Art & Entertainment

Jhootha Hi Sahi

Startlingly flaccid and boring. Instead of making you feel for the characters, it leaves you disengaged and disinterested.

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Jhootha Hi Sahi
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Starring: Pakhi, John Abraham, R. Madhavan
Directed by Abbas Tyrewala
Rating: **

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Jhootha Hi Sahi is about a group of friends who seem be living surprisingly well selling books from a small shop called ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, which, incidentally, has a poster proclaiming: “We Don’t Do Deepak Chopra”. The shop’s name and the poster are about the only truly witty elements in the entire film. Abbas Tyrewala is a talented writer who has done sharp dialogues for films like Munnabhai MBBS and Main Hoon Na. Jhootha Hi Sahi disappoints primarily because it lacks the sparkle one associates with his writing. In fact, it gets startlingly flaccid and boring. Instead of making you feel for the characters, JHS leaves you disengaged and disinterested.

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The thirtysomething characters (or are they meant to be in their 20s?) are in the habit of using words like ‘ajeebs’ to sound cool. The film kicks off with Sid (John) finding his phone number mistaken for that of a suicide helpline. Good soul that he is, every night he talks to strangers on the verge of taking their own lives. His closest buddy is a Pakistani, Omar, and his sister Aaliya, reason enough for shoving in some unfunny ISI, Indo-Pak jokes. Then there’s irritating British boy Nik, hopelessly in love with Aaliya, who is willing to have his child but won’t marry him. The resultant commitment-phobia track is overlong and utterly lacks conviction. Meanwhile, the real story comes to play when John gets a call from Mishka (Pakhi) who is unable to come to terms with her boyfriend (Madhavan) abandoning her. Friendship blooms as she confides in John and he falls in love with her. Eventually it’s all about living ‘happily ever after’ but to reach that point we go through some messy twists and a far-fetched climax played out on the London Bridge. The film could have come alive a little with some good acting. John acts best when the camera catches him sleeping with his mouth open, the one genuine, honest expression that flits across his face. Pakhi looks too stylised, from hair to clothes. Though she tries her best in the emotional scenes, the ability to set the screen on fire is amiss. Madhavan is too nice to be plausible as the bad guy. The insipid cherry on the flat cake: Nandana Sen making an affected special appearance.

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High Fives

Bollywood

  1. Jhoota Hi Sahi
  2. Hisss
  3. Raktacharitra
  4. Dabangg
  5. Robot (dubbed)

Hollywood

  1. Paranormal Activity 2
  2. Jackass 3D
  3. Red
  4. Hereafter
  5. The Social Network

Rock

  1. Audio Secrecy (Stone Sour)
  2. Habits (Neon Trees)
  3. Around Sundown (Kings of Leon)
  4. Brothers (The Black Keys)
  5. Sigh No More (Mumford & Sons)

Courtesy: Film Information

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