17 July,2010 09:10 AM IST | | Sarita Tanwar
Tere Bin Laden
U/a; comedy
Dir: Abhishek Sharma
Cast: Ali Zafar, Piyush Mishra, Pradhuman Singh, Rahul Singh, Seema Bhargava, Barry John, Chirag Vohra, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Sugandha Garg
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What's it about: Tere Bin Laden is not your typical B-Town fare. Don't expect lavish song-and-dance routines, crying, car chases, damsels in distress and villians. Well, it is a comedy, but not the average run-of-the-mill kind. It's a spoof on America and its paranoia of terrorism. The story revolves around an ambitious young reporter Ali (Ali Zafar), who works in a small TV news channel. His only aim in life is to migrate to the US. After several rejection slips from the visa officer, he realises that the only way to get on a plane to America is with a fake passport. But since that costs big bucks, he devises an elaborate plan to make a fake video of Osama Bin Laden with lookalike Noora (Pradhuman Singh) to sell to his boss. But he doesn't foresee the consequences of his act, which include US bombing Iraq among other things. Disturbed by the impact of his act, he wants to come clean. But that will foil his plan to go to America. So he comes up with another plan, which leads to further confusion.u00a0
What's hot: As spoofs go, this one has enough punches and draws plenty of guffaws, even if it doesn't make you laugh out loud. The script is smart and the characters well-written. TBL serves the purpose of satire. Although the film's star quotient is zero, it scores on performances. Ali makes a confident debut, ably assisted by the rest of the supporting cast. Piyush Mishra is brilliant as Ali's cranky boss. Pradhuman is super as the gullible chicken farmer obsessed with poultry. There are many scenes that will make you chuckle ufffd the cock-a-doodle competition, the transformation of Noora into Osama, and the intense American agents.u00a0
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What's not: The film looks amateurish (shot poorly) and has many rough edges. It also comes a bit late in the day, considering that even though Osama is still 'most wanted' for America, he is hardly top-of-the-mind for the Indian audience.
What to do: This is the only 'light' release of the week. Must see it for the effort. If not for anything else, to promote small films and encourage fresh ideas.
