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"This a mindless work of fiction, the characters happen to be fictional, despite our sincere efforts. The locations, however, are real. The story has been plagiarised from several films"

When a movie starts with such a comically inspired declaration and ends giving sincerest thanks to such prolific American directors like Quentin Tarantino and Joel & Ethan Coen, you know you are in for an interesting ride. Director and writer Shashanka Ghosh has, not too delicately, given us a slightly dark, definitely satirical look at the battle between two Mumbai (not Bombay!) crime lords.

Generally, this is a genre that I steer clear from. I'm more prone to put on the fluffy, popcorn pieces that tackle such serious topics like will they or won't they, but after reading FilmiGirl's review during Arshad Week, and being a new avid Arshad Warsi fangirl, I bought this film and finally found the time to put it on. What it delivered, despite it's original mindless admission, was an unusual and engaging story.

Arshad Warsi plays Puneet Sayal. He has a job as a copywriter, he lives with his girlfriend, Angi Sinha (Sandhya Mridul), and puts in about as much effort into each of them as one would tying a shoe. Like a lot of us, he dreams of a day when he will have earned enough money to leave his job and live a life of peace. It's the kind of life that you live, day be day, because there's nothing else to do. Then, one day, news brings disturbance into Puneet's otherwise prosaic life and he finds himself in a position to directly upset the balance in the city's ongoing gang war. What follows is the birth of a friendship that not only propels the story forward but changes the lives of everyone involved in some way or another.


There are a lot of players in Ghosh's story. Anant Jog and Pratima Kazmi play dominant kingpin Ganpat and ambitious runner-up Gangu, who sit comfy in their homes while they demand loyalty from their minions who do their dirty work for them. While I found Anant slightly disconnected, Pratima does an excellent job playing the female don counterpart with all the manipulating tactics one would expect from a Maa type character. "Go and eat, son", "yes, Maa". "Cut off your own finger for me", "yes, Maa". Insidiously fiendish!


Sandhya Mridul, as the lady cop love interest fits the role perfectly. Having seen Sandhya recently in Hum, Tum Aur Ghost, I love the girls no nonsense, plucky, spunky (insert more adjectives here) attitude. HTAG, however, gave more scope to work with, and as Agni, her role wasn't nearly developed enough for me. Give the girl some good roles and she could be the next big Bollywood vixen! And a perfect addition to my James Bond girls post I did this summer I might add.




The real relationship in this film, however, is that which is forged between Puneet and Vishnu, and the two characters are played perfectly by Arshad and Prashant Narayanan. I've never seen Prashant in anything before, but I found his portrayal of Ganpat's #1, appropriately restrained. His is a solemn character, for sure, which plays nicely off of his counterpart. Arshad, who is almost always used as the one character who supplies the comic relief, does just that, but with an edge of realism and honest emotion. I can't express how much I prefer these roles of substance of his over the low brow strictly comic ones. I'm really looking forward to the cop drama he's going to be filming on the west coast of Canada where I will most likely be stalking him planning a family vacation.




The film, while it is riddled with the type of violence one would expect in a gangster drama, is also punctuated with loud bursts of comedy brought to you by the Bazpur Boys, a loud boisterous bunch of Punjabi vacationers out looking for a good time (they play an integral role in the open ending of one of our main characters). We also get treated to several songs, none which are situational but that doesn't mean they don't add a little spice to the narrative. Watch for Maria Goretti sizzling in an item number and my favorite song of the bunch Allah Ke Bande.


Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II is Shashanka Ghosh's answer to Bollywood. It was my answer to a boring Monday afternoon.