Phas Gaye Re Obama

A gangster relieving himself...camera moves up...zipper closed in time...Phew! Points a gun at a blindfolded groom but fires his own hand...Bad Luck. Kidnapping business not going good for "Bhai"Sahab(Sanjay Mishra, convincing) and gang(Manu Rishi, Amit Sial and 2 others). Reason...People cant pay up ransom due to Recession!

Entry of NRI Om Shastri(Rajat Kapoor, controlled & in top-form) who has received a Bank notice to clear his $100,000 debt within a month. He returns to India from New Jersey to sell his ancestral property & gets kidnapped. This is where the Movie begins...

Unfortunately, this is the only place where PGRO falls short...the initial pace, clearly a fault of the screenplay rather than direction. The initial scenes were certainly needed to provide for character development but a crisper editing before the interval could have elevated the movie to an altogether different level. It takes around the interval to climb the slope but certainly gives the promised thrill, thereafter. My only fear during the movie was that such an original story should not have a sudden or an over the top or an ending leaving you in bad taste. Thankfully, it did not!

On the acting front, Rajat Kapoor was spot on. The supporting casting was very well done too; Manu Rishi as the small-time gangster(Ani) inspiring his gang with Obama-speeches & Sanjay Mishra as a broke gangster with a dream to become a politician. Neha Dhupia as a man-hating Sculptor-Gangster (Munni with no Zandu balm!) tried to look her part but was overshadowed in her comparatively smaller role. Sadly, Amol "Bhope-Bhau" Gupte (Kaminey) got a smaller screen space, too but did his best. The slightly lower budget cinematography as well lack of songs (except one in the credits) enhanced the narration process. The humour in the writing bounced about from crude(interpretation of "Yes, we can") to good(Receipts for kidnapping ransom, English coaching scene) but didn't distract the storyline.

PGRO is a good example of what a good original script can do in the hands of a capable director(both by Subhash Kapoor) without an A-list star cast and Music/Dance sequences and high budget props.

Me and my friend were planning for Rakta Charitra 2 but landed for this as there were no shows for the former. I was greatly apprehensive of taking the risk of watching a movie I knew nothing about, on first-day-first-show (especially after the outrageously disastrous Raavan...shudder!).

I know this one wont be bothered by the Luv-SOrryyy & Ud-Ud-Bangg crowd. It's not a deep thought provoking or ROFL-hilarious drama either. But for once, I'm glad I took the chance.

Sense & Simplicity

7/10

PHAS GAYE RE OBAMA(2010) comedy Cast-Rajat Kapoor,sanjay mishra,Manu Rishi chadha,Neha Dhupia. A NRI man gets bankrupt on the period of recession and comes to India to sell his house to pay his loans back.The film starts when he is kidnapped assuming him to be a millionaire. Jolly LLB series director Subhash kapoor has written a classic script involving the recession period.It is very difficult to make a comedy film in India which manages to keep both script and humour simultaneously convincing and only a few films are able to do and this film is among those few flicks. Rajat Kapoor is excellent as the intelligent NRI businessman.Sanjay Mishra is brilliant in his role.Manu Rishi Chadha steals the show with his effortless role of a man living with the dream of living in USA.The rest of cast has also done a good job.The English coaching class scene is iconic and one of the best comic scenes in Bollywood, the film not just make us laugh but it also depicts the reality of our society. The power of the film is the story, an equally competent screenplay. There is difference between pure comedy films like Dhamaal,De Dana dan,Golmaal franchise and Witty ones like PK,Peepli Live.The movie proudly sits on the latter category. The film is unpredictable and will keep u guessing till the end.

AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE.

This deliciously smart comedy from writer-director Subhash Kapoor stars Rajat Kapoor as Om Shastri, a desperate NRI from America, who must sell off his ancestral village property so he can save his home in New Jersey from being repossessed by the bank. Within days of arriving in the village, however, he is kidnapped by local crime-pin Bhaisaab (played by the excellent Sanjay Mishra), who dreams of a fat ransom in exchange for the NRI's release. When Shastri reveals that he's lost everything in the recent financial meltdown, Bhaisaab's dreams are crushed. That is until Shastri himself, along with Bhaisaab's trusted right-hand man Anni (played by Oye Lucky Lucky Oye's Manu Rishi), comes up with a shrewd new plan that will make both the kidnapper and the victim richer by several lakhs.

