99 and one viewing…a century
What do I say. This film completely took me by surprise. After quite some time I watched a commercial B’wood film. I watched 99. Ohhkk, before I get a mild wallop, I didn’t mean it in the true sense of that phrase, but hey, with names like Boman Irani, Kunal Khemu and Mahesh Manjrekar, my mental slate already formed an imprint. Before I entered the theatre that is. I came out pretty gratified. A definitive plot that has its intent right. A crime caper that will indeed find its destination but guarantees the flight to be a genuinely hilarious one. Spontaneously so. Thats the best part. Nothing seems forced and all the comedic sequences are part of the plot and take form because of the quirkiness of each character introduced in the story.
99 begins with a rather innocuous escape of two guys (Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha) who run a small business of duplicating cellphone SIM cards. The police on their heels, from their ramshackle room (in Mumbai) they jump into the first car at sight only to ram it later into a lamp post. Its this car that then takes them to task. The car belongs to a local mafia head AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar). Also a loan shark. Before the partly street smart, partly bumbling duo realize it, they land up on AGM’s couch with a gun pointed at them. Compenstate or else the gun does the talking. No way out, they are packed off to Delhi to get back some money owned by AGM. Owed by a Rahul (Boman Irani). Obviously, Rahul comes with a set of strings attached. A compulsive gambler and a cricket match bettor, the number of losses he piles up just makes him go at the game one last time. To make up. A win, entices him. So either way he’s perennially neck deep in debt. When the three come together, it then isnt just a matter of money exchanging hands but its one convoluted route of getting the money, losing it and above all laying off trouble from the local characters introduced who are after Rahul. Is there anyone who he doesnt owe money to? So then trouble ensues and every step, every probable solution that the trio come up with has its set of unexpected additions that take them a step back. At times, its the local middle-man Kuber (Amit Mistry, a droll), the tycoon (Vinod Khanna) who doesnt bet but fixes cricket matches right on with the teams (the story is starts off in end 1999 and leads on to the early months of 2000. Remember the Hansie Cronje episode and the ensuing scandal? Thats the backdrop) or then accidents that force them to retreat.
What worked for me was the manner in which the sub plots and drag-downs were perfectly designed – to get the characters back and take the story ahead. No person was frivolously got into the picture for unnecessary gaffes or jokes. Each had a role to play. Except the women, I felt. Simone Singh as Rahul’s estranged wife and Soha Ali Khan who plays the romantic lead opposite KK, whenever they came on screen, I got restless. Get on with the plot. I want to know what will happen next to these clumsy, blundering small time crooks. Some stories don’t need these distractions. And then it does get on when towards the end, the directors just spike up the climax with a kind of twist but before I could take in the expected downfall, I was proved wrong. Something more was in store. Great!
The last Kunal Khemu movie I watched was Zakhm (ya, I know) and Cyrus, lost track of his deeds on screen. Boman Irani and Vinod Khanna need no aprrovals or whatever to vouch for their talent. Any role related to the sidey underworld, MM, seems to revel in it. Amit Mistry as Kuber, who is this guy? Have I seen him before in any film. Will have to check what I have missed. The way he calls out to his sidekick Dimple (a guy), its side-splitting. For one who is familiar with this genre of crime comedy, I could find out some likeness with a few films seen before, but this story of 99 is not a rip-off at all. Its just as the tag line says ‘Part Fact, Part Fiction, Pure Fun’. The fiction, Indianised. Njoy!
The directors have chronicled their journey from Flavors to 99 here. I’m going backwards. Will be watching Flavors and Shaadi.com. And then will be looking forward to their next film.
Tags: 99, Amit Mistry, Cyrus Broacha, Hindi films, Krishna D.K., Kunal Khemu, mahesh manjrekar, Raj Nidimoru, Simone Singh, Sita Menon, Soha Ali Khan, vinod khanna
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Kunal Khemmu-One talented buger..needs a bit of luck..and will find some with this movie.
Boman Irani:Nice chaacter..true to life..
Cyrus: Nice addition to the cast..great casting
Soha:sweet as usual
Amit Mistry:The best character and the best thing in the movie.
Nice watch..welcome change.Great lines!
I watched 99 in Calif. One of the best I’ve seen. Now how does one post a review on this site?
