Movie Review: ‘Ferrari Ki Sawaari’ is fun-packed, yet lacks the punch!

`Ferrari Ki Sawaari` is steered to its destination, thanks to its two and a half men!

Ananya Bhattacharya

Post the success of ‘3 Idiots’, the real life ‘Raju Rastogi’ has not lost any time wallowing in the glory of the film. He has been working, meticulously, and at times ferociously, to chisel to perfection his Rustam Deboo in ‘Ferrari Ki Sawaari’. The film is steered to its destination – both literally and figuratively – thanks to the undying devotion of the two-and-a-half men, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and child actor Ritvik Sahore. The film is potent with the promise of perfection and the poignant rendition of the woes of a lower middle class family that the story paints is an untarnished reflection of the truth. People whose lives have taken a sub-real trajectory – thanks to the diabolical designs of that five-lettered impediment called ‘money’ – have been portrayed beautifully in the film. A father whose life is ravaged by a friend’s jealousy; another, whose unfulfilled ambitions egg him on – at times, maniacally – to see them brought to life by his son, ‘Ferrari Ki Sawaari’ is the story of three men, and the way their lives are taken through a roller-coaster Ferrari ride. Kayo (Ritvik Sahore) is a twelve year old who is lessoned in the moral values of life by his ethically upright father Rustam (Sharman Joshi). At times we have, as examples, some beautifully shot moments. So when a preoccupied Rustam accidentally jumps a red light with his son behind him on his rusty two-wheeler, the ‘Satyavadi Harishchandra’ Rustam goes through the pains of searching for a traffic policeman and handing him over the fine for his mistake. The reason – his son needs to imbibe the correct moral tenets of leading an untainted life. The film is alive in both its light-hearted moments and its heart-rending ones. It has, in more or less balanced proportions, equal amounts of both. A gun-wielding corporator’s son’s wedding, an exceptionally gifted child’s cricket-playing ambitions, a surrendered-to-fate father’s frenzied wishes of sending his son to Lord’s in London – and the ubiquitous Sachin Tendulkar’s Ferrari, makes for an interesting watch. The corporator’s son, whose spineless character grows a spine during the course of the movie, demands the 560HP Ferrari as the vehicle he would be travelling in to go to the venue of his wedding. The conniving wedding planner comes up with an ingenious plan of hiring the only such Ferrari in the country – which belongs to Mrs. Tendulkar – and ropes in Rustam to escort her plan to its destination. A madcap ride follows, and everybody, knowingly or unknowingly, gets entangled in this crazy comedy of errors. With family or without, the film is undoubtedly entertaining. Boman Irani as Deboo/Motey Pappa, is, as always, impeccable. The man’s quality of penetrating into the skin of a character and moulding it to encompass his finesse as an actor is deeply commendable. Irani, as the senior Deboo leaves an immense, immeasurable dent in the minds of the viewers. The actor Boman Irani emerges strong and unfaltering from beneath the mantle of the eyesight-impaired, slightly- demented, at-times-hysteric grandfather. Ritvik Sahore, leaves his viewers thoroughly enthralled. As far as the performances in the film are concerned, the actors deserve a hundred and fifty on hundred. The running time, however, is a tad too long. At a run time of almost two and a half hours, the film tends to lose steam a couple of times. As the film nears its intermission, there are moments which appear a bit boring and too detailed – yet, it is due to these very meticulous details that most of the film feels relatable to. As for the tepid moments, there thankfully aren’t many. A song or two could have been done away with. Vidya Balan’s ‘friendly appearance’ is likeable, not one that is capable of conjuring a tornado inside the theatres. Towards the end of the film, the flying Ferrari is a snippet of the 'irreal', but enjoyable. A film, which has childlike ambitions as its fulcrum, needs to be seen with the eyes of a child, they say. ‘Ferrari Ki Sawaari’ comes across as mesmerising if the Dickensian footholds of reason and logic are dropped for some time. As a film which has the game of cricket as its scaffolding and thriving ground, the usage of a car belonging to the iconic cricketer might not be a phenomenal tribute, but is quite laudable. The producer and director of the film - Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajesh Mapuskar, have successfully pulled off their offering to the God of Cricket. Follow @nanya116