Khosla Ka Ghosla! (Banerjee, 2006)

[madali]

Khosla Ka Ghosla! (Banerjee, 2006)
IMDB Link

The first half of the movie is amazing. It starts with a dream. The father lies dead and the family and the neighbors are all nonchalant about it. The teenage daughter is more concerned about her clothes and the son looks through his dead father's pants to take the key to the car so he can drive to work.

The father wakes up. It's a familiar family. A father that tries his best to do what he thinks is best for the family and children that are moving in a different direction than the father's expectation. And a mother that tries to be some sort of peace-maker between the two sides. They are good people and it is difficult to take sides in their difference of life paths. The father is using all his life saving to buy a plot of land that he is going to build a house for the whole family while the younger son has decided, against his father's hopes, to leave India and go to America for work.

But then a real family crisis comes up when the plot that the father bought is illegally seized by a local, rich, powerful man, who is willing to give the land back if he gets half the value of the plot, meaning the father is being asked to buy his own land back. He goes to the real estate broker, to the police, to lawyers, to activists, and all of it comes back to him having to bribe everyone to get it back. He is crushed, defeated.

All of this is brilliant. A father's desire to buy a plot, a son who suddenly is leaving, and not only is the son's leaving a blow to the father's desire for the family to live together in this new house but also the fact that suddenly, all his dreams and hopes were snatched away due to being too weak to take on a powerful man in a corrupt system.

And then the movie moves to the second part. Suddenly, the son decides to hatch a complex plan, using his friends and family, to get his land back. This second part soon loses the family drama of the first half and turns into some kind of heist movie.

4/5

[fizz]

How coincidental! I saw the film last month and have been praising it since. It’s a great film, of that there is no doubt. It falters here and there, especially a contrived third act, but that is to strengthen its agenda of showing us how thespians, actors or stage performers can benefit society in a practical manner and not just through art. The entire teams affection for the arts shows in how this concept is embedded into the films plot line and framework (the leading lady is an actress; her theatre group help out in the end etc). About the plot itself, something everyone from the middle class can relate to - having a home and wanting to keep it. Anupam Kher as the father was both sympathetic and believable, without a doubt the best character in the film. His sons, their problems and how they come to deal with it, while sometimes bordering on caricature, were all done in good humoured fun. A thoroughly enjoyable film!

Rating: 4/5

[shariqq]

I haven't seen it, but have only heard good stuff about it. Kaytee loves it too. Gotta watch it soon.

[kaytee]

The director Dibakar Banerjee is a different breed. So far his films have been Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Love, Sex aur Dhokha which are not your conventional Bollywood films, he is creating a niche market for his movies. Its like the indie's of Bollywood with well known actors barring LSD which was a brilliant formulaic film with virgin actors showing us the society we live in and how Love, Sex and Cheating (Dhokha) is part of our every day life. He is one to keep an eye on. 

[sandeep]

A father who doesn't feel appreciated. A son who wants to live his own life. Another son who is aimless. A daughter who is still growing up. A mother that has to balance all these members… and a dream to make a home… makes the movie 'Khosla ka Ghosla'…
 
Exploring the plight of a regular middle class family - the Khosla's (Anupam Kher and gang), who have their land usurped by a scrupulous character – Boman Irani and an estate agent, this movie takes us through the ups and downs of the family and the people attached to it, the decisions that stare them in the face and demand to be taken.
 
As an audience, the first hour was upsetting, almost bordering on dark humour, but the second half gives the family a glimpse of hope, hence giving the audience more entertainment as a group of theatre artists and the family friends take on the scheming Irani and the frustrating system which is in place.
 
With a total reality check approach to cinema, characterizations and relationships, this movie is a good break from the glamorous and musical approach of Bollywood.
 
All the performances were good, but it was Anupam Kher that stole the show… He looked, acted, blinked, breathed like the Senior Khosla, and struck a very good balance between a focussed parent but not an unreasonable one. The supporting cast as the family were good too, special mention must go to Parvin Dabbas, who underplayed his emotions to be the perfect subtle guy. Boman Irani was his usual self, his roles seem to be getting typecast. Nonetheless his character was successful in evoking hatred towards his kind of people and the system they represent.
 
You leave the cinema happy, you connect to the situations as they are real, we read about them all the time, and feel satisfied with a fitting end to a scam.
 
3.5/5