Movie : Being Cyrus
Language/Duration: English/90
Banner : Times Infotainment Media Limited , Miracle Cinefilms,Serendipity Films
Producer : Ambika A Hinduja, Dinesh Vijan, Raman Macker, Munish
Director : Homi Adajania
Star Cast
Saif Khan...... Cyrus Mistry
Naseruddin Shah...... Dinshaw Sethna
Dimple Kapadia...... Katy Sethna
Boman Irani...... Farokh Sethna
Simone Singh...... Tina Sethna
Manoj Pahwa...... Inspector Maninder
Honey Chhaya...... Fardounjee Sethna
Background Music : Salim Merchant , Sulaiman Merchant
Cinematography : Jehangir Chowdhury
Editor : Anand Subaya ,Jon Harris
Screenplay : Homi Adajania, Kersi Khambatta
The caption for 'Being Cyrus' says - ''Who you let in can change your life''
Yeah , one unintended move from an individual can lead to mother of all complexities and that is the nature of what we call as life !
'Being Cyrus' is a story of six people and is set in a 'Parsi' household of Sethnas. Sethna family is headed by Fardoonjee Sethna [Honey Chhaya], an aging man, his two sons Dinshaw [Naseeruddin Shah] and Farokh [Boman Irani] and their wives Katy [Dimple Kapadia] and Tina [Simone Singh]. At one point of time the entire family had stayed together but over a period of time internal tussle between the brothers drives them to live in separate households. Dinshaw and Katy move out to Panchgani (a small hill station near Mumbai) while Farokh and Tina stay along with Fardoonjee at an old building in Mumbai that is completely in ruins.
Dinshaw a sculptor by profession and on meeting upon a complete stranger Cyrus [Saif Ali Khan], who claims to be his ardent fan - allows Cyrus to stay at his house as a paying guest cum sculpting apprentice.
Cyrus comes close to the family and soon finds himself to be an integral part of Sethnas. Slows things start taking 'U turn. Tension grows, skeletons start coming out of the closets, something bizarre happens and layers start unfolding one after another.
A deep rooted secret starts to unravel and mystery around the character of Cyrus starts engulfing everyone. Who is he? Where has he come from? What's his agenda?
That's not all as Farokh, Katy and Fardoonjee too get embroiled in the strange incidents that start happening around them.
And then unexpected thing happens !!!
Rightly as the filmmakers said , Being Cyrus is an obsessive, inconclusive, disorderly, and strangely humane story about an outsider struggling to get inside himself.
Now on to the credits,
Saif's performance is improving Leaps and Bounds movie by movie - Now Chote Nawab seems to be in a league of his own when it comes to Perfection, getting into the skin of Character -This is another Feather in his hat
Naseeruddhin Shah is an actor who never fails in any character even if it is dumbest of all but this movie as a wreck sculptor - lost in dope - living in a world of his own - Naseer Saab elevates his performance to different plane.
Dimple Kapadia - India's Monica Bellucci - Impresses in a stunning reversal of Role - it requires pure guts to play this kind of role which she does to the perfection.
Boman Irani - Do I need to admit that he enthralls with his performance !!! watch out for the scene where he picks up quarrel with his neighbour.
Honey Chhaya - he is the surprise package of the movie - he holds his own against the seasoned performers - his performance is sure to jolt the viewers.
Simone Singh - She proves once again she is Ms.Versatile.
Manoj Pahwa as crooked cop impresses a lot too.
Director Homi Adajania has woven a complex story and handled the script with finesse ease like a seasoned Campaigner. It is hard to admit this is a first time director’s movie. Hats off to him for trying out something different and executing it fine to the core.
Cinematography [Jehangir Chowdhury] is up to the mark. Background music [Salim-Sulaiman] has an international feel. Sleek Editing and apt Costume augments the movie.
Now on to the other side of the coin,
The Parsi milieu of this movie is a plus at the same time a drawback too coz most of the viewers find it a bit tough to understand the conversations and correlating themselves to the characters.
The slow pacedness of the movie though has a raw appeal sometimes mars the movie's pace and inturn reduces the audience's interest and finally the story happening between the six primary characters gives us a feel of watching a daily soap.
But on the whole , one needs to admit '' Being Cyrus'' is definitely a different movie and worth every penny spent on the movie ticket.
Verdict : Being Cyrus - Think Before You Ink !!!
Rating : 8/ 10
Readers,
whatever stated here is my opinion.
I do Understand opinions differ and I also do appreciate that .
And one more thing, Pls don’t forget to comment
Awaiting your comments
(C) 2006