Everybody Says I'm Fine! (2001)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Rahul Bose

Writer:

Rahul Bose (writer)

Release Date:

26 July 2002 (India)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Sikander Malik lives a middle-class lifestyle in Bombay, along with his parents, who run a musical band and a recording studio...

Plot Keywords:

Exclamation Point In Title | Punctuation In Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rehaan Engineer	...	Xen
Koel Purie	...	Nikita
Rahul Bose	...	Rage
Pooja Bhatt	...	Tanya
Anahita Oberoi	...	Misha (as Anahita Uberoi)
Boman Irani	...	Mr. Mittal
Sharokh Bharucha	...	Bobby
Juneli Aguiar	...	Tina
Yogendra Tikku	...	Ramkishore
Delna Patel	...	Monica
Manohar Singh	...	Mr. Ruia
Anjula Bedi	...	Mrs. Ruia
Shyamoli Varma	...	Mrs. Mittal
Bandana Krishnan	...	Alia
Homi Adajania	...	Man in Music Video

Runtime:

USA:103 min

Country:

India

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Pinnacle Entertainments

Quotes:

Xen: Well, actually my name is Sikander. But then my friends started to call me Alexander which is the English version of it. Then Alexander became Xander and now it is Xen.

Soundtrack:

Again

Trash, complete trash

I hate the inaneness of the run of the mill Bollywood formula flick in general, so I decided to give this film the benefit of the doubt, especially since the writer/director Bose has a few good oeuvres under his belt, albeit as an actor ("English August", a laugh out loud portrayal of a young civil servant's career in rural India, and "Mr and Mrs Iyer", a serious look at the communal divide between Hindus and Muslims woven into a warm and vibrant cross-country bus trip), this film being his foray behind the camera.

The plot revolves around Xen, a young hairdresser who has the bizarre ability to read people's minds while he is cutting their hair. This leads to a series of revelations most of them loosely connected with the story, although some scenes go off on tangents and you're left wondering why they are there.

The film fails on many levels. Real people do not act this way. Yes, the uppermost strata of Indian society are known for their mercedes-driving, club-going, gossipy and fake lifestyles, but several characters in the story are hopelessly overdone. Rahul Boses, Rage, character could have been less melodramatic and less wordy. So could Koel Purie's Nikita. This kind of acting fits nicely into a three-act play, playing these characters on film however is a completely different ball game altogether.

The script tries to be something it is not - intelligent. In a couple of scenes involving Rage and Nikita's interactions with Xen the hairdresser, the scriptwriter sounds like he wants to get as many words into one sentence as he can, leaving the actor gasping for breath after the delivery. Why the verbosity ? There is a benefit to keeping it simple - it won't not look fake!

And finally, does the writer really want us to empathize with a murderer ? And live happily ever after ?

Keep it real, Rahul, keep it real.