I had watched the movie years ago and thought it was funniest film I had ever seen. So I sat down one afternoon to enjoy a few laughs all over again. Let me say right off the bat that a comedy this ain't. Is it a good film? You betcha - it is a great film! Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani are two photographers who want to get their photo studio off the ground. Instead they get caught up in a lot of hanky-panky involving corrupt politicians, government officials, and construction magnates. They run from pillar to post trying to get a scoop of a life time, but end up "seeing" a murder in a photograph they took. A Blowup (David Hemmings) type scenario ensues with a lot of bumbling around at night. A corpse is found that does not stay in place and the whole thing is very reminiscent of Weekend at Bernie's that came years later, and was perhaps inspired by this Kundan Shah gem! The comedic moments start with the wandering corpse and end in the most rollicking 15 minutes in cinema when a staging of the Mahabharata goes seriously bad. The Pandavs are desperate for the play to proceed on with Draupadi's Cheerharan (removal of clothes) while the Kauravas are equally desperate to see that Draupadi remains clothed (and I am not confused about the Mahabharata)! Somehow the grand Moghul also makes an entrance - these 15 minutes are worth the price of the DVD and will have you in stitches.
But in the end this is a real commentary on corruption that is rampant in the country, and is actually a rather sad tale.
Naseeruddin Shah is great as the serious photographer, has reasonably comedic moments, but it is Ravi Baswani as the petrified sidekick that steals the show. Om Puri is great at the drunk contractor type and Satish Shah is brilliant as the "corpse".
Early parts of the film are a bit slapstick but this is rewarding fare indeed, so go watch it.
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