Sorry Bhai!

I had watched this movie with many a premonitions in my mind...believe me for a bollywood movie, this on really sets some standards : whether be it for a good script, a good casting or overall holistic treatment given to the movie.

Sorry Bhai is the story of a family which goes to attend the wedding of its 'prodigal' son in Mauritius. As it is obvious from the title the story then focuses on an another obvious theme : 'a love triangle'. But if you dismiss this movie right about now, saying that you have been there and seen such kind of movies, its very unlikely that you are wrong. For bollywood doesn't produce such good and seasoned films many times in a year ...and as the year 2008 has almost come to an end, Sorry Bhai definitely earns it place in the elite cadre.

To mention about the strengths, this movie has definitely got everything in place : its actors, it beautiful location (in Mauritius of course) and a storyline (which except for some points in time seems to be a bit immature/unacceptable for Indian audiences) never loses track or its feel-good factor.

IF you are expecting a totally masala flick from this movie, then I suggest you give his one a miss, but if all you want to do is watch a movie and have a good feeling about it at the end then this one is definitely for you.

My rating 9/10 ...the reason for 9 being that it falls short of a little more panache and mature screenplay/dialogues which definitely could be incorporated at certain portions during the film. But what the heck, I believe all of you who would be watching the movie, would be your own judge for that matter.

Sometimes the title eludes you, and trust me, 'Sorry bhai' is not best of the title that one can grab a movie while browsing the video store. But I surely am going to change that habit, because of this movie. If it wasn't for a good friend of mine, this gem would have slipped under my radar. Wow, it surely was one of the best 5 movies of the year 2008 (though I will be really hard-pressed to name the other four). And I haven't seen a single movie directed by Onir yet - so I make it a point to watch other two. And I have been searching for the DVD of Hazaron for quite sometime. The performances in the movie are top notch, everyone gives a solid, very controlled, and powerful performance. I didn't know who the actress was, but by the end of the movie, I was eager to know who she was, coz I knew everyone else but her. Now I am so looking fwd to DevD by Anurag Kashyap. Absolutely endearing story, though I couldn't convince myself with the ending. Direction, Spot on! Very well directed the emotional conflicts (emosanal atyachar?), the dilemma, the love, the hate and the confusion! The most jarring part of the movie is the 'Sorry bhai' song during the end titles! Guess they made the song for the promos, and thought they might include it in the movies as well, for posterity! It was during titles, so I didn't mind it, while being busy reading the titles through the moving white figures. Music wise, 'Mere Khuda' is yet another powerful ballad form KK, dependable as always! Rest all songs are okay, thankfully doesn't come on the way of narrative!

I wish there was little more noise on this movie, so more people would have come to know this sensible movie.

2008 has been a year of the B-side movies (if there is such a term) - all the big banner movies starting Jodha till Ghajini are full of disappointment! However the movies like this one, Dasvidaniya, Oye Lucky, Rock On, and few others are the REAL winners.

Must watch, this one!

For a limited cast of only five characters, Sorry Bhai is a markedly refreshing departure from standard Bollywood rom com fare. The movie plays around with a simple theme of sibling equations as influenced by the catalyst called the elder siblings fiancée. The script is a typical take on the 'dysfunctional-family-comes-together-for-a-cause' mold. Harsh (Sanjay Suri) has been away from his family for a while his younger brother Sid (Sharman Joshi) tries for a research grant for his latest hypothesis. When Harsh decides to get married to Aaliyah (Chitrangada Singh), he pleads his younger brother to get his parents, especially his mom for the wedding. The fun in dysfunctional is put in by the antics of the parents, played with superb chemistry by Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi. They take this one further than their first stint as a couple in Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.

Sharman Joshi as the genius younger brother does a pretty good job keeping up his boyish yet mature image while Chitrangada Singh essays a role that perhaps doesn't present her as much of a challenge as the one in her debut did. For an actress of her potential, this is just about par for the course and she is underutilized. On the brighter side, the scenes shared by her and Shabana Azmi deserve special mention. Sanjay Suri exudes quiet confidence as usual and it fits his big brother persona perfectly. The slow narrative (you sort of expect that with a limited cast of characters) is a bit of a dampener though the locales of Mauritius provide a picturesque background for the well shot scenes.

Sorry Bhai deserves a watch, at least for being far better off than the apology of a movie that other comedies have become.

Onir has made the heartfelt My Brother Nikhil and the ponderous Bas Ek Pal before this, and must have wanted to do a romantic comedy-drama for a change, but maybe this is just not his genre.He fails to hold your attention for two hours. The biggest blame for the same goes for the poor scripting. Sorry Bhai is predictable from the word go and the dull pace literally puts you off to sleep. The film "Sorry Bhai" has a set of elderly couple romancing on screen and three youngsters who are confused over their relationship. The film has a simple script with no twists and turns but the actors are smart to make the show less tedious. A few moments in the film are catchy and most of the part is predictable. The film has been shot in Mauritious and the locations are beautiful. Actors are non glamorous but effective performers and dialogues are impressive. Only weakness is the script that has low scope to get dramatic. Sharman Joshi as the younger shy brother looks fine in his role. Shabana Azmi and Boman are amazing and their on screen chemistry has been exploited well in the film. Sanjay Suri is OK. Chitra looks OK performance wise. A Below Average Flick ...

Sorry Bhai! Sounded like a very stupid title for a movie. But once I saw the film, it made all sense and nothing else, Bhai!. It is a tale of two brothers, their upper middle class Indian parents, ambitions, and a girl.

The movie starts off with some very slow dialogues and without much direction towards what is coming in the next 1.5 hours. It slowly and steadily gains more meaning. In short, it tells you what everyone feels, but is untold in Indian cinema. It gets those hidden feelings that a guy can have towards his brother's fiancé, out of the closet, and on your face. Difficult to digest? But it does it in a way that you don't even feel awkward about it. It adds meaning to it. A perfect script, could have been a bit more crisp, and some better acting by all the cast, would have gained this one 9/10. But I'll still give this bold attempt to show the society what happens to 'normal people' and how they deal with it, a 7/10.