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Thursday, April 25, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD FRUIT AND NUT
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: *1/2
"Fruit And Nut" is a film which is neither sweet as a fruit not
crunchy as a nut. In fact the best way to describe it is that its makers must
have actually gone totally nuts in sanctioning a film - if it can actually be
termed so - like this.
It is one thing to go bizarre, break the norms and come up with a quirky affair,
but it`s an altogether different thing if the makers become completely
overconfident, try to be extra smart and ultimately fall flat on their face.
"Fruit And Nut" falls in the latter category. For a movie that has
been sold as a quickie comedy, there is not even a single scene that actually
makes you roll with laughter. At most, there could be a faint smile or two at a
few junctures. The film by itself is not even silly enough to be laughed at, if
not laughed along with.
In fact the latter half is so unbearable that you actually contemplate walking
out of the auditorium. Thankfully, it is the `unusual suspect` Mahesh Manjrekar
who actually manages to make you at least remain seated till the end credits
start rolling.
"Fruit And Nut" tries to pack a lot in the overall narrative by
introducing newer situations and characters practically every 10 minutes. Cyrus
Broacha is a loser who doesn`t fit into any role, whether it is being an office
clerk, radio jockey, watchman or even a help at a pizza shop. He fumbles at
every step, literally so. Exaggeration is the name of the game here and though
one understands where director Kunal was coming from when he created a character
like this, it becomes a little too much to digest just 15 minutes into the film.
Dia Mirza as the "lady in sari" is a pleasant watch though and carries
a touch-me-not persona around her for most of the film. As a young woman who has
been kidnapped, she does exude vibes of being someone who deserves to be
rescued. However, the kidnapper in question, Boman Irani, gets annoying at
places with his `Breakfast Kiya` phrase. Of course the purpose here was to
irritate but then there is always a thin line between an irritating character
and an irritating actor.
Thankfully, this is where Mahesh Manjrekar comes in handy as his one liners do
manage to bring on smiles at frequent intervals. Yes, just like all other
characters in the film, he too is quite bizarre. One doesn`t quite mind that
since the dialogues mouthed by him - a mix of Hindi, English and plain gibberish
- belong to never-heard before variety. His novelty too starts fading as the
reels progress.
In between all this `hardly amusing` madness, there are additional characters
like the villain`s henchmen, a cop, hired assassins Salim & Sulaiman, a
beggar turned RAW agent and a scientist - all of whom only make this 100-minute
film seem like double its length.
In the past, there have been quite a few quirky movies made and all have met
with diverse results. "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" worked while "Bheja
Fry" paved the way for many more humorous films to come. However, in the
last few months, there have also been releases like "Aagey Se Right"
and "Quick Gun Murugan", none of which managed to make any impact
whatsoever at the box office.
"Fruit And Nut" is all set to suffer a worse fate at the theatres.
Fruit and Nut is a madcap comedy with a central character named Jolly Maker, who is a simple, hard working middle class struggling bachelor in search of love, money, friends and success.
Jolly Maker works as a clerk/accountant in office of a greedy
and corrupt builder named Khandar. He is typically nerdy and un-stylish. He is
also accident-prone and leaves a trail of disaster behind him.
One fine day in broad daylight, Jolly Maker’s beautiful, sexy, smart and
snobbish colleague, Monica, gets mysteriously kidnapped.
Through a roller coaster ride and series of comical mishaps, Jolly Maker finds himself in the middle of plot that has been hatched by an insane Ex- Maharaja to destroy Mumbai!!
Whether the poor, adorable, accident- prone Jolly Maker finally falls in love or not, gets his girl or not and above all is able to save Mumbai or not, makes for rest of the film.
