Well Done Abba (Hindi)

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5.5/10
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7.0/10

Well Done Abba is the story of Armaan Ali, a driver working for a Senior Executive in Mumbai, who goes on leave. He wants to find a match for his teenage daughter, who stays with his brother Rehman Ali and his wife Salma. When Armaan returns to work after 3 months his young employer wants to sack him.

But Armaan Ali has a story to tell. The story he tells is a humorous and often hilarious account of the events and happenings that delayed him from returning after a month. He avails a government scheme to dig a well in his agricultural patch. Things spiral out of control so much so that the Government is about to collapse! The question remains, how true is this compelling story!

Well Done Abba is the story of Armaan Ali, a driver working for a Senior Executive in Mumbai, who goes on leave. He wants... Show More

Ramsu

Editor   Mar 29, 2010 02:50  

Well Done Abba is a Vadivelu sketch stretched out to feature length, elevated to political satire. But the laughs don't come often, and the lampooning is gentler than it perhaps needs to be.

The tale is narrated by Armaan Ali, driver to a high-powered executive in Mumbai, who decides to have a well dug in his backyard, applies for a Government grant to do so and finds himself up against corrupt bureaucratic machinery at every turn. Left to himself, he might have given up. Or maybe not even gotten started on the well in the first place. But his daughter Muskaan (Minissha Lamba) is made of sterner stuff. And so begins the satirical portion of the story...

The strange thing is, Benegal never pushes too hard for a laugh. He seems content with a chuckle here and there. The cases where he tries really hard -- Ravi Kishan is a prime example -- work as often as not. On top of which, he uncharacteristically shoehorns in a couple of songs that really don't work and almost threaten to derail the entire enterprise.

Holding it all together is a magnificent performance by Boman Irani, who by now comfortably wears the mantle of best character actor of his generation. His Armaan Ali is a meek man, loves his daughter and his wayward brother (Irani again, in another role the film doesn't need) and wishes to be a lot more progressive than his environment seems to approve of. Boman Irani portrays his character arc through a process that is more inward than outward -- as Armaan meets more and more people who want their share of the Government's largesse, he seems to shrink into himself. When he finds the courage to fight back, it is not in the chest-beating, in-your-face manner favoured by the people around him.

What makes his performance so interesting here is that, for the most part, Armaan is simply reacting to the developments around him. Despite the fact that he is not the prime mover in the proceedings, Irani portrays the transition from meekness to despair to courage so naturally that he makes it seem like he is.

He deserves the compliment in the title. As for the film itself, I'm not so sure.