Being Cyrus

A whimsical sculptor, a desperate housewife, a greedy son, a rich old Parsi gentleman and a seemingly unassuming Cyrus Mistry are the characters who are part of the plot of the film ‘Being Cyrus’. Directed by debutant director Homi Adajania the movie is a convoluted look at the Sethna family through the eyes of the young Mr Mistry. And while the movie may fail to impress or enrapture its audience it does entertain and provide one with the feeling of money well spent.

The movie opens with a glimpse into the life of the wandering Cyrus Mistry (Saif Ali Khan) who is out on the road with a bag full of money and a heavy conscience. We are told that he was a poor little orphan who lived with his sister in foster homes and then grew up into something he hates being. Cyrus then walks into the Panchgani home and lives of once famous but now forgotten potter Dinshaw Sethna (Nasseruddin Shah) and his beautiful wife Katy (Dimple Kapadia). Since he can’t refuse, Dinshaw takes Cyrus into his house as an apprentice and Katy takes him into her life as a means to satisfy her unfulfilled dreams. From there on the audience is introduced to the different members of the Sethna family, all of whom are quirkily different. Fardounjee Sethna (Honey Chhaya) who owns a building in Mumbai but lives in the smallest and darkest room, his son Farrukh (Boman Irani) who stays in a palatial house next door and ill treats his father, and Farrukh’s demure wife Tina (Simone Singh). Gradually Cyrus gets drawn into the politics of the family and soon we realise that there is more to the Sethna family than just a family full of people with idiosyncrasies.

The plot is simple and barring a few twists, little that would tax the brains too much. The movie is slickly edited and is kept taut throughout and despite the occasional dreams of Cyrus it does not waver too much. The dialogues are very well written and the funniest parts of the film arise thanks to them. Adajania also makes the most of his Parsi lineage to highlight almost every known eccentricity of the community.

Saif Ali Khan as the ‘nice boy with a bad past and troubled present’ Cyrus is believable and is likeable throughout the movie. Boman Irani as the hyper-verbal Farrukh is as ever entertaining and excels in a scene where he argues with another resident of the bulding. Simone Singh as Tina has little to do besides look nice and demure which she manages to do effortlessly. Honey Chhaya also deserves notable mention for his seemingly natural portrayal of the senile Fardounjee.

Dimple Kapadia looks great on screen and does really well as the desperate Katy but does tend to grate a little on the nerves with her hysterics. But it is Nasseruddin Shah who steps into the shoes of the doped out sculptor Dinshaw and walks away rather effortlessly with the accolades. Dinshaw’s whimsies, his madness and his tiredness from all things material are brought to the screen brilliantly by Shah and saves the character from becoming a caricature. All in all, the movie is a good watch and is easily among the best Indian movies in English to come out in recent times.