Tere Bin Laden

Its good news for all Comedy genre lovers as here comes a fine tuned comic flick with some great performances after a long time. Out of all the genres of film-making I consider Comedy as the toughest one since each individual viewer has his own kind of sense of humor and it's really tough to make everyone laugh at the same time. Any comic attempt can easily go over the top if not equipped with some right, powerful and timely punches. And if you are dealing with a concept based on the identity of the world's most famous personality OSAMA BIN LADEN then the vision of its makers really matter a lot.

Fortunately "TERE BIN LADEN", comes up as a clear winner, offering you a highly enjoyable time in the theater with a fresh and daring subject. As a sigh of relief at last we get a well written comedy to enjoy, where people are not just running after one another or greeting each other with mistaken identities as seen in countless comedies in the last few years. The movie once again proves a strong point of film-making that a pleasing project solely depends upon its writing, script and execution more than its star-cast. The fact was earlier proved decades before by "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron" and more recently by "Khosla Ka Ghosla". Now "TERE BIN LADEN" proves it once again, as the common man is appreciating it, even when he is not familiar with any of the faces seen on the screen.

Based on the subject of creating a fake personality of OSAMA and then shooting his forged tapes to earn some quick bucks, the film is immensely likable right from its first sequence of deporting the lead hero by mistake. The other big factor which becomes an instant hit with the viewers is its perfect casting where every characters is able to bring in some more laughter with his own unique lines. For instance, the Channel owner, the helpless editor, the witty cameraman, the makeup girl and the voice over artist, each one of them has a different quality to win over the audience. And on top of all there is Ali Zafar, the hero with his impeccable timing and Pradhuman Singh who is made to pose as the fake OSAMA in a highly hilarious manner.

Beside this, what really works is the mixed language used in the movie with insertions of Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi lines written intelligently. In fact it's the Punjabi abusives used by Pradhuman dressed as OSAMA which makes you laugh aloud and you really want him to keep abusing at regular intervals. Yes, the movie does take some huge liberties while showcasing the retaliation of White House (after watching the forged tapes). But if you are dealing with a theme on OSAMA then America and White house has to be there as a mandatory clause. So, considering it as a hilarious satire on the system, it's a fine funny take on the whole world fighting with the current situation of terror.

A comedy mainly works, when a well crafted script gets an ample support from its performers and they all have a good time working together. Luckily, that is the main USP of "Tere Bin Laden" where everyone gels together perfectly and contributes a lot to the overall experience.

Frankly speaking, performance wise, the movie was a pleasant surprise for me as I knew Ali Zafar, the lead hero of the film, only as a talented singer-composer and Pop Icon of Pakistan. He did a successful pop album for us in India titled "MASTY"and you might remember the hit song from the album called "Sun Ri Sajaniya". But I never knew that Ali had such a hidden acting talent in him. He is surely the find of the season for both India and Pakistan and should soon be getting more deserving offers of acting.

Among the rest of the cast, Pradhuman Singh as OSAMA is too funny playing with his Sikander (the chicken). The film could have fallen flat if he would have faltered in his role of a fake OSAMA. But he is simply superb looking exactly similar to the real one. Piyush Mishra, Sugandha Garg, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Rahul Singh and Chirag Vohra as a collective team are all terrific. Berry John gives another controlled performance of a US representative. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music supports the feel and pace of the movie completely. The music grows on you and as the end credits are rolling you feel like loving it. Cinematography is fine but the dialogues and its one liners are just fantastic.

In all, I could only find one small glitch in this almost perfect movie, related to its main region of operation. The film confusingly keeps shifting between different regions of India and Pakistan. With its major characters and sequences representing the neighboring region it gives you a feeling of a collaboration kind of project which is sadly not mentioned anywhere in the film credits. So the unexplainable regional disparities in backgrounds, getups and physical appearances remain the only hick-up in this immensely likable comedy.

If "Khosla Ka Ghosla" gave us Dibaker Banerjee then "Tere Bin Laden" has given us another ace debutant writer-director Abhishek Sharma. And I am really expecting more worth watching movies coming from him pretty soon. So, stop thinking and just go for it with your entire family at the earliest and have a good time.

("Tere Bin Laden" also finds its place in my "Movie To See Before You Die" list as its an out of the box comedy based on a rare and daring concept never tried before.)

Making someone laugh is hard, but making someone fall off his/her chair is, according to me, the hardest exercise. Nowadays, Indian Cinema's usual blockbusters have been Comedies. They have become the flavor of the season. Now add, 'Tere Bin laden' in that long-list. Comedy Films have a new nature to them - 'Tere Bin Laden'.

