My Friend Pinto

There are films that engage you from the word go. There are films that bore you to death. There are films that just don't know what they are all ab... read more

There are films that engage you from the word go. There are films that bore you to death. There are films that just don't know what they are all about. And then, there is My Friend Pinto.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's first outing with a comedy, as a producer, is a disappointment to say the least. Pinto, is a simpleton who keeps falling into trouble due to his naive innocence, and the story is about his first visit to Mumbai to meet his friend Sam. Intended to be a situational comedy of errors, MFP is a string of inane and insipid situations strung together by a script that falls apart in the very first ten minutes of the film.

The biggest problem with the movie is the fact the one cannot feel for or even remotely connect to the central character Pinto. Preatiek Babbar is given a very weak character to bring to life, and he does a terribly shabby job of it. His screen presence is embarrassing to say the least. He cannot dance, cannot smile, cannot act, making one wonder if this was the blue eyed boy of bollywood everyone was going gaga over after Dhobi Ghaat earlier this year.

The rest of the film is even loosely put together, Kalki seems grossly underutilized. Divya Dutta and Makrand provide the few good portions in the otherwise dreary affair, while actors like Raj Zutshi sleep walk through their acts. Added to this is the terrible music score, that grates, especially in Ganjawala's voice.

My Friend Pinto seems to have been conceived with good intentions. The end result, however, is a tough two hours to sit through. Stay Clear.
view less

Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Guzaarish), this Raghav Dar directed comedy is like a breath of fresh air. The story is about Michael Pinto (Pra... read more

Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Guzaarish), this Raghav Dar directed comedy is like a breath of fresh air.
The story is about Michael Pinto (Prateik, Dum Maaro Dum, Aarakshan) who comes to the big bad world of Mumbai with nothing but his simplicity and his deceased mothers love. Naive to the core, he lands up at his best friend, Sams (Arjun Mathur), whose wife, Shruti Seth (Raajneeti) cannot stand Pinto. The film is about the day in Pintos life in Mumbai and his close encounters.
Although Raghav Dar has his heart in the right place, there is a big lacuna in the execution of this entire plot. Intended to be part fantasy part theatrical and part reality, the film comes across as confused. With its wide range of characters, the film tends to meander aimlessly till the interval point. Post this, the jigsaw puzzle starts falling in place but by then, the viewers attention has been lost.
Prateik still has a lot of work to do on his voice. His performance though earnest, still doesnt leave any impact. The rest of the cast is simply passable. Good character / theatre actors taken for tid bit roles, making you feel all the more sorry.
Kalki, after the super successful Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, comes in an inconsequential role. The music is bad, which is unlike SLB films, barring the The Mask inspired dhinchak zindagi. There is nothing else worth mentioning besides, Divya Duttas drunken scene, which is the only thing that you will remember, post leaving the theatre.
As I said, the movie is a breath of fresh air, but....just a breath.
Does it have The Y Factor:No
Rating:2 / 10
view less

Short, sweet, slightly silly and somewhat surreal. Thats how I would describe My Friend Pinto. The film kicks off in a frenzied confusion with its ... read more

Short, sweet, slightly silly and somewhat surreal. Thats how I would describe My Friend Pinto. The film kicks off in a frenzied confusion with its various characters and their myriad stories. By the time you hit intermission you are wondering what the purpose of this exercise in filmmaking is. However the second half brings in a sense of cohesion and a clear direction and theme. Its a story about friendship, happiness and finding simplicity in life.

Pratiek (Babbar) is an average actor whose innocent eyes and honest smile are his biggest assets. So its little wonder that he was cast in the role of a simpleton from Goa lost in the big bad world of Bombay. He fits the profile but falls short in performance. At best he looks like a cross between Raj Kapoor from Awaara and Hritik Roshan from Koi Mil Gaya. His expressions are genuine but the body language is forced. The supporting cast is a mix of buffoonery and some pragmatism. So where on one hand you have over-the-top retired dons and drifting dead bodies, you also have measured performances by Arjun Mathur and Shruti Seth. Kalki Koelchin has a 2 second role with nothing to write home about. However Divya Dutta does a stellar job after a long time and her drunken act is truly the only funny scene in the film. But I guess the makers never intended it to be a ha-ha funny film.

First time director Raaghav Dar makes a promising debut but needs to work on staging his scenes. Everything looks a wee bit theatrical but it could be because the film has a fantasy feel to it, much like the work of the films producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali. His influence is visible in every frame and some of the sets even look like they were leftover from Guzaarish.

