Genre : Romance / Comedy
Year : 2010
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Abbas Tyrewala
Cast : John Abraham, Pakhi Tyrewala, Manasi Scott, Raghu Ram, Alishka Varde, Abheek Sinha, Anaitha Nair
Kid rating : G
JHOOTHA HI SAHI : FLAT ROMANCE !
Jhootha hi sahi is not a half-bad film, provided you can survive the listless first half. And I mean that nicely. Because really it looks like director Abbas Tyrewala is trying to do good here and go soulful and all, but he confuses subtle with brain-deadening. And it doesn’t have to be that way.
I thought the story was pretty innovative : Siddhaarth (Abraham) is a book-store owner in London (Notting Hill anyone ?). His usually humdrum life is upset when he is besieged with calls from desi people on the verge of suicide (a printing error where his phone number is listed as that of Dost – a suicide hotline). As he is unwillingly volunteered to be on the Dost hotline, he listens and counsels many distraught callers. One among them is a girl called Mishka (Pakhi Tyrewala).
Mishka soon becomes a regular caller, pouring out her troubles to her anonymous friend, whom she calls Fidato, since Sid, as per Dost rules, cannot give her his name. One fine day though, they meet and he realizes who she is. Life gets further complicated as Sid begins to fall for her, and Mishka, unknowing, continues to bare her heart to his alter-ego Fidato . . .
Pakhi Tyrewala plays the female lead and does OK acting-wise, but then it’s all relative, since John Abraham is no Al Pacino himself. However Pakhi fails to impress as heroine material, since she appears to be a shorter, older, less pretty version of Juhi Chawla, and has very little screen presence. John as Sid, is a leaner, geekier, more diffident version of himself. Exuding a simple innocence, he seems quite suited to the role, although his acting skills (and I’ve said this before) could take some polishing. And I must mention Alishka as Aaliya, Omar’s unwed, pregnant sister, and Manasi Scott, as Kruttika, for impressive portrayals of their characters.
This story seems to have it all – drama, love, humor, potential heartbreak, and I so wish it was better executed. To be fair, it does seem to come to life post intermission, where it sparkles with the warmth of camaraderie between the many characters. And there is humor, delivered ably by Sid’s buddies, Omar, played by Raghu Ram (of MTV Roadies fame) and Ankur, played by Abheek Sinha. Where the film fails miserably is in the screenplay, which seems to hinge upon some very quiet dialogues and slow, soulful (not very melodious) melodies. Low impact, little action and almost no character development (what is Mishka like really ?) make moi not so happy.
There is a slim silver lining although not quite enough to hold up this film; JHS is clean, NOT teeny-bopper, and has individuals who seem to think like adults (whew! ** wipes sweat off brow**) – not very rational adults, but adults all the same. This strained sentimental story, while it ended reasonably enough (hint : London has the “rising” Tower Bridge) fails to make my heart go pitter-patter or cause heady spasms of romance-well-done-o-mania. “Jhootha hi sahi” is a benign, insipid film; not quite the fire-cracker romance I’d hoped for.
