Sharmaji Namkeen Movie Review: Rishi, the absolute cutie!

Sharmaji NamkeenOn AmazonPrime VideoDir Hitesh BhatiaCast Rishi Kapoor Paresh Rawal Juhi ChawlaRating 35Fundamentally this film has no real conflict as such at its core mdash for it to sustain itself as a drama let alone a comedy or thriller or whatever genre that may follow from thereon Whatrsquos it about reallyA retired old man with a natural flairtalent for cooking That he then hesitatingly employs to pick up cooking assignments for ladiesrsquo lsquokittyrsquo parties This apparently causes much embarrassment to his children who are fully grown adultsWatch VideoWhich is hard to get When you consider that some of the best chefs in the world including Delhi where this film is set are male Itrsquos not a gender thing And itrsquos not like the old man is doing a Chippendales show for bored desi housewivesHersquos cooking delicious stuff Itrsquos a lazeez affair At the heart of this script though is also how an entirely ageist society banishes people pushing 60 as if thatrsquos any reason for you to be less employable in most jobs Especially given that employees reach the top of their game at that very vintage Does it make sense to perceive them as entirely irrelevant only from a day henceItrsquos also a legit point explored differently in the Hollywood film The Intern 2015 starring Robert De Niro Before his untimely demise actor Rishi Kapoor was set to star in the Hindi remake of The Intern mdash wersquore told Amitabh Bachchanrsquos replaced him in the part nowWho plays the old man in this film Well two actors vibing with the same part during different scenes When was the last time you saw that in a movie Trivia memory fails me on this one if there is such a film at all What does it mean for what yoursquore watching on screen thoughThat one actor imagines his suicide during sleep The actor who falls off the same bed because of this nightmare is another actor altogether The character is the same mdash the one who enters the house to cook up a storm but the fellow who steps out of the house is another gent There is a moment when the lead character is watching himself in a video but the person in that video as himself is another guyHow do you as a viewer take all of this for a mind game In the same way that say you could watch a film like Dogville 2003 where the filmmaker Lars von Trier simply writesdraws with chalk marks on the floor locations and props such as house tree barn etc And you simply start imagining those locations automaticallyIf yoursquore sufficiently drawn to a film it simply doesnrsquot matter that both Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal born early to mid rsquo50s turn up as Sharma Ji depending on the sceneFurther itrsquos of little consequence that the story itself doesnrsquot hold much conflict Whatrsquos essential is therersquos enough slice of life in it to go with the flow What you begin to appreciate then are the characters their quirks beats and most laudably the throwaway lines as asides in the dialogues that you laugh with pretty much all alongGood movies are anyway convincing lies This is a joyous pic God knows we could do with some Sharma Ji having been forced to take voluntary retirement from an assistant managerrsquos job used to work in a mixergrinder company called Madhuban In real terms I thought maybe the desi company mustrsquove been something like Sumeet ldquomixiesrdquo from the rsquo80srsquo90s ldquoSumeet mdash every womanrsquos best friendrdquoWhat happens to traditional managers even owners when such companies start to shrink Irsquom guessing with global competition You could go the route of the film Mantra 2017 which was about the second life of the fictional owner of Uncle Chipps Rajat KapoorOr you could step on Baghban 2003 about how your kids start treating you shabbily now that yoursquore no more the benevolent providerBetter still you could examine an entire generation of retirees who hardly knew a world outside their work life mdash somehow trying to fit in and stay engaged still and how hard thatrsquos likely to be Writerdirector Hitesh Bhatia strangely also credited separately for ldquostory ideardquo captures this universal premise gently warmlyAnd yet while there is Paresh and Rishi shouldering the same film mdash omit Bollywoodrsquos ultimate aristobrat Rishi from the lead and this wonrsquot be half the film itrsquos turned out to be As it is there is a naturalness that older fine actors bring to parts that in its innocence is matched only by equally unselfconscious child actorsRishi in particular looks more and more like the young boy the world saw him first as in Mera Naam Joker 1970 He passed away while this script was being filmed leaving a void among audiences who were beginning to see him anew mdash taking chances landing better roles than in his prime following every word of the reviews hersquod read religiously after his filmrsquos release and WhatsApp me snarky remarks for the ones he didnrsquot likeThis movie reminds you more of that tragic loss His passion for his postretirement work shows In the moviersquos endcredits you see him even directing himself These outtakes are actually better than the movie mdash no knock on the film of course He wouldrsquove just loved to read that line thatrsquos all