1.5 stars
Set against the backdrop of London, Asha Singh (Yaami Gautam) -- a punjabi girl cum tv reporter -- introduces her Pakistani boyfriend Aman Ali (Ali Zafar) to her cuckoo family for seeking permission to take the plunge. Asha's not big on head-to-head and so she handily hides information about Aman from her domineering mom (Kirron Kher) that he is a Pakistani. There’s Asha’s sexually liberated elder sister who's near-divorced single mother, Jia Singh (Saraa Afreen ) with a restless foot under the dining table, a blind septuagenarian grandfather (an ex-army guy walking with a loaded rifle) (Vishwa Mohan Badola), her naughty five-year-old niece who plays games that are unfitting for her age and a brother Maanav (Anuj Pandit Sharma), who’s intentionally racist towards his Pakistani neighbours. But soon there starts a lot of screaming, panic and pandemonium as they find out that Aman is a Pakistani. The series of unfortunate events ensue.....
TOTAL SIYAPAA is inspired from a Spanish film Seres Queridos (2004), in which the conflict between the Palestinian boy and his girlfriend's Jewish family was served through absurd episodes, in order to draw humour from the dysfunctional family's idiocies. But Neeraj Pandey (Story/Screenplay/Dialogues) adapts into the Bollywood way formulating on Indo-Pak strains. Borderline tension is a quick-witted idea to build a plot around. The first half is chock-a-block with astute dialogues and genuine funny moments. The movie boasts of clean comedy with no double meaning innuendos and refrains from social or political remarks about the two countries in a traditional animosity. Since the movie is a one evening affair, David Meadows' cinematography, capturing London's nightscape, is made to order. Simon Godfrey's Production Design is competent enough for a low budget movie like this. Lorna Gillieron and Falguni Thakore's costumes are modish. The versatile Ali Zafar's music, Sanjoy Chowdhury's background score and quirky lyrics (Ali Zafar, Aqeel Rubi & Rakesh Kumaar) gel well with the mood of the film. Aman with Daadu in the bathroom scene is a laugh-riot. There is a story of Jia's pinchpenny hubby Sanjay (Sagar Arya) running parallely too, which keeps the viewers smiling. He leaves Jia because he though that Jia has 'abused' his credit card. Yaami and Ali's face-to-face on India-Pakistan issue in the second half is the highlight of the enterprise. Each of the sequences involving Ali & Kirron are side-splitting. Had the casting by Naila Mughal & Vicky Sadana not eminent, the movie would've been exhausting.
Clocking on the dot at 108 minutes, the editing (Shree Narayan Singh) is substandard. The whole of Anupam Kher's track including his tryst with a British hooker is poorly executed and just adds to the length of the film. The film should have preferably ended in the first hour itself because the second half goes on an altogether different path. The story starts meandering and eventually fizzles out. The humor simply subsides in sloppy lumps. The scenes are just put together which checks the patience of the audience. The idea might seem novel/epigrammatic on paper but the execution is flat and what starts on a promising note, turns into a mess. The climax too, is hurried and abrupt. Eshwar Nivas' direction doesn't have much scope and is plain ordinary, teetotally.
Ali Zafar is supremely versatile and carries the part with credence. Yaami Gautam is photogenic and utterly natural, throughout. She's a talent to watch out for. Saara Afreen is the ultimate seductress. Anupam Kher is wasted. Vishwa Mohan Badola, Sagar Arya, Anuj Pandit Sharma, Alyan Abbas (as the scrawny Pakistani), Adnan Kapadia (flower vendor), Jasbir Rishi (as Bunty) and Kamal Singh (as Babloo) are competent. But it's Kirron Kher who takes the cake. Though she is loud but impeccable with her over the top act.
