Spurred by the success of Oh! My God and PK , Bollywood writers are busy juicing out humour in blind faith and obscurantism. With the initial surprise/ shock value fading and CBFC sharpening its scissors, the subject is losing its charm and bite. Set in Gujarat, here Director Fuwad Khan has religiously remade British comedy The Infidel into an uneven satire on blind faith that slips in the issue of conversion in a perfunctory manner. Here is a Bollywood film that talks of minority persecution in urban societies and attempts to tackle the issue of conversion but the director doesn’t have the tools to turn it into a persuasive piece and it ends up as a rather tame, predictable attempt. One can sense the hangover of PK when in a scene somebody shouts ‘ PK hai kya ’ from the background. Good thing is Fuwad knows the benchmark.
Coming from the same production house, it is a kind of sequel to OMG with Paresh Rawal playing Dharampal who is not far from Kanji Mehta, the challenger to God, that Rawal played in Umesh Shukla’s film. A caterer in Ahmedabad, Dharampal doesn’t believe in rituals and doubts the intentions of all Muslims including his Muslim lawyer neighbour Nawab Mehmood Shah (Annu Kapoor). When one day Dharampal discovers that he was born in a Muslim family and that his biological father is still alive, it turns his life upside down.
When the son goes to see his father the cleric at the sanatorium asks him to embrace some Islamic practices before hugging his father. This spirals into humorous situations as Dharampal tries to learn Urdu and Namaaz from his well-meaning neighbour. Meanwhile, Dharampal has to learn Hindu practices as well because his son is in love with a girl whose father is a devotee of a self seeking godman (Naseeruddin Shah), whose flamboyance reminds of the colourful MSG.
The cleric says Islam is much more than beard, skull cap and Urdu but somehow Fuwad spends plenty of time with stereotypes, perhaps because it is an easy way to generate some easy laughs. At times he comes up with some biting comments on blind faith and Muslim persecution but the tone remains uneven. It oscillates between slapstick and preachy and when it tries to break new ground CBFC’s scissors cut short its drive.
The writing and execution lack the effortlessness of the original despite the presence of three National Award winners for acting in the cast. In fact the script doesn’t test them. Paresh Rawal knows this territory well and manages to generate sympathy for Dharampal. Annu Kapoor hams it up in a good way as the Nawab friend and Naseeruddin Shah doesn’t try to add nuance to the stereotypical baba.
It has its moments but you can easily wait for the television premiere!
