|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sooni Taraporevala’s Little Zizou is a delightful romp into yesteryear, writes Ervell E. Menezes WHAT'S it like to wander into a Parsi household in Cusrow Baug, Bombay, in the 1960s and see this squabbling, eccentric, fanatical but fun-loving community debating on the purity of the race but absorbing all external influences to live life to the full with bonhomie and only a dash of malice, that’s Little Zizou, a delightful romp into yesteryear western music et al by scriptwriter-turned-director Sooni Taraporevala.
There are two warring families, the rabidly religious Cyrus II Khodaiji (Sohrab Ardeshir), who thinks he is God’s chosen one, and Boman Pressvala (Boman Irani), a newspaper magnate in decline, who still loves to target Khodaiji whom he considers a religious fake. Always in tow with Khodaiji is his gin-guzzling girl Friday (Shernaz Patel), but his two sons Artaxerxes (Imaad Shah) and Xerxes (Jehan Bativala) are ill at ease with their stern, dictatorial parent. In fact, they are closer to the Pressvala household and Boman’s wife Roxanne (Zenobia Shroff) is particularly fond of the motherless Xerzes much to the chagrin of their little daughter Liana (Iyanah Bativala), a precocious child. Their visit to Udwada to see grandma (Mahabanoo Modi Kotwal) and her ramshackle Majestic Hotel is particularly touching and throws light on a generation clinging to the past. As for Xerxes uppermost on his wish list is French footballer Zinedine Zidanne’s visit to India and hence his nickname. Beginning with the western tune ‘Funiculi-Funicula,’ we have a string of rambunctious numbers like ‘Mumbo Italiano, That’s Amore’ and ‘Brazil’ with Boman Pressvala shaking a leg in typical Parsi fashion. Joining the Parsi dirka gang is musician Garry Lawyer and Cyrus Broacha. The dissolves into western dance sequences are simply delightful, almost Bergmanesque. But equally wholesome is the constant patter on the little things that mean a lot. Even the big fight is not big enough as Khodaiji refuses to give the okay to supari killer when push comes to shove with Pressvala. By the time the curtain comes down on the show Parsi-Hindi included, all’s well that ends well, a few good-hearted hiccups notwithstanding. Jehan Bativala (Sooni’s son in real life) steals the show with a cute and utterly natural performance as the narrator and the focal point of the film and ably supported by Imaad Shah and Iyanah Bativala (Sooni’s daughter). The adults are pushed into the background with Boman Irani excelling and ably supported by Zenobia Shroff and Shernaz Patel and good cameos by Mahabanoo Modi Kotwal and Cyrus Broacha. John Abraham’s bit role is academic. But above all, kudos to Sooni Taraporevala whose conception as a scriptwriter is smoothly and effectively put across in this souffl`E9 light romp into Parsiana. You don’t have to be a Parsi to enjoy it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
