Sorry Bhai

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : November, ‘08
Time : 118 minutes
Director : Onir; Writer : Ashwini Malik; Music : Gaurav Dayal, Vivek Phillip
Starring : Chitrangda Singh, Sanjay Suri, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi
Half the points for the film are dedicated to Chitrangda Singh, the most beautiful actress on the Indian screen today (along with Aishwarya Rai). Then, once we have the above, pre-stated, definite bias, out of the way, we can look at the rest of the film, the plot, the other very fine actors who grace the screen, and we realise we have a film about a very touchy topic, an inherently taboo issue…that of a brother falling in love with his older brothers fiancée…


It’s a prickly thought, not an idea that you really want to explore and one that demands sensitive handling for sure. Well, you get that, you get beautiful locales (Mauritius), that can distract you from whats unfolding on the screen. And you have Chitrangda. Who, very understandably, can easily make family members go astray without even trying.


So, younger brother (Sharman) and proud parents (Boman and Shabana), land up in Mauritus to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Sanjay Suri with Chitrangda. Sanjay is too busy with work, too involved with a certain office in USA. Chitrangda misses the Sanjay of yore, the romantic, relaxed person who’d wooed her. And finds herself spending time with the much more relaxed and chilled out Sharman as she takes the family around. Tsk tsk…almost inevitable, don’t you think ?

The film handles this part well but it does seem to happen a little too quickly, with some conversation but not a lot. But once they – Sharman and Chitrangda – figure out where they’re heading, as an audience you’re not quite sure where you would like the film to go. Sanjay is not a demon / nothing so bad that he should be ‘betrayed’ like this. And both Chitrangda and Sharman seem reasonably balanced – its not a ‘heat of the moment’ thing, which could be far easier to forgive. And so, we stew a little bit as we watch this plot resolve itself in a manner which does seem a little juvenile.


But at the end of the day, it still remains an icky kind of topic. You cant walk away from the hall exhilarated, thinking ‘Wow, that was so uplifting’. And doesn’t something like this deserve a lot more than just ‘Sorry Bhai’ ?