My Friend Pinto is the kind of film that very few will like and even fewer will appreciate its subtleties. Its probably the kind of film that a helmer like Tim Burton with an actor like Johnny Depp could have pulled off. Its outlandish, its absurd and its whimsical. But its not path breaking and there will not be many like it in the future too.

Go for it if something different is what you crave for this weekend. 3 stars.

view less

Aaaahhh!!! It feels great to be back in the dark theatre after almost 15 days. Before I start my annual pilgrimage called MAMI here I am again Jock... read more

Aaaahhh!!! It feels great to be back in the dark theatre after almost 15 days. Before I start my annual pilgrimage called MAMI here I am again Jockeying around with My friend Pinto.

Whats it about? Michael Pinto nephew of Albert Pinto jinko ghussa bahot aata tha (best joke in the film) lands in Mumbai to stay for a week with his childhood ka best friend Sameer (Arjun Mathur. It happens to be New Years Eve. What happens in that one day and the people Pinto meets is what this film is all about.

Does it work for me Yes/No

Why? Yes because it is a feel good film with the heart of a child. Writer / director Raghav Dar looks at the world with rose tinted glasses. Filled with interesting characters, some work thanks to good casting and some dont for the lack of good casting. This is the first film produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali for a new director and the big change is that it is full of lively characters and has zero melodrama. What doesnt work are some actors like Raj Zutshi, Makarand Deshpande, Amin Hajee and his brother. These characters needed some new faces to add some spark to it like Shakeel Khan who stands out amongst all the characters. Prateik Babbar is likeable but looks awkward in the song and dance routine. But this role is tailor made for him. Kalki is adorable but has nothing much to do in the film. Divya Dutta was fun to watch in her drunken act.

Final few words: My friend pinto is for those who believe that the world is filled with angels and want to feel good at the movies. If not a movie it would have made a self help book.

Rating: **

Ticket Meter: Worth a 100/- bucks.
view less

For the life of me I simply fail to figure out what was it that made Sanjay Leela Bhansali produce this film? So o.k. hits and flops are decided at... read more

For the life of me I simply fail to figure out what was it that made Sanjay Leela Bhansali produce this film? So o.k. hits and flops are decided at the box-office and the best of efforts can be thumbed down by the audience and who would know that better than Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the treatment that was meted out to his Guzaarish but that is a different issue. But over here the film has no script the director is absolutely not in control and almost the entire cast is at sea when the camera rolls. The end result is out there as nothing about my My Friend Pinto deserves even a passing recommendation and yet Sanjay Leela Bhansali decided to back it.


So don't let Sanjay Leela Bhansali's name in the credits con you into believing that the film has any finesse that is usually associated with his projects. Because apart from having lent his name to the film there is nothing more that indicates his presence in this rather lop-sided film which is an absolute no show right from the very first frame. Divya Dutta shows traces of promise and one feels she could take the film ahead but alas in spite of her best efforts the film sinks without a trace. Seeing her abundant talent and ample good looks one feels sad to see an artiste of Divya's calibre simply wasted.


Kalki Koechilin was meant to be the surprise packet of this film as this was meant to be her first film she actually ventured out to do beyond her husband's banner and had it worked out she would have been more approachable to do films beyond her home banner but seeing the fate of My Friend Pinto one would not be surprised if she returns back to the safe haven of her husbands banner.


Anyone who thinks that handling a comedy is childs play should learn from the debacle of this film because lack of comic timing can ruin the project and a weak director can only take a film nowhere if he is clueless as to what he wants his cast to do...Ample proof of it is visible in large doses in My Friend Pinto.


What is rather surprising that the film and the dialogues have been enned by Raaghav Dar and yet he has no grip over the film as is amply evident from the way the film moves aimlessly. Maybe he was just not ready to come out of the shadows and maybe a few more films as an assiatant would have polished his directorial skills to have made him give a more polished end result.


This was meant to be Prateik Babbar's first outing as a solo hero so if he had pulled it off it would have exposed him amply in the commercial circuit and would have got him several more solo hero flicks but seeing the way My Friend Pinto was recieved he could be back to doing arty films and that too in multi-star cast productions as he is yet not ready to carry of a film at the box-office on his name alone. But in this case he is hardly to blame as it was the director who did not know what to do with his cast or his script.


At the end of the day 'My Friend Pinto' has simply nothing to recommend to a paid audience and thus it stands no chance at the box-office or even on the DVD circuit for that matter. At most it might just about maybe get a few eye-balls when it does have a world television premiere on some odd channel very soon!!!


REVIEWED BY THE LIP SHANDIL
view less