Obvious chances are, that by the time you are, or are not reading this, you’ve already seen 3 Thay Bhai. And therefore, you already have a fair chance of knowing what I’m going to write regarding this latest ‘ROMP’ [Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra Production]. Sincere apologies for the fact that you could not rely on your favourite bollywood gossip space on the net, © BollyKings, for the review of this film, but better late than never, right? Thus, here we are, doing what we do best: cribbing about films when they deserve it.
The trailers, posters, music, and all that, had given us an idea of a film that would be fresh, something different. However, as the movie progresses, you are utterly confused about one thing: what exactly is going on? It just seems like loads of random things are happening, and even though the end explains what exactly was happening, it’s still very, very vague. The story is something [I write ‘something’ on purpose – for this is what I think it is about] along the lines of three brothers who hate each other, and are put through strange circumstances following the death of their paternal grandfather, as dictated in his will, to bond, give birth to a spirit of brotherhood, love, and affection. Only then, as we find out, were they to get what their granddad had left for them: a fortune.
Fair enough. But how could such a random series of events even remotely make that possible?
First of: the scripting. It’s not bad. Rather, it’s nice. There are some dialogues that genuinely make you smile. I guess though that none of them were impacting enough – I can not recall any at the moment, except ‘Shanky’ [The dog who’s colour mysteriously changes somewhere in the movie…]. The direction – is also just ok. It’s slow and confusing at times, but otherwise it’s very rare that you actually find yourself bored [yes, there definitely are parts where you get bored]. Of course, some of you will be shaking your head right now, saying, ‘Nah, that’s not what I felt. I felt bored throughout’, or maybe, ‘I wasn’t bored even once!’, but then that’s where personal opinion comes in, right?
The music is, though lyrically flawed, good. Especially the title track and a certain track that plays later in the film. I am unable to recall the lyrics at the moment, but I remember liking it. The camera work, the editing, the colour correction, sound editing… our industry has become a thorough professional in all these. No complaints regarding any of these.
Next up – the performances. Om Puri has done the best, and there will be very little a population [if, at all, there is a population!] that might disagree with me on this front. Deepak Dobriyal, despite his terrific talent and performance in the long-forgotten Delhi-6, ROMP’s previous, has done just about average. Shreyas Talpade matches Dobriyal as the crazy, wannabe actor, mindless ‘Fancy’. Ragini Khanna has done ok in her little role as the sweet Gurleen. I don’t remember any other important actor, except maybe the grandfather who’s name I don’t know. He was mostly shouting all the time, so I really don’t know how to rate him.
I’ll tell you the basic problem with 3 They Bhai – the writers didn’t really plan it out well. They had one thing in mind – the brothers have to be reunited somehow. But how? – they paid no attention to that. Once you see the movie, if you haven’t already, you’ll agree with me. It’s just… loads of things randomly happening. 30 minutes are wasted just on fixing a door and finishing a bottle of ‘daru’.
However, one thing that I realized in this movie was, that like his two earlier productions, in this one too, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra tries to send us a social message. If in Rang De Basanti, it was that of national patriotism, in Delhi-6, that of age-old social barriers and narrow-mindedness, then is 3 They Bhai, it is that of how much greedy man is for money. Even though the three brothers need the money out of desperation, the fact that Chixcy’s daughters only get married once Chixcy is rich, clearly showcases the message the Rakeysh is giving us – our society today is driven by money, we fall for money, we bend low before money, our life revolves around money and money is all we care about. Money money money money and money. Through this mindless drama, that is all that Mehra tries to tell us. I don’t even know if he really was trying to tell us that, but this is what I have juiced out of this otherwise dry movie.
So, finally, the one question – should you go for it?
I say, if you haven’t already, and if by chance, it’s still up in the cinemas, and if you have plenty of free time, don’t have internet to download an amazing movie or a TV to watch it, seriously have nothing to do, are in desperation of ending your movie draught week, as I was, can’t decide what to watch between Tees Maar Khan and 3 They Bhai, and of course, are willing to spend around a hundred bucks to learn that money is everything today, then go for it.
Otherwise, just bunk it. I’ll tell you in a sentence what this movie tells you, tries to, in two and a half hours – Money is everything today, mate. And that’s wrong.
Rating? 5½/10.
That’s me being very diplomatic!
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