Gulabo Sitabo review: Amitabh Bachchan is a hoot, Ayushmann Khurrana hits the right notes

Throw: Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vijay Raaz, Brijendra Kala, Shrishti Shrivastava, Farrukh Jafar

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Evaluation: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

the Gulabo Sitabo storytelling, as all advertising material has told us, has two poles. One, a miserly 78-year-old Lucknow owner haveli of undetermined origin. The other, a particularly uncompromising tenant determined not to leave the premises no matter what. They bicker all the time. It is not a pretty sight. But it’s funny, especially when the writing is imbued with eccentric spirit.

Gulabo Sitabo, presented as “Amazon presents a Prime Video version”, does a good job of capturing the ups and downs of the fight between men, whose cards are all laid out on the table and there is therefore no ambiguity on this. that they make . But neither – nor, of course, the public – knows how it will all work out for them and the building in which they live. And that keeps the level of intrigue high in the new comic drama by Shoojit Sircar.

The two main characters of deliciously crooked Gulabo Sitabo are still at loggerheads, but the trait they share – a selfish love for Fatima Mahal in ruins, a mansion that will germinate fairly quickly – constitutes the backbone of the story.

The casual and little shown treatment of the central conflict, which, as the film progresses, creates room for two other key players with their acquired interests, could seem to contradict the comic spirit of the ‘plot.

With the actors who give everything to the film – the act amitabh Bachchan raked, hunchbacked, curmudgeonly is the main propellant – Gulabo Sitabo works even when not much is happening on the screen or the characters are beating around the bush.

The best thing about Gulabo Sitabo, scripted by Juhi Chaturvedi, is that he’s not trying to be a cry. The humor comes from the language and the way it is pronounced. It will not make you roll on the ground. But that will spark slight laughter every time Mirza (Bachchan) and Baankey Rastogi (Ayushmann Khurrana) face off on petty subjects that slowly run out of control.

Mirza and Baankey will not give an inch to each other, but fate has a way of asserting itself. In the case of Mirza, he is represented by his Begum (Farrukh Jafar), who is ten and a half years older than him but who is not child’s play. For Baankey, who has a attack chakki in town, fate takes the form of a few bricks in a wall that give way when it kicks him in the exasperation triggered by a roommate who takes more time than usual in the bathroom.

Baankey, who speaks with pronounced zeal, is a school dropout that has not been treated with the best hand in life. He is naturally bitter and impudent. His father is dead. Just like a paternal aunt. He lives in a dilapidated part of the building with his mother and three sisters. One of his brothers and sisters, the Guddo (Shrishti Shrivastava), who goes to university, is far from the hidden Hindi cinema sisters. She is a handful in more ways than one.

Mirza’s complaint is that the tenants are parasites. They pay derisory rents. He hopes to get rid of it permanently. But the locals have other ideas and, pushed by Baankey, decide to fight to the end, for better or for worse.

Greed is zehar (slow poison), says Baankey to Mirza. No one has ever died of greed, replied the latter. This exchange takes place quite late in the film, but on the way, the two men lose no opportunity to cloud the waters. They are helped in this endeavor by two other people who thrive in fishing in troubled waters – an archeology department official, Gyanesh Shukla (Vijay Raaz), and a litigation lawyer, Christopher Clarke (Brijendra Kala) .

Gulabo Sitabo – the title is a nod to a traditional glove puppet form from Uttar Pradesh in which the harassed woman of a man (Sitabo) and his pampered mistress (Gulabo) are constantly bickering – concerns a past that is fading quickly, a present that is shrouded in uncertainty, and a future that seems unlikely to pay dividends for those who have no control over changing times.

A real puppeteer (Mohammed Naushad) performs at different times in the film. It is a metaphor for men on ropes. He is also a representative of an age-old form that is dying. Its presence enhances the earthly character of the film while also serving as a commentary on the larger truths surrounding Mirza, Baankey and Lucknow.

Gulabo Sitabo concerns ordinary people resorting to desperate measures in the hope of improving their lot. However, just like the dilapidated building in the center of the film, nothing is as it appears and nothing they produce gives the desired results.

The sights and sounds of a city and the haveli, both the facade and its decomposing interiors filmed evocatively in daylight and in dimly lit night shots by cinematographer Avik Mukhopadhyay, are a vital presence that helps define the outlines of the drama. Editor-in-chief Chandrashekhar Prajapati, too, gets the staccato rhythms of the place – it’s a city that swings between a leisurely pace and sudden outbursts of activity.

When someone, with all the civility at their service, says to Mirza “Aainda apni shakal dikhane ki taqleef na karein (Don’t bother showing us your face again)”, you know you are in Lucknow. Everywhere else, the word taqleef (trouble) would probably be replaced by jurrat (dare). The representation of a city as a living organism ready Gulabo Sitabo an extra dimension.

Amitabh Bachchan is a hoot and a half like Mirza, a man visibly weighed down by time but who refuses to give up the world. The veteran actor is like a master on a Stradivarius, hitting the perfect pitch with each stroke. Ayushmann Khurrana, too, coaxes the good notes of the unshakable Baankey, who hides his shortcomings with a cultivated air of nonchalance. It revives a character you can only care about.

The two Vijay Raaz, as effortless as ever, Brijendra Kala are great. Shrishti Shrivastava deserves special mention. Last but not least, Farrukh Jafar is an absolute delight.

Gulabo Sitabo has parts that are a bit of a mixed bag, but the way the film is based on its eccentric main principle, makes idiosyncratic little detours, the cadences of Lucknow’s language and two wonderful star-shaped swivels give it an out- ordinary service.