It is a pity that the association of Parsis with the game of cricket has actually come down to levels where the only representation at an international level is through one umpire – Shahvir Tarapore. The last Parsi cricketer to play for India was our stylish wicket keeper batsman called Farookh Engineer. There were some illustrious names before that but of late there is not one person of Parsi origin who is even in a Ranji team. As I said – a pity because they get so much character to the field – any field that they get themselves into.
But Kayoze Rustom Deboo (Ritwik Sahore) hasn’t really heard of the big names in Parsi cricket. He has been bought up in the world of someone who most of India refers to as God and goes by the human name of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Kayo in fact has no idea about how famous his Mota Papa (grandfather) Behram Deboo (Boman Irani) was in his hey days. And how he was actually deprived of a chance to play for India thanks to the devious ways of one Dilip Dharmadhikari (Paresh Rawal) who was actually his best friend when they were growing up.
Now Kayo is a brilliant #3 and is rated by many as one of the best school players in the city. He gets a chance to visit the mecca of cricket (read Lords) but Rustom (Sharman Joshi), Kayo’s father, needs to cough up Rs.1.5 lacs ($3000 approx) to send him. Now they may be staying in South Bombay (like most parsees) but they are not rich (like most parsees). A normal honest clerk @ the local Road Transport Office cannot afford this kind of money. But when Babbo Didi (Seema Bhargava) asks him to help in borrowing God’s Ferrari for a couple of days, the temptation of making Rs.1.5 lacs is too difficult for Rustom to resist.
The bitter-sweet story that follows is extremely endearing – like most movies that involve Vidhu Vinod Chopra movies. But what makes Ferrari Ki Sawaari a really good watch is the cast and screenplay. Nothing over the top whatsoever. No fancy dialogues – just simple and really funny ones thrown in for good measure. And a tremendous amount of consistency. For e.g. when God’s Ferrari gets towed away, from Mount Mary, it comes to the Bandra Towing area under the bridge and not some random place.
The performances are superb and more importantly sincere. I tweeted last night and I say this again. Is there any actor who is more versatile than Boman Irani in India today? The most entertaining performances came actually from the support cast in pairs. Akash Dabhade & Deepak Shirke as the servant and guard @ God’s home are hilarious. Seema Bhargava, Vijay Nikam and Nilesh Divekar give us some more funny moments as the wedding planner and the wedding party.
All in all, a true family entertainer and a movie that you will walk out of, feeling very good. The only flaw – stretch, stretcher and strechest – at least 45 mins could have been cut from the movie to make it really crisp. Out of the 45 minutes would be 5 minutes of an absolutely wasted view of Vidya Balan’s midriff. But then this is what sells I guess. Wonder why VVC was getting so worked up about Rowdy Rathore’s success? 6.5 on 10 and definitely worth it not just for the family entertainment but also notably shows the plight of even cricketers who have played the highest level in India but don’t seem to have existed. Well done Rajesh Mapuskar for a debut movie - very well done.
Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyU34nS9Ztw
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