Osama Bin Laden, surf this name in Google/Yahoo, and I can assure you... the results would pop-up in Millions. His rivalry with the World, his actions... have made him a man named with Violence or Terror. Now imagine, Osama Bin Laden playing in the fields with Chickens, Roaming around freely to relief himself or, him being a business partner in a rather tacky salon. Presto, now we're talking 'Tere Bin Laden'.

'Tere Bin Laden' is a legendary watch, which I am sure would be regarded as a Cult-Classic in the coming years. It's a hilarious satire, that has a water-tight, witty Screenplay, Super Performances & Striking Direction in it's booty. About 95 minutes long, this one is truly a joyride! Abhishek Sharma's Screenplay is a pure genius. His direction styles as well. Santosh Thundiyil's Cinematography is nice. Music by Shankar-Eshaan-Loy, is in sync with the film. Editing is neat.

In the acting department, Ali Zafar excels in the lead role. The Pakistani Hunk is a treat to watch, as he gets it right from start to end. Pradhuman Singh as a mistaken Osama, is lovely. Sugandha Garg manages her part. Nikhil Ratnaparkhi is superb. But the actor who truly steals the show, is, Piyush Mishra. The Highly Talented Actor gets a terrific role, and does complete justice to it. In fact, his portions are the funniest!

On the whole, 'Tere Bin Laden' is humorous, crazy, cinema at it's best. Two Big Thumbs Up!!

After "LAGAAN" and "3 IDIOTS", this is only 3rd Indian movie I rated as 10/10, and the rest of review explains why I rated it so..

While India always has had wonderful actors like Amitabh , Naseer-ud-Din Shah and Aamir Khan, most of such talent is wasted because many Indian movies copy a lot, if you are a well-informed movie geek, you can identify a sequence copied from a classic Hollywood flick or some Giallo, as such movies make lots of gross in India but abroad they lose their charm as we know from ratings that biggest box office hits in Bollywood hardly pass 7 in IMDb ratings..

But here and there the biggest film industry in terms of movies made produces absolute genius like the movies I mentioned, there are many more..TERE BIN LADEN is a no-brainer comedy with hilarious moments and equally compelling script and direction, and a totally original effort.

The story starts with a Pakistani Journalist Ali (played by Pakistani pop-star Ali Zafar) who wants to go to USA and till the credits open, we know that his VISA has been rejected for 7 years (told in a funny way at how he tries to fool the immigration department), Ali works in a small news channel reporting small league press conferences and even cock- operas, he has a friend camera-man GUL (Nikhil RatnaParkhi) and a mean boss Majeed (Piyush Mishra), Ali gets an idea after watching a cock owner NOORA (Pradhuman Singh) and noticing his resemblance with BIN LADEN.He hires a Hair-Stylist ZOYA(Sughanda Garg) and Voice imitator, communist RJ QURESHI (Rahul Singh) , together they make a tape of Bin Laden and sell it to news, the rest movie tells the after effects of this and I won't spoil it , you have to enjoy it.The movie has a small message and asks a question about America's decisions, but it is lightly told so it doesn't effect the momentum of the movie.

As for the performances, ALI ZAFAR was lucky to be cast in this, Pakistani Actors have never been lucky in Bollywood and he got such an original movie to launch his career, but its not to take anything off him, his performance is good, in some scenes he is hilarious while at others , he is just OK , but considering he is originally a singer, he didn't do bad. The pick of the cast and the person who makes this movie is PRADHUMAN SINGH whose USAMA lookalike character is heart and soul of the movie, he is funny, natural and carries the movie to whole new level in all the scenes he is featured, one of best debut performances. I would also like to mention Rahul Singh who plays Communist RJ Qureshi, he was also really funny and his physical gestures were really comic, the rest of cast, be it Ali's friends or police and FBI , are all on par.

Now to the technical stuff, if this movie was 20 minutes longer, it would have been a plain turkey, but the 95 minute running time (about 5 minutes for credits) really keep your interest throughout without senseless sub-plots and gimmicks, the character of Ali is well developed and his love for America is into you in 10 minutes of the movie, the rest of cast are there to carry the plot, Abhishek Sharma who wrote the script and directed doesn't tell you unneeded stuff which slows down many Bollywood movies, like there is no extra prologue of NOORA and other characters, no annoying parents of Ali, all the characters and progression of movies is on the plot and the jokes are around the plot, which makes this movie great, such a good script needed excellent direction and here too Abhishek scores, with a low budget, he carries off the movie beautifully with short flashbacks and well-executed scenes, the Osama video is hilarious yet looks so original, I would love to see him doing bigger projects in future.