Constructed from a terrific script that's strong on plot and packed with crackling dialogue, 'Phas Gaye Re Obama' is consistently engaging. Shastri plots his own 'sale' from one wisened gangster to the next unsuspecting crook, in what becomes a chain of hilarious cons. Along the way we're introduced to a string of quirky, original characters that add colour to this palette.

Neha Dhupia stars as Munni, a dreaded don who despises men, and who's dubbed herself the female Gabbar Singh. She surrounds herself by an army of tough-looking henchwomen with names like Kareena, Deepika, Madhuri, Rani and Preity, and spends her free time chipping away at male statues. Amole Gupte plays a permanently constipated minister who runs a professionally managed kidnapping-and-extortion company, where you're provided with a receipt on payment of the ransom, and a one-year guarantee against a repeat abduction.

But the star of the film is Manu Rishi, who brings just the perfect degree of naïvete to his role of a gangster's moderately-educated sidekick yearning for a better life. His character, Anni has his heart set on moving to America, and insists he's got what it takes – he's watched reruns of Obama's famous 'Yes we can!' speech repeatedly, he's taking English lessons at a local coaching class, and he hasn't missed a single one of Sylvester Stallone's greatest action hits.

'Phas Gaye Re Obama' is unpredictable and surprisingly relevant, even if the film's title (which seems to squarely blame the US President for the recent global recession) is a bit of a stretch. Cleverly written and sharply cast, it's a film that delivers hearty laughs. Don't miss it. It's one of those rare Hindi films that's funny and smart at the same time!

After a long long time, I was overjoyed after watching some movie. Wonderfully written script and at the top of that marvelous execution on the screen. A commendable screen play it was in the movie. With the theme of recession and its side effects on different classes of society, movie progresses. First few scenes give you a gut feeling that its not a routine come and go movie and after some 20 minutes, movie changes its gear. After interval you find yourself so engrossed in the movie that you starts guessing What's next... and end of the movie gifts you a great satisfaction and admiration on your lips for this master piece by Subhash Kapoor.

There is nobody in the cast, who did not do justice with their role. Rajat Kapoor played his trademark NRI role mercurially. It was an effortless, flawless, natural act from Rajat. Sanjay Mishra alias Bhai Sahab is also brilliant as always. Sarcasm in his super seriously delivered jokes forces you to an inevitable smile. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye famed Bangali, Manu Rishi has also displayed perfect timing with his role. His strong desire to go to US, his English classes and watching US based news with his glittering eyes and supportive dialogs in various frames ensured that his character is strongly written like every other character of the movie. Amol Gupte as NetaJi and Neha Dhupia as Munni gangster are also very promising.

The best part of the movie is, you never loose your smile. At the same time, you guess about the next action from either Rajat Kapoor or Manu Rishi or some Gangster. The light, humorous and a little sarcastic way of presenting some of the very sensitive truths of our society is really commendable. I am overwhelmed by watching this movie and hope, it would be liked and appreciated more than those clungy, crampy, non-sense movies, which are over flowing in the bollywood these days.

Outstanding! The fact that the critics haven't given this an even higher rating just proves to me that the critics have mush for brains. Watching a string of substandard Hindi movies does that, I guess. For too long, we have had formula movies parroting the same old junk. The current wave of realism in Hindi cinema brings to mind the "middle path" in Malayalam cinema, 1980s cinema which struck a happy balance between realism and entertainment.

All performances are outstanding. The thing is, it could all really happen......the BIMARU belt comes to mind.....and that is the sad part of it all, and yet the fact that a filmmaker could find a way to mock those who live like this in modern day India is heartening!

After all, someone must proclaim that the emperor has no clothes!