logo

iView Author:
Indraneel Majumdar
(Mumbai, India)

Email:
indraneelmj [at] gmail [dot] com

Kundan Shah to Ashwani Dhir

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (Dir: Kundan Shah)…that was the film I saw in 1984 and it went on to become one of India’s biggest cult satires ever. A homage had to appear..but in this form!

Ashwani Dhir, if I got the director’s name right, was the person behind “Office Office” a cult serial on Indian Television that laughs at us with us. Nice. He comes to the big screen and decides to make a comedy. He also decides to pay homage to “JBDY”..but One Two Three??!!

One gangster goes by the name of Demellos Yadav. Remember the laash (Dead Body) from JBDY - Satish Shah in a memorable role. Mukesh Tiwari, a capable actor otherwise, embodies that fabulous name from the earlier movie. But I dread to tell here what happens next!

His henchmen are named Albert and Pinto, Naseer had played the role of a amateur reporter in JBDY and he had also played the superb Albert Pinto in a Saeed Mirza movie. He wore suit (black or white) through the movie. They do wear similar suits here. In fact, Sunil Shetty, the man caught in the crossfire of errors also wears white suits through the movie.

The movie is a long chase without the wit of the earlier movie. That was a chase behind the laash and this after a diamond. There are also layered and supposedly witty dialogues here but not about the system and corruption as in JBDY but about underwear. Why? I guess there were better dialogues written and dumbed down as the shoot progressed to suit present audiences!

The photographer studio scene and the “macchar maarna” scene has been tried here too. But what a flop!!

The last crowd scene with everybody in it was there in JBDY and is here too. But the difference in class is entirely evident.

In the earlier movie they had Om Puri spouting Punjabi and running behind the laash. Here it is Neetu Chandra, a Hariyanvi policewoman who does the shrieking! God!!

But, the bigger agony was that the near full house audience at PVR Juhu was rolling in laughter at all the mindless stuff and feeling very good. So, Is Ashwani justified in dumbing down such a classic for today’s masses. Over to you, PFC people!