On the whole, TOTAL SIYAPAA stands true to its name. It has an utterly shaky and over-stretched plot which is 'siyapaa' for the audience. Notwithstanding its moments which appeal in bits and parts, it's a damp squib which will bore the viewers to death.
first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/total-siyaapaa/md3218.htm
Set against the backdrop of London, Asha Singh (Yaami Gautam) -- a punjabi girl cum tv reporter -- introduces her Pakistani boyfriend Aman Ali (Ali Zafar) to her cuckoo family for seeking permission to take the plunge. Asha's not big on head-to-head and so she handily hides information about Aman from her domineering mom (Kirron Kher) that he is a Pakistani. There’s Asha’s sexually liberated elder sister who's near-divorced single mother, Jia Singh (Saraa Afreen ) with a restless foot under the dining table, a blind septuagenarian grandfather (an ex-army guy walking with a loaded rifle) (Vishwa Mohan Badola), her naughty five-year-old niece who plays games that are unfitting for her age and a brother Maanav (Anuj Pandit Sharma), who’s intentionally racist towards his Pakistani neighbours. But soon there starts a lot of screaming, panic and pandemonium as they find out that Aman is a Pakistani. The series of unfortunate events ensue.....
TOTAL SIYAPAA is inspired from a Spanish film Seres Queridos (2004), in which the conflict between the Palestinian boy and his girlfriend's Jewish family was served through absurd episodes, in order to draw humour from the dysfunctional family's idiocies. But Neeraj Pandey (Story/Screenplay/Dialogues) adapts into the Bollywood way formulating on Indo-Pak strains. Borderline tension is a quick-witted idea to build a plot around. The first half is chock-a-block with astute dialogues and genuine funny moments. The movie boasts of clean comedy with no double meaning innuendos and refrains from social or political remarks about the two countries in a traditional animosity. Since the movie is a one evening affair, David Meadows' cinematography, capturing London's nightscape, is made to order. Simon Godfrey's Production Design is competent enough for a low budget movie like this. Lorna Gillieron and Falguni Thakore's costumes are modish. The versatile Ali Zafar's music, Sanjoy Chowdhury's background score and quirky lyrics (Ali Zafar, Aqeel Rubi & Rakesh Kumaar) gel well with the mood of the film. Aman with Daadu in the bathroom scene is a laugh-riot. There is a story of Jia's pinchpenny hubby Sanjay (Sagar Arya) running parallely too, which keeps the viewers smiling. He leaves Jia because he though that Jia has 'abused' his credit card. Yaami and Ali's face-to-face on India-Pakistan issue in the second half is the highlight of the enterprise. Each of the sequences involving Ali & Kirron are side-splitting. Had the casting by Naila Mughal & Vicky Sadana not eminent, the movie would've been exhausting.
Clocking on the dot at 108 minutes, the editing (Shree Narayan Singh) is substandard. The whole of Anupam Kher's track including his tryst with a British hooker is poorly executed and just adds to the length of the film. The film should have preferably ended in the first hour itself because the second half goes on an altogether different path. The story starts meandering and eventually fizzles out. The humor simply subsides in sloppy lumps. The scenes are just put together which checks the patience of the audience. The idea might seem novel/epigrammatic on paper but the execution is flat and what starts on a promising note, turns into a mess. The climax too, is hurried and abrupt. Eshwar Nivas' direction doesn't have much scope and is plain ordinary, teetotally.
Ali Zafar is supremely versatile and carries the part with credence. Yaami Gautam is photogenic and utterly natural, throughout. She's a talent to watch out for. Saara Afreen is the ultimate seductress. Anupam Kher is wasted. Vishwa Mohan Badola, Sagar Arya, Anuj Pandit Sharma, Alyan Abbas (as the scrawny Pakistani), Adnan Kapadia (flower vendor), Jasbir Rishi (as Bunty) and Kamal Singh (as Babloo) are competent. But it's Kirron Kher who takes the cake. Though she is loud but impeccable with her over the top act.
On the whole, TOTAL SIYAPAA stands true to its name. It has an utterly shaky and over-stretched plot which is 'siyapaa' for the audience. Notwithstanding its moments which appeal in bits and parts, it's a damp squib which will bore the viewers to death.
first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/total-siyaapaa/md3218.htm
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