Review: Yun Hota To..

Yun Hota To Kya Hota (drama)
Cast: Ayesha Takia, Irrfan Khan, Paresh Rawal, Jimmy Sheirgill, Konkona Sen Sharma
Direction: Naseeruddin Shah
When Naseer changes track, he always carries with him a pre-determined baggage of expectations. The viewer expects him to excel in his new role too, having savoured his innovative streak as an actor, time and again.Hence when director Naseer takes centrestage for the first time, Naseer buffs expect the moon.
Expectations fulfilled? Well, as a first venture, the film does work. The actor-director picks up vignettes from the life of four Mumbaikars and shakes them together to create a cocktail of chance and coincidence. The four lives move at parallels with one common strain that binds them together: their desire to get to Umrika, asap. There is the newly married bride (Konkona) who can’t handle her kinky in-laws anymore and is desperate to catch up with high-on-testosterone hubby (Jimmy) in LA. There is the amchi Mumbai GenNexter who has good friends (Ayesha and Co) who are more than willing to finance his medical studies in the US of A. There is the harried stockbroker (Irrfan) who rushes off to America to escape a false murder rap, even though he can’t forget the love of his life (Suhasini Mulay). And there is the Gujarati wheeler dealer (Paresh) who sends off prospective immigrants to the land of opportunity for a huge service fee. Of course, he has his long-forgotten love story too which suddenly re-surfaces and sends him in a tizzy. And then, there is September 11...
What if a boarding pass hadn’t got misplaced, a love story hadn’t resurfaced, a Mumbai cop hadn’t been murdered. More importantly, what if the world had no terrorists and 9/11 hadn’t happened...The film has some fine acting and an interesting debut by Naseer’s son, young Imaduddin, who displays a natural flair for acting. Watch it for the freshness of its storytelling and for its emphasis on spontaneity in terms of performances.
The Killer (thriller) HHH
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Irrfan Khan, Nisha Kothari
Direction: Raksha Mistry, Hasnain Hyderabadwala
Collateral again. This time the Nana Patekar-John Abraham duo is replaced by Emraan Hashmi and Irrfan Khan. But the Milan Luthria thriller, Taxi 9211 was definitely more riveting than this guns and grit drama set in Dubai. The film does, however, display some crackling chemistry between Emraan and Irrfan who keep swapping roles as the exploiter and the exploited. Needless to say, Irrfan walks away with the seetis and taalis, specially when he throws his one-liners with characteristic panache. There is a chilling menace to Irrfan’s deadpan style of acting which the audience has begun to applaud.
Here, he etches the role of a contract killer who hires a cab for night of killings. The cabbie man is a happy-go-lucky fella (Emraan) who dreams of settling down with his bar girl (Nisha) once he manages to make his fortune in gold digger’s Dubai. The night promises to be fun and games as the duo hit it off well, but only until the corpses don’t start falling and the bullets don’t start flying. Then, it’s a relentless cat and mouse game with each trying to outwit the other. Emraan tries hard to shake off his unwelcome client, while Irrfan is hellbent on completing his ‘job’ - five killings in one night.
No mandatory Emraan smooch, no mandatory Emraan chartbuster, just thrilling enough to make your popcorn last, courtesy Irrfan.