From a dark comedy to a scattered mess

KHAJOOR PE ATKE Direction: Harsh Chhaya Actors: Manoj Pahwa, Vinay Pathak, Seema Pahwa, Sanah Kapoor Rating:

Khajoor Pe Atke sets out to be a dark comedy revolving around a probable death in the family, but ends up being a scattered mess of overlapping subplots and slapstick clichés.

In an ensemble cast of three brothers and their families, actor-turned-director Harsh Chhaya does little to establish his primary characters.

The plot is thin and riddled with too many subplots. Jeetendra (Manoj Pahwa) gets a call one night, saying his younger brother is ill.

Though the two men haven’t been close for years, the childhood bond remains, and Jeetendra rushes from his home in Lucknow to the bedside of his dying sibling in Mumbai. He and his family are soon joined by the youngest of the three, Ravinder (Vinay Pathak), and his boisterous family. The hospital room becomes the scene of a loud reunion, the patient largely forgotten.

There is enough humour and everyday drama to hold your attention at first. There are hilarious scenes between Manoj and Seema Pahwa, his wife in real life and in the film, as they struggle to make their way around this insane and unfamiliar metropolis.

Seema, in fact, adds considerable charm to the proceedings. Completely indifferent to the crisis, she is cheeky, manipulative and brazenly funny.

Sanah Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor’s sister and Manoj Pahwa’s daughter in the film, is the only other actor who gets to shine. It helps that she has more screen time than most of the others.

Manoj and Pathak, sadly, are never allowed to hit their stride. Whenever a scene starts to gain momentum, the director switches to another subplot. There are at least five stories playing out at any time, and it all feels overcrowded and underwhelming. By the last half hour, it has become so repetitive, you’re just itching for the end credits. The Pahwas and Kapoor make the runtime of 120 minutes bearable, but Khajoor Pe Atke could have been so much more.