Times have changed! If you live in a metropolis, if your spouse and you work round-the-clock and have commitments to honour, any extra person - other than those living with us or is part of our day-to-day schedule - is strictly unwelcome. His/her arrival may cause hindrance and rob you of your privacy.
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Final word? Bring this atithi home!
It tells the story of Puneet [Ajay Devgn] and Munmun [Konkona], a married couple living in Mumbai. Their lives take an interesting turn when a distant relative, Chachaji [Paresh Rawal], turns up unannounced at their doorstep from a far-off village. The guest overstays his welcome, so much so that the exasperated couple come up with various ploys to hasten his departure.
ATITHI TUM KAB JAOGE? is a light-hearted entertainer that tickles your funny bone at several points. The best part is, you not only laugh at the funny one-liners, but also at situations, which are so life-like and which makes you connect with them instantly.
ATITHI TUM KAB JAOGE? rests on three characters primarily - Ajay, Konkona and Paresh - and director Ashwni Dhir and his team of writers [Robin Bhatt, Tushar Hiranandani] have ensured that there are ample [enjoyable] scenes that you carry home. What really takes you by surprise is the devotional factor that has been smartly injected in the screenplay. The traditional Indian audiences would love the Mata ki aarti, the Ganesh Chaturthi festival and the sanskaar that the atithi instils in Ajay and Konkona's child.
But the writing wanders into unwanted areas, which could've been avoided in the first place. The raid at the hotel, where Ajay, Konkona and their son move into, seems unnecessary. Ditto for the subsequent scene at the cop station. Immediately thereafter, Ajay hires the services of a Bhai to get rid of Paresh, which looks far-fetched. These three incidents, which come back to back, only add to the length of the film. Also, Paresh breaking wind [gas/flatulence] looks funny in a scene or two, but why make it a recurring occurrence? An overdose is embarrassing!
However, the climax, which starts with the sthapna of Lord Ganesh's idol in Ajay's home, till the culmination of the story, makes the goings-on immensely watchable. Director Ashwni Dhir, best known for penning comic shows, proves that he's at ease handling dramatic [interval point] and emotional [climax] scenes with gusto. Pritam's music is ordinary, but the songs fit well in the narrative, especially the two devotional tracks. The title track [Amit Mishra] is quite catchy. Aseem Bajaj's camerawork is first-rate. Dialogues [Ashwni Dhir] are excellent.
Come to think of it, it requires a lot of courage to play a role that's devoid of star mannerisms and Ajay enacts this part most convincingly. Konkona is spontaneous and a complete natural. Paresh is superb as the atithi. He's definitely the scene-stealer! Satish Kaushik shines, especially in the sequence when he apologises to Ajay. Akhilendra Mishra, Mukesh Tiwari and Viju Khote are alright. Sanjay Mishra is first-rate.
On the whole, ATITHI TUM KAB JAOGE? is a hilarious movie, but unlike any slapstick comedy. It's a light-hearted film with sensibility, humour and a strong undercurrent of emotion. This atithi is sure to find a place in your heart!
Review, Times of India
Nikhat Kazmi, TNN 4 March 2010, 07:35pm IST Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Text Size: |
Still from the movie Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?Check more pics
Film: Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Konkana Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal
Genre: Comedy
Direction: Ashwini Dhir
Duration: 1 hour 58 minutes
Critic's Rating: *** stars Story: Puneet and Munmun, an archetypal nuclear family, find their ordered life being shaken apart when they have a visitor, Chachaji, who refuses to leave their house, despite an extended stay. Will they miss him when he goes?
Movie Review: Neat. Subtle. And softly funny. Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge is quite unlike the hysterical laugh acts that have been trying terribly hard to make you laugh in recent Bollywood. More of a chuckle-and-a-smirk drama, this one doesn't even try to convince you that life is all ha-ha-he-he. Instead, it creates situations and characters that fill you with warmth and make you smile with the familiar quirkiness of recognisable situations.
Now when was the last time you pulled your hair out when your 'unwanted' relatives from Gorakhpur, or any other small town, landed in your pint-sized flat with their pet peeves and infuriating habits. Like gargling before the break of dawn, creating man-made floods in your tiny washroom or converting your favourite window into a make-shift clothesline...Well, that's what our avuncular Chachaji (Paresh Rawal) does when he arrives unannounced at friend Putani's son, Pappu's (Ajay Devgn) house. Pappu's uptown wife (Konkana Sen Sharma) is soon forced to fry pakoras and play hostess to his neighbourhood friends who are naturally drawn irresistibly to this friendly old man who has a grandma's remedy for all their cures and a bhajan for all their woes. It doesn't take long for anger to be replaced by genuine warmth, as Chachaji carries with him a whole culture into the antiseptic flat which had hitherto housed a family that was simply running in a rat race.
Paresh Rawal leads the gentle humour brigade that finds great foot soldiers in the likes of Devgn (restrained and likeable), Konkana (earthy and grounded), Satish Kaushik (watchable) and Sanjay Mishra (impressive). Is it truly back to the 1980s for Bollywood comedies? Wait and watch out for some more of the Basu Chatterjee-Hrishikesh Mukherjee brand revival.
