Sorry Bhai - Movie Review

By Deepa Gahlot

It's not exactly shocking or path-breaking, the story about a man falling for his brother's fiancée—over 20 years ago, there was the sensitively made Panchvati had the same plot, only Onir's Sorry Bhai is light (not enough) and shallow (very).

Siddharath (Sharman Joshi) is supposed to be a scientist, who is working on a project to "make a toy dog fly" and seeking a grant for that. Could anyone take a man like that seriously? His redeeming feature is that he plays the saxophone and has all the time in the world, when his older brother Harsh (Sanjay Suri) is a busy stock broker in Mauritius (which is a pretty location, but hardly such a major financial hub!)

Harsh is to marry Aliya (Chitrangada Singh), which for some reason annoys his mother Gayatri (Shabana Azmi), and she is reluctantly dragged by husband Navin and Siddharth to Mauritius for the imminent wedding.

Gayatri's persistent queries about her parents, irritate Aaliya (she could have just told her the truth right at the start, which she does later) and the family gathering is not a success.

While Harsh and his boss are battling a market crash, Aaliya and Siddharth fall in love. He has some scruples about it, she behaves as if it's quite alright and goes to the extent of seducing him.

Onir has been borrowed the plot from Dan in Real Life, which had characters with some depth and scenes with a lot more humour (those who have seen the film would remember the shower scene and smile). Sorry Bhai is just flat and mostly humourless – Siddharth and Aliya's attraction involves silly gimmicks like sliding down a banister.

This kind of no-substance, fluffy film needed style, great acting and an ability to pull off melodrama—all of which Sorry Bhai lacks. And what is one to make of Navin's outburst at his wife—in which he makes accusations at her, which are not quite substantiated with what is seen of their relationship all along.

Shabana Azmi, who can be depended on to lift up any role, cannot do much with one so banal; it is Boman Irani's vivacity, that somehow makes their scenes together work and get an impromptu quality.

Chitrangada Singh looks sultry, but doesn't bring much to the role—not the strength the character needed, or even any jagged edges. Sanjay Suri and Sharman Joshi do their parts with plodding gravity, without any flashes of fire. You suspect everyone went to Mauritius for a holiday and came up with a film while they were at it.

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.

Source: India Syndicate, entertainment.in.msn.com