Spruced Almighty

And who said Indian Gods still sit amid annoying boring white clouds and ogle at dancers in ill-fitting golden bustiers? And who said they have to take mostly hybrid shapes still, to straighten things out on Earth.

Film: Hello
Direction: Atul Agnihotri
Cast: Sharman Joshi, Gul Panag, Sohail Khan, Amrita Arora, Eesha Koppikar, Sharat Saxena, Dalip Tahil, Suresh Menon
Rating:
Running at: Inox Forum, City Centre, Swabhumi
And who said Indian Gods still sit amid annoying boring white clouds and ogle at dancers in ill-fitting golden bustiers? And who said they have to take mostly hybrid shapes still, to straighten things out on Earth. Welcome to the Gen Y God 8212; who makes a call, and sorts out everything from a confused girlfriend, errant husband, to a hostile son and slumping careers in a jiffy. And Hello, for those who have not read Chetan Bhagat8217;s bestseller, is the story of a bunch of call centre executives dealing with problems like the mentioned, until there8217;s a call from God8230;

Atul Agnihotri, for starters, had a tolerable story in hand that he knew had gone down well with a generation high on popular fiction/cinema/media. So, the task in hand was casting and a screenplay. As for the first, he had a showstopper in Sharman Joshi as a slightly egoistic, subtle and cool headed Shyam. Sohail Khan, as the funky, jovial Varun comes second in order of performance. The rest of the cast, Eesha Koppikar as an obsessed aspiring model, Amrita Arora as a simpering devoted wife, Gul Panag as a temperamental, haughty girl running away from marriage and Sharat Saxena as a pining grandfather are above average.

The screenplay, credited to Agnihotri and Bhagat, is not brilliant but also not lacklustre. The film doesn8217;t lose sight of pace and the dialogues are crisp in intervals.

However, what the film did not need were the jarring bhangra-meets-electronica songs that drop in at the weirdest junctures possible. Salman Khan8217;s opening song is completely without bang and he seriously needs to reconsider his physique which looks straight out of grainy 808217;s WWF playing cards compared to the fitness levels set by Bollywood today.

Which brings us back to Sharman Joshi. Who can do without ripping off his shirt, gyrating to inane songs. And still be a show-stealer. It8217;s amazing how one score emotions flit across his face with complete ease, completely in tune with the demands of the scene. It8217;s a pity that Bollywood uses so little of him.

P.S. If God was who he/she was in the film, what would happen to pure Hindi first and atheism then?