My only complaint and regret about this movie is that I took so long to get around to watching it! Because this is, without reservation, a brilliant film with a terrific cast of characters and a fascinating script that involves the personal stories of various sets of people: a newly-returned young man from the States who’s fast realizing that there’s no sense to coming back home; a small-time publisher who has big dreams; his college-educated wife who introduces him to the joys of reading, nay, living; the two wing-men to the publisher who are as intense and convincing as they are hilarious; a young high school kid who’s trying to make it into the big world of professional cricket; his girlfriend who has surprisingly more common sense for girls her age; and a nasty set of goons who go around terrorizing people for the ‘hafta’ or security money that is evidently how one must buy peace of mind and body in the city of Mumbai.
And true to the title of the movie, there’s plenty of ‘shor’ or noise in the city. Especially given the Ganesh Chaturthi festival that is eleven days away. The entire story, in fact, takes places in exactly those eleven days. And while there may be a few questions with the integrity of the story, one is willing to put them aside to focus instead on all the many surprisingly intense and hysterical moments. One of the publisher’s sidekicks– I had to look up his name just now– Pitobash Tripathy is impossibly hysterical, and the publisher’s wife– name unknown– is dripping with sex appeal with virtually no makeup and always sari-clad.
All in all, a great ride– and one that I’m very happy to make a ‘shor’ about!
