Sharmistha Gooptu

Raat Gayi Baat Gayi

Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Iravati Harshe, Vinay Pathak, Dalip Tahil, Navneet

Nishan

Director: Saurabh Shukla

 Rating: 2/5

The New Year has opened with two relatively small budget films, one being Saurabh

Shukla’s Raat Gayi Baat Gayi. Raat Gayi is the so-called ‘middle cinema’ with almost

the entire assembly of ‘non-mainstream’ actors. The film is as the title suggests-

to let bygones be bygones, and get on with life- but it lacks that spark which could

have made it appealing to a niche audience, which in the past has appreciated films

in this particular genre. Coming from Saurabh Shukla, with his astute sense of

comedy, this one was a bit of a disappointment.

 Rajat Kapoor and Iravati Harshe play a married couple, Rahul and Mitali who attend a

party given by their friends. At the party Rahul spots a gorgeous woman Sophia (Neha

Dhupia) and starts pursuing her. He has had a drink too many, and the last that he

remembers is him and her alone in a room, and he refilling her empty glass from his

own. The next day Rahul wakes up with a huge hangover and finds his wife behaving

oddly. He’s not sure what happened the night before, and is petrified that she may

have gotten to know. He confides in friends Amit (Vinay Pathak) and Saxena (Dalip

Tahil) and tries to retrace the night to check if he really went all the way. In the

end there is a twist in the tail, and the night before turns out to be not such a

bad thing after all.

 The film is built on an interesting idea, but as it evolves it becomes rather

overstretched and tends to drag in parts. Some of the dialogue is not as funny as

intended, often situations do not evoke the laughter that they might have, and

overall the comedy becomes a little too watery.

 Performances too are not exceptional in any sense, sadly because here we have a remarkably good line-up of actors. Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Dalip Tahil are all competent, but we don’t really see the best of them here. Rajat Kapoor looks a tad jaded. Vinay Pathak’s comedy falls flat in parts, particularly in those bits when

he’s having a tiff with his wife or making up with her. By contrast, Neha Dhupia,

the bikini girl of yesteryears is strikingly confident. She’s carries herself with

poise, and lends complete credibility to her character of the woman with whom one

might have a one night fling. Iravati Harshe looks older than her character might

have been, but delivers the goods. The unexpected surprise was Navneet Nishan in her

role of the garrulous Mrs. Saxena, who however turns out to be more knowing than

anyone suspects. Ranbir Shorey makes a cameo appearance as the Australian desi at

one of the party sequence, but isn’t exactly amusing.

 Makrand Deshpande is sadder still.

 This is a film that might have been inherently more intelligent and more enjoyable.

Where it falls back is the screenplay which allows for several lags, which dilute

the comedy. The film’s first half tries to build up to a climax- i.e. to discover

what happened that night- but then there is no climax at all. The ending has no

punch (if anything, the director should have closed with Rahul and his wife walking

into the sunset) and sadly for director Saurabh Shukla, this film looks to be one

that will come and go somewhat unnoticed.