TTB TOI review*Ragz track the finest. praised*

Inconsistent comic caper

Story : Chixie (Om Puri), Happy (Deepak Dobriyal) and Fancy Singh (Shreyas Talpade) are the three oddball brothers who would love to be left alone, having nothing to do with each other. But their grandfather's will forces them to spend time together, if they want to inherit his millions. Can the mismatched trio spend quality time with each other and re-discover shredded family ties in a desolate and decrepit bungalow in snow clad Kashmir?

Movie Review: The good news is that Bollywood is brimming over with fresh talent as more and more young film makers don the director's hat and try their skills at story telling. Their's is a young vision and a modern sensibility that tries to steer clear of formula and cliche. And even if it looks at formula, it dabbles with it differently, as was evident in Dabangg.

Teen Thay Bhai may have been produced by Rakeysh Mehra but it has been directed by first-timer Mrigdeep Singh Lamba who does show promise as a filmmaker to watch out for. Just that his first film ends up as a half-blown venture where there are too many theatrics and too many loosely edited scenes to allow the film to unfold as an uninterrupted laugh riot. Now that's sad, because in terms of characterizations, the film is riveting. Om Puri's loud, crabby, me-centric Punjabi businessman act is quite funny, specially when it comes to his attempts to get his overweight daughters married. Deepak Dobriyal as the quack dentist with the quirky hobby -- he loves to iron clothes -- is absolutely mercurial, even as his love story with village vixen, Ragini Khanna, ends up as the finest track in the film. Ragini herself makes an interesting shift from television to films with her breezy act as the boisterous Punjabi girl who loves to lie. And finally, there is Shreyas Talpade who pitches in as the third brother, a wannabe actor, inspired by Hollywood pulp. His rendition of the happy-go-lucky yokel is completely over the top and tends to get too melodramatic, here and there. But by and large, between them, the three brothers create a tantalizing trio that keeps rubbing each other off the wrong side.

The film however lacks consistency and some of the comic situations fail to evoke any humour. While the brothers try to co-exist peacefully in the ramschackled bungalow and almost end up killing each other, the drama holds your interest. But as it moves out into the wilderness, with blondes, dogs, drugs and cops, it loses track.

Watch out for the zany music track (Sukhwinder Singh and Ranjit Barot) with Mohit Chauhan and Daler Mehndi giving a lively rendition to Gulzar's funky lyrics, some arresting performances by the key players and Ashok Mehta's camerawork which creates magic with Kashmir. And yes, there's Yograj Singh making his debut in Hindi cinema as the angsty Punjabi dadaji. Yograj Singh, who? Sadda Yuvraj Singh's daddy! All this might help you tide over the intermittent yawns that threaten to cloud an otherwise smart comedy.