Masand's verdict: Khosla Ka Ghosla

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Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

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Cast: Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Tara Sharma, Ranvir Shorey

Direction: Dibakar Banerjee

Also at the cinemas this week is a small but delightful comedy called Khosla Ka Ghosla about a middle class family in Delhi whose patriarch Anupam Kher has recently invested in a plot of land with his life's savings, in order to provide his family a better home and a better life.

But when that plot is illegally grabbed by land-shark Boman Irani who demands a fat sum of money in exchange of the land, the family is shattered. Like they say, jab ghee seedhi ungli se nahin nikalti tab ungli tedi karni padti hai. So after several unsuccessful attempts to recover their land using legal and lawful means, Anupam's family finally resorts to a trick as crooked as Boman himself.

Take any good comedy ever made and you'll notice that it's either the plot or the characters that work. Those are - believe me - the most vital ingredients to get right when doing a comedy. The writing HAS to work.

You're willing to overlook shabby sets, jerky camerawork, even bad acting if the story keeps you engaged. Now the remarkable thing about director Dibakar Banerjee’s Khosla Ka Ghosla is that the plot is refreshingly original AND the characters are meticulously sketched out.

As a result, everything else falls into place, and you can literally see all the elements working in tandem to create a hugely entertaining picture. Writer Jaideep Sahni finds inspiration not in other films or books, but in real life itself, which he borrows from heavily to give his characters that coat of believability.

It's not often that directors give off any evidence that they're in full control of all their departments, but hurrah, bring out the bugle for Dibakar Banerjee who matches his script with a killer soundtrack, some bang-on casting, and such crisp editing that there's never a dull moment in this drama.

Even actors with relatively smaller roles perform their parts so well that you're convinced nobody could do them better. Kiran Joneja playing Anupam's wife, Vinay Pathak as the fixer who hits upon the perfect plan, Naveen Nischol as the theatre vet with cold feet, Tara Sharma as the supportive girlfriend of Anupam's younger son, and that actor who plays the rogue broker - they're all top class.

Of the more prominent cast members, Anupam Kher is grade-A stuff as a man angered by the injustice he's been meted out, but still a little embarrassed by the means his family employs to set things straight.