Amongst some distinct aspects of Delhi are its black and yellow cabs and the affable sardarji drivers. In Sunday, the Delhi cab is a bright red Ambassador driven by a bloke (Warsi playing to the gallery) who is totally Bambaiyya in demeanour. In fact, every character seems totally out of place in the city where the film is located, be it the girl in the centre of danger (Takia) or the cop with attitude (a non-hip Devgan sporting the same swagger and fake intensity). Sunday bases itself in Delhi but unlike Khosla Ka Ghosla, it doesn’t tap into the spirit of the capital, its people and humour at all. It merely uses the city’s monuments and ruins as picture postcard backdrops.
Perhaps locational integrity is a bit much to ask from a flick which aims to be just an ‘entertaining comic-thriller’. But even here it comes undone. The Telugu original, am told, is quite delectable. But the Hindi copy is able to do minimal justice to the comic track (unless you feel like laughing at a guy who’s hit by a bullet on the backside), no justice at all to the thread of suspense and like a majority of Bollywood thrillers (going right back to the days of B.R. Chopra’s Kanoon) the end is a total copout. The killer is thrust into the climax from nowhere to somehow conveniently wrap up an already lumbering, blundering plot.
You have Takia, a dubbing artiste prone to fits of forgetfulness. One night out at the disco changes things entirely for her. She can’t recollect what happened after the dance session but since then, she’s chased by strange men—cabbie Warsi and a struggling actor (Irrfan) who wants Rs 450 from her and a group of thugs led by a squeaky-voiced silly don. Help comes through the ice-cream-eating cop Devgan. A reason why this broth of a film is so inedible could be because the script has been credited to several writers. They take off in several directions and even manage to write in a lesson on global warming. There are some interesting shots in multi-angles and slick editing but who cares? And most of all, you keep wondering what’s Irrfan doing in this mayhem. Maybe I’m too favourably inclined but his deadpan act and laconic look was the only thing that made me hold on to my seat.
High Fives
Bollywood
1. Taare Zameen Par
2. Sunday
3. Welcome
4. Bombay to Bangkok
5. Halla Bol
Hollywood
1. Meet the Spartans
2. Rambo
3. 27 Dresses
4. Cloverfield
5. Untraceable
Jazz Albums
1. Call Me Irresponsible (Michael Buble)
2. Italia (Chris Botti)
3. The Best of Diana Krall (Diana Krall)
4. Trav’lin’ Light (Queen Latifah)
5. Ultimate American Songbook (Bennett)
Courtesy: Film Information