My review follows in the next comment.
Imagine I asked you to describe what your life was like a decade ago… Right, me neither – so instead, Imagine I asked you had to make up a story of your life, based on key events that happened to you 10 years ago but fill in the rest as you like…
Now imagine how much harder it would be if I asked that the story you were creating also had to bridge to the current day events back then
It is a daunting task and one which the writers of 99 have done with flair and function. The script is whip-smart in the way it combines popular trends (cell phones, bhojpuri movies, the onset of cafes) of the time with the news making events (y2k, cricket match fixing) of the time to narrate a truly innovative story. All this while adding twists and turns to the main plot that will keep you buckled to your seat for the 2hr ride.
The casting was genius – Especially true of, Soha Ali Khan (as the girl next door that you want to take to mom) Kunal Khemu (as ‘NOT the bigger-than-thou hero who doesn’t need your rooting for him to make a century’), Amit Mistry (as the lil guy with the big stick – aka dimple) and Boman Irani (as the most frustrating-gambler-husband-who-you-love-nevertheless ever).
Kunal is a natural born actor and in Amit a star has just been born.
Why you will love it : Sharp dialogues, sharper delivery, excellent acting all round, awesome cinematography, fantastic music
Why you might settle for liking it : The movie is in a genre that is new to Bollywood – “What, I don’t have to be awed by the hero’s machismo and the heroine’s svelte body?”, “What, the lead characters are the underdogs that I will want to root for, rather than supermen who drive Lamborghinis and live in palaces?”, “what, I will hope that the hero escapes from the bad guy rather than making mincemeat of the villains face?”.
The genre is called a ‘crime caper’ but 99, refuses to be boxed neatly into a category and insists on being a crime caper-historical fiction-and-much-more
This movie wont change your life – don’t expect to leave the movie inspired and moved. It will be more like you stepped off a roller coaster ride and you want to go back to the end of the line again.
Ladies, It would be like eating a perfectly whipped chocolate mousse – Enjoy!
Arthi,
Always love reading your pieces on PFC. Totally agree with your opinion of 99 except for the parts about Soha and Simone. I have always had this feeling in capers of this sort about life outside of crime that the principal characters lead. (No wonder I love the huge dinner cooked in Goodfellas at De Niro’s house I think it was). Some of the best filmed shots of 99 for me were the pleading expressions on Boman Irani’s face asking to be let into his mother-in-law’s house. But again that is me……
I saw it today, a movie worth writing about.
That Kuber character was awesome with his antics, especially ‘…..checking”….lol
I found Soha is the most outcast & stiff among natural players like Boman & MM. Contray to your reaction the wife character established Boman’s clumsy but stubbor ‘ never say lose’ attitude.
Howver, the script heavily reminds of Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. So I won’t say the movie concept is entirely original.
I simply loved the movie. Its hilarious, nicely-paced and different from our usual Bollywood formula…a lot of fun still….kudos to the 99 team!
Amit Mistry – was a big fan of his since “Shubha Mangal Savdhan”, The he was also there briefly in the Hindi version of “Whose Line Is It Anyway” hosted by Saurabh Shukla I think.
Have recoed his names for various casting options but donno, no one seems to care. Hope after 99 we see more of Mistry. He needed one film to be noticed though he has been belting good but sporadic work on TV.
More on the Talented Mr. Mistry
http://www.starboxoffice.com/newsDetails.aspx?xfile=2009/March/News_20090310_52
http://passionforcinema.com/thunderstorm-99-before-mundu-there-was-mindi/
Amit Mistry was the guy who played Patrick in 1:40 ki last local.
i ignored this movie thinking that its just another one like Aloo chat. but now have to see it
. yeah Amit mistry has a done a gr8 job in 1:40 ki last local….
Amit Mistry was also in TV serial Shubh Mangal Savdhan? The one produced by Paresh Rawal I guess.
Shree: You can write here thru Iview: http://passionforcinema.com/about/#iview
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Do chk it out.
Tx ppl for the references for Amit Mistry….I have watched ECKLL in tits n bits..will check it out in full once…
Nightwatchmen and ~uh~, I get that aspect but it didnt work for me..hence so…but thats me, just as youve said