Tere Bin Laden

Tere Bin Laden (TBL) reminded me of Pakistan's win in the 2009 T20 cricket world cup. No, it's not a movie about cricket but it has the same formula for success where Abhishek Sharma is the captain steering the ship with zeal, there is team effort from five to six individual players and then there is a certain Ali Zafar who acts as 'Shahid Afridi' catalyst for the victory.

Out of the 120 minutes I sat in the theater, without exaggeration I had a smile for 70 minutes and I laughed for 40 minutes. Agreed that I am a compulsive laugher, it still was rib-tickling. It's not a senseless Akshay Kumar comedy of errors, mind you. It's an intelligent satire and a different take on the terrorism threat the world is facing. More importantly, it delivers the message of peace more interestingly than the over-doing films like My Name is Khan and New York, both of which I did not enjoy much.

First ten minutes into the film and you know that you are up to. The toilet scene in the beginning and Ali's attempts in the plane to copy CNN accents are funny. As the movie progresses and story unfolds, the joy rides keep getting funnier. At the interval, it looked fantastic but I feared that it might go down in the second half. Fortunately, it did not. The best thing is that it's not dragged unnecessarily and is shorter than your normal Hindi films.

The movie marks the arrival of Ali Zafar, who will probably become the first major successful Pakistani actor in bollywood considering that TBL has already grossed over 10 crores at the Indian box office. His screen presence is phenomenal; his confidence is that of a veteran, his smile is lightening; his comic timing can put some so-called entertainers of bollywood to shame. Not even once he goes overboard and takes the movie on his shoulders throughout. His slightly Punjabi-accented-Urdu at times left a bit to think but that does not bother as it has no significance on the story. It will be interesting to see how he fares in his next movies, which I am sure he will get after this performance. He should. There was only one scene that could come remotely close to being emotional, hence, his serious portrayal could not be judged. Ali, in TBL, is absolutely fantastic. I would not be surprised if he bags a couple of new-comer awards at the end of the year.

Abhishek Sharma is another new star to the list of debutant directors after Nishikan Kamat (Mumbai Meri Jaan), Sriram Raghavan (Johnny Gaddar) and Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday) but he has taken a totally different route as compared to them. His attention to details is amazing. He carries some jokes throughout the movie (The Pappu Umbrella that opens downwards and not upwards) without giving a feeling that it's dragged. His focus on out-of-focus actors on the screen is exemplary. Just like Ali, I am sure we will see a lot more of him in future. Casting Ali for his first film also turned out to be a master stroke. The storytelling is without loopholes.

The other actors contribute with sincerity. Saugandha gets the biggest role of her career thus far as Zoya and does better than what she did in Jaane Tu and Let's Dance. The look-alike of Bin Laden (Pradhuman Sing) is hilarious. His scenes with Saugandha leave you in giggles. His Arabic and Punjabi are funny. Imagine Bin Laden singing with a girl 'HABIBI GEORGE BUSH'. Ali's partner, the cameraman, is as good a comedian as it gets.

Cinematography is nothing to write home about but the art director needs pats on the back for creating Karachi like he did. Olper's buntings on the shops and Dr. ZIauddin Road on the walls was brilliant.

Even when the movie was over, I kept sitting to see the final credits and guess what; it offered more when it unfolded the future of those characters… an all-spiky Bin Laden! The downside of the movie… eh? What downside? TBL was hilarious. I enjoyed every bit of it and would love to watch it again and again.

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.

Just Watched the movie Today, the Concept was Brilliant and the Laden fake worked just fantastic. And his Sikander was astonishing. Yup, the movie will be a bit disappointment for the American in some scenes but tolerable, overall this is not a laughter riot but a laughter ride, A light Movie to go for, Talking About the performance, the poor Laden Fake was fantastic and done his part of Job, and he was the most memorized character of the movie when you finished watching it, Ali Zafar was good for first Timer, but the Show Stealer was Pradhuman Singh, The Laden Fake,

Final Verdict : If you have the Time, Go for it.

I saw this movie recently on DVD, the reason I did not go to theater was (actually were) new actor, new director, and the plot was also not so much thrilling, as 9/11 and Osama are not in news now.

The main drawback of most Bollywood comedy flicks is, they do not have any plot at all, and most of them have only three things 1.Misunderstanding 2. Marathon of characters 3. Old or double meaning Jokes in place of dialogs

This film was nothing like old crap and to my surprise, I was completely wrong; the cast does justice to the movie's theme especially "Noora chacha" played by Pradhuman Singh and yes "Sikandar"(the chicken) too. Ali jafar with his impeccable timing is well suited in his first appearance in Bollywood. This is perfect platform for him to be launched in such a good movie.

The main USP of "Tere Bin Laden" is a well-crafted script with total fresh idea and of course superb direction. What a debut for Abhishek Sharma. It is a satire on the system; it is a fine funny take on the whole world fighting with the terror. This is the movie you should watch with your friends or family if you want to double your experience of fun.

And the last line: Don't read this, go watch movie and please do not watch it alone.

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.