Being Cyrus

===Being Cyrus===
Idiosyncratice Fallout (March 25,2006)
I had my apprehensions. First and foremost of course was the fact that 
the movie was being distributed by the Times group, a group which has 
a known penchant for hyping up mediocrity and sometimes even downright 
crap. Interviews and puff-pieces of stars and directors, quotes and 
awards from obscure film festivals were being blown out the trumpet 
and there was a good chance of all of it backfiring and the little 
movie sinking among the PR paraphrenalia. 
The good news is- 'Being Cyrus' manages to float. There are 
floundering moments, moments where the movie gasps for breath but 
riding on its freshness, its menacing atmosphere and a few first rate 
performances it manages get its foot across the line from mediocre to 
good.
The movie starts intriguingly. There is a sense of foreboding and a 
hint of the dark the moment Saif Ali Khan's mysterious "Cyrus" appears 
on the screen. We follow his naration and meet at what appears to be 
at first glance, a normal filmy Parsi family- The Setnas (Naseer and 
Dimple)where Cyrus applies for an apprentice position under Mr. Setna 
who was once a renowned scupltor but now spends his days as a recluse. 
Quickly, we're exposed to the dysfunction hidden in the seemingly 
quiet and senile family with Mrs. Setna making advances to Cyrus while 
Mr. Setna spends the day blitzed out of his skull, courtesy brownies. 
Other foreboding characters are introduced- Setna's brother Farrokh 
(Boman Irani)and his demure young-ish wife (Simone Singh) who seems to 
be more of a devil than at first glance who habitually abuse senile 
senior Setna. The first half is a restrained and wonderfully 
structured segment when director Adjania holds his cards close to his 
chest and manages to build up suspence credibly. 
And now for the bad news- the second half. It starts with a bizzare 
and pretentious dream segment and then dissolves all too quickly into 
murder and mayhem. Blood and guts and bodies and twists and turns and 
presented in a series of chaotic and confusing cuts. All restraint and 
stmosphere excercised in the first half just suddenly gives away to a 
streak of homicidal insanity. (And what's with the synchronised black 
and white footage? You can hardly hear what they're speaking) And thus 
what started off as a nicely structed atmospheric and tense movie 
quickly descends to your average Korn music video.
The perfomances are more or less all 'well-pitched'. As mysterious and 
shadowy protagonist Saif Ali Khan gives his most restrained performace 
and lends an aura of menace to his scenes that keeps up with the mood 
of the movie. Naseer is as usual in top form as the doped out mr. 
Setna and as his brother, Boman Irani froths and hams his way 
delightfully in a mad-dog of a peformance. Also, mention needs to be 
made of Manoj Pajwa as the garrulous inspector.. funnny. The only 
actor that seems a tad mis-cast is Dimple. She lends her role more 
sophistication than is required. Someone with more of a gay abandon (Zeenat Aman perhaps) would've been better suited.
To sum it all up with the mandatory 'pun/metaphor I'd like to say that 'Being Cyrus' is passably good fare if that is, you have nowhere else to 'BE'.