What’s more depressing than a comedy whose idea of a joke is a housewife, an aspiring sophisticate, exclaiming “Oh my Gods”? The fact that said comedy – Shashant A Shah’s Bajatey Raho – features actors like Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey and Dolly Ahluwalia, that marvellously tipsy mother from Vicky Donor. Every performer has to, at some point, bow before the reality of pay cheque roles, but still, it must be galling to put oneself through a Khosla ka Ghosla rip-off with none of the charm and wit. The tragedies of small people (conned by big shots and now seeking restitution through means fair or foul) are usually foolproof when it comes to making us care, but the con games, here, are so outré that the film quickly veers into some kind of fantasyland. But if you go, be sure to stick around for Pathak’s pop-bhajan performance at a religious gathering. He pleads, Paise ki rain kar de, Door ye pain kar de… O meri shera waaliye… It’s a wonder he didn’t include, among these wishes, mukti from this movie.
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Filed under: Cinema: Review (Hindi)
