Movie Review: Sorry Bhai!

Gone are the days of Saas Bahu having thumb wrestling matches - in a world where the word 'tradition' has escaped to a deep dark place never to return, 'modern' problems have arrived in every nook and corner of society.

One such problem is the crux of the story of SORRY BHAI. The film stars Sharman Joshi, Sanjay Suri, the lovely Chitrangada Singh, Shabhana Azmi and Boman Irani. SORRY BHAI is directed by the surnameless Onir, who earlier directed the interesting ‘My Brother Nikhil’ and the huge pile named ‘Bas ek pal’. While both the films treaded paths not taken by commercial Bollywood, this film goes far into the woods and gets lost in translation.

While going the non conventional way is very welcome in Bollywood, especially for the new age Indian junta, this film will only pull a handful of audiences throughout the country because of its unsettling subject matter. No, there isn’t any incestuous or pornographic stuff in the film, but rather an uncomfortable mileu of WRONGNESS throughout the movie. The tagline of SORRY BHAI is ‘Come fall in love with your brother’s bride’. That itself should keep the public back at home.

Sanjay Suri and Sharman Joshi are brothers, loved by their mom Shabhana Azmi and adored by their dad Boman Irani. Sanjay is engaged to a beautiful girl, Chitrangada and they’re set to wed in Mauritius. Sanjay doesn’t consult his parents before getting married, much to the annoyance of Ma (Shabhana). Sharman, Ma and Pa board a plane to travel to Mauritius but Ma is still pissed with Sanjay.

On the other side, Sanjay, an ambitious, upwardly mobile stock broker is too caught up in his work and gives little attention to his fiancé or his family. So the fiancé is recruited to show the family around Mauritius. Needless to say, Ma hates the daughter in law’s guts and fireworks ensue. Moreover Chitrangada, unhappy with her fiance’s indifference finds comfort in his brother, scientist Sharman Joshi. The growing attraction takes a dangerous turn once Sharman lets his guard down, and they end up between sheets.

The shock value comes in oodles but most of the audience shifts uncomfortably in the seats. Granted that Bollywood needs to wake up from the clichéd love triangle stories with the pot wielding dancers in the background, and this film IS well made for the subject matter. Granted that there was nothing vulgar in the movie, but SORRY BHAI will not find a large theatre going public. Maybe if the film was made into a laugh out loud comedy like ‘DAN IN REAL LIFE’, it would’ve been more enjoyable. The treatment in that film was sweet and light hearted and one never feels uncomfortable watching it, but in SORRY BHAI there are a couple of sweat beads bound to drip.

Coming to the characters, Sharman Joshi is downright brilliant in his role – this guy certainly deserves a big pay and is fast becoming the next Naseeruddin Shah. His expressions, body language and finer nuances are incredible. Chitrangada Singh was exceptional too, it is great to see her back in a film after ‘Hazaaron Khwaisen Aisi’. We definitely want to see more of her rather than Celina Jaitley, Neha Dhupia, Amrita Arora put together. Shabhana Azmi is superb as usual and Boman Irani is excellent as always. Sanjay Suri, who has starred in all of Director Onir’s films loses his footing in this film.

A few scenes are beautifully handled, like the feisty yet funny moments between Shabhana and Chitrangada and the crackling chemistry between Shabhana and Boman Irani. Watch SORRY BHAI for the fine performances and its non-convectional approach. But if you don’t really fancy a muddled up ending to a film, avoid it like plague.