A word about:
Performances: Paresh Rawal's pitches a picture perfect Chachaji, while Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Mishra are immensely watchable.
Story: Robin Bhatt and Tushar Hiranandani pick up a familiar tale and give it a refreshing twist.
Dialogues: The humour is gentle and subtle and never tries to drown you with its desperation to make you laugh.
Styling: Upper middle class Mumbai fashion meets mofussil town chaddis and dhotis.
Inspiration: The 1980s family-ishtyle comedies of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Anupama's review: Atithi...
(Comedy) Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV Friday, March 05, 2010 Print A+ A-
Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh rawal, Ajay Devgn Music: Pritam Chakraborty Director: Ashwani Dhir Producer: Amita Pathak Writer: Ashwani Dhir
Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, based on a short story by the noted satirist Sharad Joshi, is exactly that: a short story stretched into a movie.
This tale of the house guest from hell might have worked well as an episode of Doordarshan's Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi or even All India Radio's Hawa Mahal. But as a two-hour movie, it's overtly stretched and mostly mediocre.
Ajay Devgn and Konkona Sen Sharma play a Mumbai couple who are confronted one day with Chacha Lambodar from Gorakhpur, played by Paresh Rawal.
This is the sort of guest who gargles loudly at 5:45 AM and wants two vegetables, one dal, one raita, a few paranthas and some meetha at every meal.
But the bigger problem is that he doesn't show any signs of leaving. The two try every trick in the book to get him to go - including hiring an underworld goon - but everything backfires.
Eventually living with Chacha ji becomes a moral science lesson on the importance of your elders.
Writer-director Ashwini Dheer manages to infuse some fun into this, including a track about a B-grade film being funded by a bhai. There's also a lovely moment when Chachaji sings a bhajan set to the tune of the chartbusting item number Beedi Jalaile.
But mostly, Atithi feels laboured and long. There's only that much you can do with an annoying guest and Dheer does it all before shifting tone from comedy to emotional melodrama with a dollop of religious fervour thrown in for good measure.
Dheer has a stellar cast of three national award winning actors but he doesn't give them sparkling lines or substantial moments.
Only Ajay Devgn gets to chew the scenery with a nicely done climactic speech about the relationship between children and parents.
Aththi Tum Kab Jaoge attempts to impart valuable lessons but the comic sugar-coating just doesn't crackle enough.
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| Still from the movie Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?Check more pics |
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Konkana Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal
Genre: Comedy
Direction: Ashwini Dhir
Duration: 1 hour 58 minutes
Critic's Rating: *** stars
Movie Review: Neat. Subtle. And softly funny. Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge is quite unlike the hysterical laugh acts that have been trying terribly hard to make you laugh in recent Bollywood. More of a chuckle-and-a-smirk drama, this one doesn't even try to convince you that life is all ha-ha-he-he. Instead, it creates situations and characters that fill you with warmth and make you smile with the familiar quirkiness of recognisable situations.
Now when was the last time you pulled your hair out when your 'unwanted' relatives from Gorakhpur, or any other small town, landed in your pint-sized flat with their pet peeves and infuriating habits. Like gargling before the break of dawn, creating man-made floods in your tiny washroom or converting your favourite window into a make-shift clothesline...Well, that's what our avuncular Chachaji (Paresh Rawal) does when he arrives unannounced at friend Putani's son, Pappu's (Ajay Devgn) house. Pappu's uptown wife (Konkana Sen Sharma) is soon forced to fry pakoras and play hostess to his neighbourhood friends who are naturally drawn irresistibly to this friendly old man who has a grandma's remedy for all their cures and a bhajan for all their woes. It doesn't take long for anger to be replaced by genuine warmth, as Chachaji carries with him a whole culture into the antiseptic flat which had hitherto housed a family that was simply running in a rat race.
Paresh Rawal leads the gentle humour brigade that finds great foot soldiers in the likes of Devgn (restrained and likeable), Konkana (earthy and grounded), Satish Kaushik (watchable) and Sanjay Mishra (impressive). Is it truly back to the 1980s for Bollywood comedies? Wait and watch out for some more of the Basu Chatterjee-Hrishikesh Mukherjee brand revival.
A word about:
Performances: Paresh Rawal's pitches a picture perfect Chachaji, while Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Mishra are immensely watchable.
Story: Robin Bhatt and Tushar Hiranandani pick up a familiar tale and give it a refreshing twist.
Dialogues: The humour is gentle and subtle and never tries to drown you with its desperation to make you laugh.
Styling: Upper middle class Mumbai fashion meets mofussil town chaddis and dhotis.
Inspiration: The 1980s family-ishtyle comedies of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
| Anupama's review: Atithi... (Comedy) Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films, NDTV Friday, March 05, 2010 | |||||||||
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Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, based on a short story by the noted satirist Sharad Joshi, is exactly that: a short story stretched into a movie. | |||||||||
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