Film review: Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi

Director: Aman Sachdeva Actors: Siddharth Gupta, Ashish Juneja, Amit Sial Certification: U Stars: 2
There was a time when Delhibased buddy flicks were lauded as breaths of fresh air from the onslaught of big-budget commercial potboilers. It was fascinating to watch colourful linguistic universes collide with small-town worlds, and comparisons arose based solely on authenticity and characterizations. That time has passed.

Debutant director Aman Sachdeva's energetic effort comes a few years after its time, and ends up as the awkward poster-child of a revolution that has outstayed its welcome. A title like this invariably spells trouble (literally), but Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi is more than reminiscent of last year's sleeper hit Fukrey. It has the elements in place-an irreverent plot, interesting new faces, motley groups of quirky extras, innovative production design that contributes more to atmosphere than screenplay, a seedy B-movie called 'Facebook Pe Pyaar' (props to the actors playing the frustrated director and lead actress)...you get the gist.

Designed as a situational comedy, it revolves around the (lack of) adventures of a mild under-confident pushover named Kuku (Gupta), and his friend Ronnie Gulati (Juneja, likeable). Kuku goes through an existential crisis after his childhood pal rises up the family-business ladder ("Ronnie Matching Centre"), and a whole lot of forced conflicts and resolutions follow when Kuku's scheming cousin Prabhakar (Sial) gatecrashes his meltdown.

Films like these rarely contain a frame that isn't crowded; at any point, there are at least five caricatures trying to make their mark in bustling areas. Technically, this isn't easy to pull off-but the departments work in sync with eachother, and director Sachdeva's vision does stand out intermittently. He shows admirable control while portraying frenetic surroundings - the outrageous 'Welcome Maiya' devotional medley preceding the interval, being a prime example - but gets carried away by his own potential. There are too many such functions and people-moments in the second half, and eventually, it is difficult not to be overwhelmed by this overcooked culture.

The film strives so hard to be relevant and resourceful within its environment that it rarely ends up being funny, and it is far from heavy. It only dawned upon me at the end that this was supposed to be a coming-of-age friendship tale; it's a pity the writers forgot about Ronnie's existence for a large chunk of the film. Newcomer Siddharth Gupta has a lanky gentlegiant way about him, and he does a decent job playing the annoyingly unmotivated titular character. I've always wished Amit Sial appeared on screen more effectively after his sting journalist turn in Love Sex aur Dhoka, and my wait continues. For an actor of his talent, Prabhakar is more of an unnecessary script instrument than his own voice and creation.

Perhaps this film lacked scope from the beginning, but its shortcomings are definitely not a result of less effort. Also, credit to the producers for making sure that every viewer grins at least once-while having to name the film at the ticket window.