BEING CYRUS

It took me 10 days to watch this film. Not that it isn't gripping. Fact is it's so gripping, you don't want to miss a single dialogue. Finding time for a single sitting to watch it though remained the big challenge. I was determined to do that before the short-lived chutti ended. Boy, was I glad I did it.

Being Cyrus is another one of those movie that will make you justifiably proud of the new wave of Indian cinema. Not that I'm making comparisons, but if the likes of Iqbal, Page 3, Hazaroin Khawaishen Aisi have been part of your viewing pleasure of late, then this one will fit the bill perfectly.

It is on the surface a story of a Parsi family - that of six people to be precise. There are the Sethnas. Blissfully unhappy, with their own set of family melodramas and dysfunctions. Into their lives walks in the mysterious Cyrus - a role played to perfection by Saif Ali Khan.

You've heard that before, you hear it again - 'Beware who you let into your house'. If there was ever a need for a 'Stranger Alert' it should have been somewhere, sometime for the Sethna family.

Fact that it doesn't makes it the intriguing dark comedy that skillfully unravels through a fragile web of family relationships. Imperfect pasts making for even more imperfect presents.

Helping do that is the stellar cast that includes Honey Chhaya who plays Fardoonjee Sethna - an aging man, his two sons Dinshaw (Naseeruddin Shah) and Farokh (Boman Irani) and their wives Katy (Dimple Kapadia) and Tina (Simone Singh).

The movie is a stunning addition to modern Indian cinema, a work that makes its first time director Homi Adajania, a name to watch out for. No surprise it has walked away more than just critical acclaim on the international film circuit.

And I haven't even got to their cool website - the download time could have been a lot shorter though - http://beingcyrus.indiatimes.com/Happy browsing.