Jhootha Hi Sahi

By day,Sid Abraham runs an Indian bookstore in London. At night,he turns into someone entirely different: a saviour of lost souls,handholding desperate callers and delivering them unto daylight and hope. Mishka Pakhi is one such caller,who finds a reason to live through the course of the night.

Sid has a girlfriend called Kruttika Scott. His pals call her,meanly,Kuttika. Thats because they know,like good friends do,that Sid doesnt love her. That he is falling in love with that girl on the phone,even if he has to lie to her about what he does,and who he is.

Abbas Tyrewala returns with a rom-com which has likeable,lively characters. But the trouble with Jhootha Hi Sahi is that it has a lame plot and that the supporting cast has more heft than the lead players. When they are on two sides of a phone,Sid and Mishka are more interesting than when they are in the same space,even when they dance and sing and have coffee,all things required of a getting-it-together couple.

Tyrewalas gift is in making his characters sound real,and funny. The conversations between Pakistani Omar Ram and his pregnant sister Aliya Varde are hilarious; so is Aliyas Brit boyfriend who stalks her with a ring. One of Sids friends is gay,just right for multi-culti London. When Omar holds his head and says,these Indians,you crack up.

You wish Sid Abraham sporting a stammer and nerdy glasses and Mishka debutant Pakhi who grows into her role had magic: between them,its more like than love. No blazing passion.