Mr. Khosla is an old-fashioned middle class paterfamilias. He lives in Delhi with his wife, daughter, his elder son, the disappointing Bunty, and his younger son and favourite, Cherry. Bunty is diffident, effete, and Cherry, though the apple in his father's eye, keeps a secret girlfriend, an actress, and is struggling to live up to his father's old-fashioned hopes.
Mr. Khosla wants to build a new house where they can all live one day with their smaller families as a traditional extended family. He finds the capital in his life savings and buys the plot on which the new house will be built. Proud of his purchase, he takes his family to the plot only to find it has been taken over by the henchmen of a shady businessman, Mr. Khurana.
This is the start of a nightmare journey for the old-fashioned Mr. Khosla, as he is kicked into the Twenty First Century and grey, but influential, areas of modern Indian society as he attempts, along with his family, to regain his rightful land against the hydra of Indian corruption. Along the way, Mr. Khosla must modernise, for good or bad, not only with regard to the problem with his property but also with regard to his family, in a riotous plot involving a strange mix of corrupt businessmen and policemen, lawyers, actors and even wrestlers.
Khosla Ka Ghosla is a brave and smart satire, an Indian 'Indie', clearly inspired by American Independent Cinema, charming but cutting socio-political satires involving dysfunctional families, as evinced in the films of Alexander Payne, David O'Russell and Wes Anderson. However, what makes Khosla Ka Ghosla refreshing is its distinctly Indian feel, as it is rooted in a very Indian sense of reality.
At the heart of satire is tragedy. And Khosla Ka Ghosla contains a pained indictment of India's tragically high levels of corruption practised by many insidious and dishonest, but powerful, con men who cloak themselves in the garbs of legitimate businessmen and adherents of Hinduism. The important message of Khosla Ka Ghosla is that these parasites denude Indian society of its essential, productive middle class, undermine galvanising middle class values and ethics, and thus hold back India's development.
Khosla Ka Ghosla features energetic yet thoughtful performances all round, but special mention must be given to a wonderfully multi-layered central performance by veteran actor Anupam Kher. Kher exhibits with ease his wide range in drama and comedy. The film is directed with an assured verve by first-time director, Dibaker Bannerjee. The script shines with uproarious dialogue and vibrant, but also well-developed, characterisation. My only criticism is that the film's third act risks uprooting the hard sense of reality established in the first two acts. Still, the film's momentum is such that the sinuous plot is pulled off engagingly.
Khosla Ka Ghosla is an Indian 'Indie'- a brave and smart satire on the Hydra of Indian corruption, and evidences the growing maturity of mainstream Indian cinema.
Mr. Khosla wants to build a new house where they can all live one day with their smaller families as a traditional extended family. He finds the capital in his life savings and buys the plot on which the new house will be built. Proud of his purchase, he takes his family to the plot only to find it has been taken over by the henchmen of a shady businessman, Mr. Khurana.
This is the start of a nightmare journey for the old-fashioned Mr. Khosla, as he is kicked into the Twenty First Century and grey, but influential, areas of modern Indian society as he attempts, along with his family, to regain his rightful land against the hydra of Indian corruption. Along the way, Mr. Khosla must modernise, for good or bad, not only with regard to the problem with his property but also with regard to his family, in a riotous plot involving a strange mix of corrupt businessmen and policemen, lawyers, actors and even wrestlers.
Khosla Ka Ghosla is a brave and smart satire, an Indian 'Indie', clearly inspired by American Independent Cinema, charming but cutting socio-political satires involving dysfunctional families, as evinced in the films of Alexander Payne, David O'Russell and Wes Anderson. However, what makes Khosla Ka Ghosla refreshing is its distinctly Indian feel, as it is rooted in a very Indian sense of reality.
At the heart of satire is tragedy. And Khosla Ka Ghosla contains a pained indictment of India's tragically high levels of corruption practised by many insidious and dishonest, but powerful, con men who cloak themselves in the garbs of legitimate businessmen and adherents of Hinduism. The important message of Khosla Ka Ghosla is that these parasites denude Indian society of its essential, productive middle class, undermine galvanising middle class values and ethics, and thus hold back India's development.
Khosla Ka Ghosla features energetic yet thoughtful performances all round, but special mention must be given to a wonderfully multi-layered central performance by veteran actor Anupam Kher. Kher exhibits with ease his wide range in drama and comedy. The film is directed with an assured verve by first-time director, Dibaker Bannerjee. The script shines with uproarious dialogue and vibrant, but also well-developed, characterisation. My only criticism is that the film's third act risks uprooting the hard sense of reality established in the first two acts. Still, the film's momentum is such that the sinuous plot is pulled off engagingly.
Khosla Ka Ghosla is an Indian 'Indie'- a brave and smart satire on the Hydra of Indian corruption, and evidences the growing maturity of mainstream Indian cinema.