Ishq koi karta nahi madam. Ishq mein insaan hota hai. Aur dekhkar pata chalta hai
Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns explodes with guns and talk, talk, talk.
And you are going to walk out of the hall, wanting to go back again. Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns is a capsule of great cinematic endeavour. Even before the first word is spoken.
I love Hindi movies with a rural background. And I love them to bits. But unlike other movies roaming a similar territory, this film is not about poverty and people fighting for their lands; it rather is about kings with flared up moustaches and ill-livered netas whose lust for power, and inevitably women, is their way to political grave and pecuniary grave This is how Bollywood should make its movies – taut, original, and bloody well acted. The movie is a brain-level exploitation of the highest order and its unbridled run of over 120 minutes offers one sensational sequence after another. Only if the songs weren’t there.
Sex is a weapon and murder is just another day at office for the kings and politicians. But then, the movie is set against the backdrop of UP. Saheb (Jimmy Shergill) has lost much of his royalty and his ability to walk but still has the flair to make a bunch of MLAs eat humble pies and get their pew smashed.
Indarjeet Singh (Irrfan) seeks to avenge the death of his ancestors, Saheb endeavours to bring back the lost glory to the khandan and in their quest, Ranjana (Soha) ends up being a toyed around weapon. Indarjeet wishes to kill Saheb, and when Saheb expresses desire to marry Ranjana (he actually does more than ‘expressing desire’), Indarjeet finds an ally.
As for the performances…
Sigh. Irrfan does it again. His maybe a pretty effortless performance – I say give it to him. He is a tour de force of an actor for whom giving penetrating performances is customary. I could almost see Kangana Ranaut in Mahie Gill’s performance. Thank god for ‘almost’. Though over the top at times, but Miss Gill plays a sobbing seductress. Soha has never looked prettier and is impressive in her portrayal as a princess torn between a vengeful lover and ‘I have what I like’ husband.
And then there is Jimmy Shergill – an unsung performer who comes out of nowhere, chooses the oddest of roles and knocks them out of the park. His character, strapped in a wheelchair, lives deep inside his scrupulous moustache and a royal face, and can resort to even blackmailing when it comes to marrying the woman his eyes liked. And he gives a rollicking performance in his blend of baronial and baleful.
The best lines in the movie oscillate between Irfan and Shergill. Though Shergill is light years behind Khan in terms of experience, he makes sure he makes himself count
Tasty dialogues and metaphors are flying from every corner. The dakus are quivering at the mere mention of King’s name even if they are at the gunpoint of king’s nemesis. And then you have the quarrelsome confrontations between MLA’s and Shergill that go from intriguing to hilarious. Tigmanshu Dhulia is a director unchained.
The screenplay moves like a pragmatic bug, attacking one sense and soon invading the other (that’s is no metaphor when reflecting Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster) The movie is not without flaws though. They are there, at times starkly noticeable.
Be ready to be thawed out in your chair when in ‘defense’ of his abusive conduct, Shergill shoots, “Kabhi socha hai aapne ki mard itni gaaliyan kyun dete hai?” Kyun? “Kyunki woh rote kam hai”
Solemnly lobotomized we are!
Rating: ****
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