosla is simply exceptional in his portrayal as the middle class father who wants to live his retirement in peace. His quirks, his emotional breakdown and his drama are simply lovable. He delivers a top of the mark performance. Boman Irani as the unscrupulous land grabber is superb and his physical appearance, his mannerisms and his eccentricities just add several dimensions to his character. His performance is first rate.
Parvin Dabbas enacts his role well, this is a major improvement for Tara Sharma as she delivers an able performance and Ranvir Shorey is simply spectacular as the good for nothing dude, his dialogue delivery and facial expressions are first rate. Kiran Juneja is average, Naveen too is fair and Vinay Pathak is extremely efficient.
Khosla Ka Ghosla is an entertaining film that delivers a slice of life in an extremely interesting manner. The script is high quality, the execution is extremely skilful and the performances are first rate. At the box-office it should do an average to above average. It will definitely be productive at multiplexes.
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| Reviewed By: Rachel Fernandes |
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