For some Bollywood audiences , this might not be the dish but international audiences have liked the movie a lot and it is a big hit now, in India too it has grossed 120 million Rs. , I hope this movie doesn't get effected by net piracy and DVD's are genuinely sold, as the team of this movie deserves at least this for making such a laugh Galla, its 90 minutes worth of laughs and fun. Definitely recommended.

Abhishek Sharma ( don't actually know the guy) has made a fine debut with this adorable flick . Trite and well edited, the movie leaves a good impression throughout. Yes there are a few stale patches in between but that doesn't adversely affect the comic credibility of the movie . The cast does justice to the movie's theme. Ali Zafar may have been the protagonist but it is the guy who plays Laden's look alike who out does almost everyone else. A fine satire , not holding back anything, the movie is the newest member of the Political Satire Flicks.

The movie also scores highly when it comes to editing. The editing team is allergic to superfluous stuff and that is such a relief. No sentimentality's without a reason and no stretch outs.

Definitely a one time watch if not more.

Reading Such Good Reviews, Expectations got higher for this flick. The main reason of high expectations is nothing but the never heard before, honest & hilarious concept. OSAMA BIN LADEN - The name that is so famous that while writing it in any Data sheet in computer, there comes no "UNKNOWN SPELLING" underline. But this time he is not the source of terror, in fact he is not in the film. Then Who's The LADEN in "Tere BIN LADEN"? A Fake of course. Such authentic & comic concept was never thought before. Nearly 9 years passed from "9/11", many films are made on this historic event like "NEW YORK", "KURBAAN" & Many More. But "TERE BIN LADEN", doesn't bring up the concept once again, here the main suspect of the 9/11 conspiracy is brought up and in a very funny concept. Though The film has already fallen into many troubles but "Tere Bin Laden" is highly recommended for it's fresh concept and some pure humor.

In recent times, Comedy only means non-veg, double meaning jokes, abusing each other, misunderstandings, slapping each-other furiously, funny proverbs etc. etc. But "Tere Bin Laden" has introduced Comedy in a fresh package with some not-so-cheesy but damn funny dialouges, Cock- kicks, Chicken-Kabab Blasts, Laden make-ups, Carrot eating FBI Agents & many more like that. The Introductory Song "Good Looking Ullu Da Paththa" makes u start laughing and this journey continues till the end. Without lavish sets, beautiful foreign sites, too much budget, unnecessary songs - "Tere Bin Laden" amazes us by its great wit, slapstick script & some biting dialouges.

PLOT - Ali Hassan(Ali Zafar) & His Friend Gul(Nikhil Ratnaparkhi) are two luckless Pakistani reporters of a disgusting TV- channel "Danka TV". Ali is very desperate to go USA, The Land Of Opportunities to try his luck to become like A CNN & BBC Reporter or a very big man. But His Visa Applications are rejected several times. In Deep desperation, a weird idea catches his mind after seeing the LADEN Look-alike Noora(Pradhuman Singh). By The Help of make-up artist Zoya(Sugandha Garg), Ali turns Noora into Osama Bin Laden & takes his video & sells it to his boss Majeed(Piyush Mishra). From here, Ali's plan backfires & terrible confusions come up.

MUSIC - "ULLU DA PATHTHA" & "I LOVE AMREEKA" are tremendous. Great vocals by Shankar Mahadevan. Even the Ali Zafar Track "Bas Ek Soch" is missing in the film, it's beautiful. Besides Singing, This Good Looking Paki Boy is to watch out for in the future for good acting & nicely made stupid expressions what was needed for the movie. Rest Songs like "Shor Sharaba", "Kukduku" are fare.

ACTING - Debutant Paki Singer Ali Zafar has done very nice job and for his naughty & stupid expressions made in the movie are very cool. This Boy can work wonders in future. Fake Osama, Pradhuman Singh was also a man to watch out for because of his great face that can be easily mistaken as Osama and his stupendous and confusing expressions made in some places. Excellent! Sugandha Garg, Piyush Mishra & rest others are also nice.

DIRECTOR - A big round of applause for this young wonder named Abhishek Sharma to come out. He has amazed us by his capabilities as a founder of this out-of-the-box concept in Bollywood ever. The way the film is conceptualized by a small idea and made into a belly-tickler is astounding. Some new ideas like "Hen Screaming Competition", "Osama Spoof" are just tremendous. We will expect him gravely in future.

VERDICT - In recent times, when most of comedy movies are coming up, "Tere Bin Laden" is completely different from them in concept and humor. It entertains us from the first to last by its brilliant script, hilarious situations and hard punch-lines. But at box-office, it has a probability to fall down because of controversies relating it. But it's highly entertaining & a non-stop laughter machine. So, don't miss it at any cost & join this laughathon.