TERE BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE : Sequel or a Spoof? [2/5]

Satires backfire if not handled seriously. The characters can look goofy on screen to any extent but the writing should always be smart and considerate. TERE BIN LADEN (2010) followed it all as basic principles and the code of conduct. No wonder, it was unanimously loved and tagged as year’s one of the sleeper hits. The sequel too was expected, though never this late. 6 years later, the team is back with TERE BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE. Nothing has changed eventually except the writing has imbibed the goofiness and the characters have become smarter than you think. So much to change the end results in a bad sense! Abhishek Sharma’s TERE BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE is plenty dry, partly funny and largely a disappointment that works less as a sequel and more as a spoof to its previous part.

The film establishes its original franchise as a film itself that has become hugely successful in Bollywood and the beneficiaries include dimwit Punjabi lad Paddi Singh [Pradhuman Singh] as the doppelganger of Osama Bin Laden; Ali Zafar plays himself and so are the rest of the cast. Manish Paul joins the cast as Sharma- the director of TERE BIN LADEN ‘film’ in the film. Riding high on the success, Sharma announces the sequel of the film but to his bad luck, Osama gets eliminated in Abbottabad operation by US Army.

Plot thickens when everyone from US President Obama to a fading Jihadi-leader in Pakistan wants the Osama look-alike for their own good. Mr. President wants him dead in recreation of the operation Abbottabad to have concrete proof for the world to believe. Jihadi-leader [Piyush Mishra] wants him alive to rebuild the terrorist organization. Sharma doesn’t want to lose his road to success in him. And thus, starts the mayhem delivering some genuinely funny satirical takes far and away between silly, tasteless and repetitive jibes one after the other.

TERE BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE is not entirely unwatchable or vice-versa. The colorful characters make up for the most part even where the script starts sounding illogical, stupid and strained. Piyush Mishra in his seasoned avatar is seen organizing Olympics of Terror in Pakistan where relay race is performed with live bombs being passed on. Pradhuman Singh confidently revisits his author-backed role in the previous part but sadly doesn’t add up any more flavors to the part. Manish Paul makes constant efforts to entertain and gets successful in some too but the show-stealer without any doubt is Sikander Kher!

Sikander amazes you with his out-and-out double dose of comedy. While playing a manipulative confidante of Obama, he’s almost unrecognizable. It’s a part where he doesn’t lose his grip on it even for a second, and in due course, often reminds you of Jim Carrey in his style, presentation and efforts. In other act, he transforms himself into a paunchy Punjabi trying to lure Sharma & Paddi Singh in his evil plans. Sikander is definitely the surprise package of the film!

At the end, TERE BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE falls short of expectations. While the original was an honest, simple and refreshing satire in times of silly slapstick comedies, this one merely rises from the dust to meet the standard set by itself. In one of the few hilarious tracks, Obama is seen taking psychotherapy sessions after Osama’s dismissal and his remark says, “I see dead Osama!” So true for the franchise! The opportunity has been killed. [2/5]      

MICKEY VIRUS: [Esc] it to [Ctrl+S] your time & money! (2/5)

Even if the most believable myth of every human being on earth having at least its 6 other look-alikes somewhere in some parts of the world could get applied to movies, first timer Saurabh Varma’s comic thriller MICKEY VIRUS doesn’t come close to the last year’s sleeper-hit and a trendsetter in big-in-content small films VICKY DONOR even in its prettiest dream! Now, the makers can sure terminate the possibilities of their indulgence in any such claims but the fact remains sound that it was positioned as the next in the league!

MICKEY VIRUS shifts you into a world of cyber crime that is new & novel but not complete alien. In the crowds of ‘Nehru Place’s, ‘Lajpat Nagar’s & ‘Connaught Place’s of Delhi, you might have bumped into these young bloods with ‘spiked’ hairstyles, sling bags on back and in printed Tee’s that talk much more than the guy himself. Mickey Arora-the virus (TV actor Manish Paul in his first lead on big screen) is one such youth and a promising-playful & carefree hacker who knows his powers [He can break through any security password for a website] and capabilities but doesn’t bother to channelize it for his own good. No wonder, in such rash practices to show off his talent, Mickey ignorantly lands him in a plot of illegal hacking & serial murders that are never his game of excitement.

Well, picking up a plot that has never been done before is always a smart decision when you try to prove a point (Here it supposed to be giving a hit on the lines of the earlier reference) but then you also need to be upgraded with a smarter writing hand as an anchor to pull out. Sadly, MICKEY VIRUS doesn’t find that support. Hacking a website is described here in verbal as a hard nut to crack (The technical lingo seems too accurate for the ears of a common man to doubt its authenticity) but is shown as an unproblematic smooth pastime for everyone around. Where the cyber-talks are too gibberish and Martian for one who’s not very familiar with the technology, the imagery is over-simplistic for one who might know it inside out. And will you really feel for a hero who’s hypothetically the sharpest brain around but couldn’t smell anything fishy or see it coming, especially when you have guessed it all right much before making a way to the climax?

Surprisingly, film’s strength lies in the performances but mostly from the supporting cast. Film sees the strongly in character Maneesh Chaudhary as ACP Siddhant who wants to make the most of Mickey’s hacking talents to bust a cyber crime racket. The charming Varun Vadola plays an archetypical ‘dilliwala’ police ready with comical one-liners. TV Actor Nitesh Pande is seen after long in a brief but meaty role as the master in hacking, fondly called as ‘The professor’. I wish we could have more of him on big screen. Coming on to the amazingly funny on shows TV Anchor Manish Paul. This is his launch pad to Bollywood and he shows promise but mostly in the comical scenes. In times when he’s trapped in to emotional scenes, he doesn’t look very comfortable. His leading lady on screen (Swedish girl Elli Avram of Bigg Boss 7) too carries only the looks of an accented glam-doll with herself and nothing much to appreciate on acting front.

As a comic-thriller, it does have some flares as intimation but the way it reaches there and unfolds itself is less bothering. This not-so-effective virus can be overlooked. My suggestion? [Esc] it to [Ctrl+S] your time & money! [Cltr+Alt+Delete] the idea of watching it in theaters! (2/5)