Saw the movie “Jhootha Hi Sahi” the other day…nice, quiet, gentle movie after a long, long time…nothing great, doesn’t have “Blockbuster” written over it, but you come out of the movie theatre with a good feeling. To be honest, it’s not a multiplex movie. (Considering the Indian market where we have stand-alone cinema halls as well, where ticket prices would typically be competitive.)
I liked the movie, but I feel like criticizing right now and the movie’s caught my fancy…so here goes..
The movie is about this nincompoop, stupid, not-ambitious, tact-less, low-on-self-confidence dud Sid (John Abraham) (you can choose to call him kind-hearted, not-too-intelligent, guy-next-door, but that would only mean you are a relative of the director and writer! :P) who finds a trap for himself when there was none and labels it as helping an NGO and saving lives! To its credit, the story is spun around pretty tight around this plot, but one can’t help but see that there was an opportunity for the poor guy to keep himself and his miserable life out of so much trouble!
You say, but if he had done this, he wouldn’t have found his lady love Mishka…heyy…it’s a Bollywood movie buddy! The hero can find his lady love on the stairs, near the golgappa-wala, in a mandir…just name a place!! On a serious note, yeah, where else would he have met this sweet girl with suicidal tendencies, right?
And Mishka – ah! What a girl! She was in love with Kabir (Madhavan), who had promised to take her to Paris from London so that she could pursue her painting there. But he did not. So, for some weird reason – as with almost all break-ups – they broke up. Then she starts talking to this NGO guy who brings her out of her trance of committing suicide at night and stammers when she is in front of him in the day – why? Because, to him, she is beautiful! Cheez!
Anyways, so the motivating and stammering continues, to the extent that he sleeps in his shop in the day…only to stay awake at night (you might interpret it as sleeping in the day because of the ratri-jagaran, but if you see a continuous cycle, it’ll tantamount to what I am saying). If he is awake in the daytime, it is to have coffee/take walks with her. The only guy who seems a little bothered about the business is his best friend, played by Raghu of Roadies fame.
Cruising through most of the boring songs and goof-ups and cover-ups, we find the group in a party where Mishka bumps into – who else – Kabir, with his new girlfriend. Kabir is bitter and Mishka is hurt again, but suddenly – as if a bolt came from Above – starts dancing to pump herself up. And that’s the most famous song of the movie. Kabir, obviously, can’t handle this insult of not getting enough attention from the lady as well as the script! :P so he fights with his girl and decides to woo Mishka again.
Now comes the intriguing part…what type of a girl is Mishka? Mishka loves Kabir. They break up. To get over Kabir, she wants to commit suicide. To avoid suicide, she calls this (wrong) helpline number of an NGO, where she meets Sid. Sid helps her get over Kabir. She gets comforted and ‘in appreciation’, falls in love with Sid! Then Kabir comes back and decides to woo her again. She is confused for a little while (the reasons for her confusion are as stupid and she makes no effort to communicate with Sid to clear it) and then chooses to go to Kabir! However, she wants him back only “as a friend”! OK…so…that means she doesn’t want to be in a steady relationship for the time being, right? Hmmm…No. Suddenly, en route to the airport in Kabir’s car, she realizes that this Mishka is Sid’s Mishka!! Lo and Behold!! Stop the car! Begin the taking-the-bags-out ceremony…
And Mr. Kabir, the man who supposedly wants her back, gets angry and drives off. Bye, Madhavan…it was nice meeting you…happy to see you didn’t have the decency like Ajay Devgn in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam…
So Mishka calls Sid and asks him to come to the bridge. Now, it is Major Mishka’s wish that the cadet reach there before the bridge opens up or else, he can take the highway…
…and so Sid runs, literally! Thankfully, Raghu and the gang catch up with him in a car to put some sanity into him and reach the bridge, which is about to open. A cop tries to dissuade them, but little did he know that this was a Bollywood script and crew…our homegrown Clarke Kent dodges, runs and jumps the opening bridge, obviously not without the usual stunt of hanging from the edge, having a near-death experience…seriously, does all this impress the Indian girl or the Indian girl who stays outside India??
But it does impress Mishka. And they all lived happily ever after!
Baah! I knew I said I liked the movie…but it was humbug!
