First thursday in three weeks that I manage to get out somewhere.What do I do? What else?
Made my way to Lamcy having heard that this flick was on. Must say that the promos and star cast seemed interesting and didnt give the impression of a full-on comedy, rather something different. To my surprise, the gruff "mucchad" who I see at Lamcy theatre every week tells me in his signature "doing you a favour" tone, tells me "picchar ka tickat available hai". I go wide in shock, for the first time in years my normal theatre had halfway decent tickets for a late show first day release. Anyway, recover but get a bit queasy because a first day easy availability never is a good thing in Dubai. Nonetheless, after singing *"tunay loot liya loot liya" *to the waitress at the nearby *"sheesha" cafe *after fainting over the bill, I walked in, muttering and broke, hoping that the movie would be worth it.
Was it though? lets find out:
*Plot:
A murder. A body. A forgetful girl Sehar(Ayesha Takia) who everybody is hounding day in and day out, some for taxi fare, others for her life. Worst of all, she cant recognise any of them and is distraught until ACP Rajvir(Ajay Devgan) and his subordinate Anwar(Mukesh Tiwari)realises that she has no memory of the past Sunday in her life. What this memory loss has to with these attacks on her, and what part do Ballu(Arshad Warsi), the said cabbie and Kumar(Irrfan Khan**) an aspiring actor play here is what forms the story.
*Pros:
*The biggest pro here is that the movie length is crisp and not too long, so the movie never is in risk of outstaying its welcome. Furthermore, the songs are used sparingly i.e. the hwole song is not used, only parts of it so that the movie doesnt get side tracked. And most importantly the two genres of comedy and suspense balance well and provide for an entertaining finished product.
Cons:
The biggest con I had was that the identity of the killer, while surprising didnt give the WHOA factor. Was more like "aah ok, no too bad but wouldve been better if it was more radical."
The other major grouse I had was the placement of the songs, specifically "Loot Liya" and "Pyar To Hona Hai" which just popped up out of nowhere, specially the former which if used properly had the potential to be a big time mass "dhinchak" hit.
*Direction & technical crew:
Director **Rohit Shetty brings out another fun filled movie, and I felt he actually has been improving with each movie, because each movie of his is better than his preceding one. Sunday definitely is a notch above Golmaal as its different from the usual comedies and his direction only helps in bringing about great performances and making sure the movie doesnt drag, making it a worthy watch. In a movie of this genre, thats the best thing that one can ask for. The director balances the comedy and suspense well to bring about a satisfyingly entertaining film.
The production values & camera work are great and Aseem Bajaj captures Delhi and its sights really well, making it look romantic and sinister alternatively.
*Performances:
*I always believe that for comedies to succeed, rather than scene-stealing, more important is complementing each other and its good to see the actors here elevate the movie by doing just that. In no particular order:
Tusshar Kapoor and Esha Deol are just there for a song apiece
Murali Sharma & Anjana Sukhaniget no scope.
Vrajesh Hirjee does well with what material he has. He definitely is a decent comedian who might do well if given a decent role.
Mukesh Tiwari: An amazing character actor who doesnt get movies worth him, here he makes a very surprising u-turn with an excellent comic support act. I honestly didnt expect him to do much here but he did tickle my funny bone at least with his reactions and proved that he can carry off different roles other than a villain or a bihari cop in Prakash Jha movies. A commendable performance I hope to see him in better movies in more such diverse roles.
Ayesha Takia: **She is the main character of this movie, the person whom the movie revolves around and she does a good job of showing various facets of the characters confusion, and chirpiness. I really enjoyed her cartoon voices which shows her versatility and the way she used them in different places. She plays realistic and relatable characters really well which goes in her favour while playing an everyday girl stuck in unusual circumstances(The lost blubber doesnt hurt her looks either). Hope to see more of her in such good fare and not blips like "No Smoking".
Ajay Devgan:Mr. Cool n Smug returns in his usual avtaar of just taht, a cool n smug cop. However refreshingly, he does a much better job than in "Golmaal" where he was just invincible and killed a lot of things with "dont poke fun at me" character. Here his self deprecating humour really helps the movie in certain scenes and he does well in his comedic bits, specially when the jokes on him. He comes to the fore however in the second half and does his bit of the serious & funny cop in turns pretty well. That he is a great actor is in no doubt, but its good to see that for every "Halla Bol" he can come up with a "Sunday" and look convincing enough in both.
Irrfan Khan:Another versatile actor, this man can make tripe look believable. I always knew he could do comedy really well, his style showed as much and he proved that with his comedic turn in "Metro." Here however he proves that he can deliver the goods in a more commercial street brand of comedy. Definitely to hold your own in front of Arshad Warsi in comedic scenes, and even stealing a few scenes proves that you know your job. I cant say whether he can carry a comedy alone, but he is a welcome addition to any ensemble comedy. Heres hoping he continues coming in more and more varieties to avoid getting typecast in nana patekar style roles.
Arshad Warsi:I personally feel that after Govinda, the most natural comedian has to be this man. Though he wasnt in his element in Dhamaal, he bounces back and bounces back well in a role tailor made for him. While I didnt see much point in showing him with a kidney problem backstory, he rocked as a street smart cabbie, whos scared and doesnt want to be involved, but just cant let go of his fare from his customers, no matter how weird they end up being. Another tour-de-force performance from this guy and its really sad that he isnt given more footage and variety to do different roles, he really is very versatile. Lets just hope he doesnt tire of doing quality comedy like this, he truly is a master os his craft.
Conclusively, while it has a few blemishes here and
there, the bottom line is that I was singing "loot liya" by the time
the movie ended, not cursing a waitress with the same song.
Sunday does what it aims to do and that is entertain, in my view not a bad way at all to kill your Sunday evening.
