Movie Review: Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi

Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi makes no promises it doesn’t keep. What you see is what you get: a sweet love story of a not-so-young Parsi couple. But beyond the age-related novelty and the fact that the protagonists are not cast in the typical Bollywood moulds of six-packs and size zeros, the movie is just another tale of Mumbai mush complete with love at first sight, parent problems, misunderstandings, and the predictable kiss-and-make-up end. And songs.

45-year-old Farhad Pastakia (Boman Irani) is an eligible bachelor and a lingerie salesman with the two things sort of working against each other. His wait for the right woman to come along in his life is made more miserable by his overly-doting mom (Daisy Irani) and a host of concerned Parsis past their prime. Enter Shirin Fuggawala (Farah Khan), similarly-aged bachelorette who speaks her mind, and she seems to size up to Farhad just right. Occupational hazards threaten to pour cold (storage tank) water on their relationship, and Farhad must win back the love of the only woman who sounded somewhat encouraging of his entrepreneurial dreams of an undergarments enterprise called Underworld.

Daisy Irani brings child-artiste-forever spunk and energy to the screen, while empathetic grandma played by Shammi ji is adorable. Farah Khan is restrained to the point of being self-conscious in parts, but Shirin, she can be proud of. It is Boman, however, who has you wondering what took him so long to get here: he was obviously born to act. Scenes that would have otherwise gotten icky are singularly bailed out by him.

The film offers warm highlights of Parsi life nuances (it was shot in Cusrow Baug, the Parsi colony in Colaba), but debutant director Bela Bhansali Sehgal left the film 30 minutes of unnecessary slapstick and song sequences too long. The songs, except a couple, are terribly forced and rather awkward. If one is willing to discount some needless melodrama and toilet humour, there’s some harmless fun to be had.