I wanted to but couldn't!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Cyrus does not believe in sentimentality of any kind. He cannot be held down and merely uses people. Even if it is his sister.To make his task easier, the Sethna family is not too likable either. They use each other shamelessly.The darkness of all this is lightened by the humor. It keeps you watching the movie, edge of seat, waiting for next, not wanting to end.The acting is first class. Saif is safe and dependable. He is just right. For the movie, he is Cyrus, revealing his character as the movie progresses. No one can fault Naseer, Boman Irani, Simone Singh. All perfect. And Dimple, she lets herself go. Usually asked upon to play a graceful aging beautiful woman in various films. Here she is called upon to play a slatternly, dissatisfied, sluttish woman who is a go-getter. Her out of control behaviour in the police station that seals her wretched fate was great.Inspector Lovely was a lovely treat. How often we see the kind.A delicious treat of a film. To be cherished and kept on a legal DVD and seen again and again

What an amazing well made movie! The movie actually does have a very complex plot both Physiologically and sociologically but Homi's Direction make the movie simple to understand and a pleasure to watch!I say complex Physiologically because it is, It takes you just enough into the depths of the minds of these two characters, namely Cyrus and Tina to make you understand that something is not right and the thrilling end explains it all. Sociologically because we see and hear about such things that happen to old people like Fardoonji on a daily basis in all communities and races in India and abroad (namely Mistreatment of older folks and sometimes even murder.) The Movie spends just enough time on all the aspects and issues which make it so interesting to watch. It touches upon the Idiosyncrasies of the Parsi Community, (but this could relate too and be true for any community as such) the dysfunctional family of the Sethna's and then delves into the psychology of two young kids messed up by years of abuse, all while keeping within the boundaries of traditional "Bawa" Humour! Kudos to all of the stars as well, Saif Does an outstanding job with "Being Cyrus" and could very well be made an Honorary Bawa now. Dimple Kapadia and Nasrueidin Shah are absolutely brilliant and deserve to be nominated for some award, I don't care pick an award, ANY award! On the whole, a brilliant and well made movie, AWESOME JOB HOMI! You know industry insiders touted M.Night Shamalyan as the next Steven Spielberg in the US after the 6th sense! I think, if Homi Adjanina keeps up this trend he would definitely be the next Steven Spielberg of India!!! Bravo to this young Director!!!!!

When I heard about this movie for the first time, what I had in mind was a lighthearted made-in-India English comedy. We have had quite a number of those in the last few years, English, August, Jhankaar Beats and the Hyderabad Blues couple to name a few. And I was even surer about it when I heard about the cast. What would you expect out of a movie which is called Being Cyrus and has actors like Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani and Naseeruddin Shah? Well I was partly correct. It was a comedy alright! But it wasn't half as much 'lighthearted' as I had expected it to be. Being Cyrus turned out to be a dark, psychological drama concerning the lives of an individual named Cyrus Mistry(that's Saif) and a not-so-common Parsi family.The acting by all the characters was, for most of the movie, quite superb. Naseeruddin Shah played his relatively brief role of a doped, absent-minded artist to near perfection. And so did Boman Irani in his of a loveless husband who is frustrated with almost everything life has to offer him. Simone Singh also does well in the portrayal of a coy, frightened wife, brave enough to indulge in her personal desires only in the absence of her strict, boring husband. But the surprise package in terms of acting is Honey Chhaya who plays the role of a forgetful old man harassed to the limit by his younger son. My personal favourite was the scene in which he, having chocolates and remembering his earlier years, looks up at the ceiling dreamily and says – "Those were the good old days". Manoj Pahwa, as Inspector Lovely, also manages to sneak in some hilarious comic moments. Dimple Kapadia is perhaps the only disappointment, overacting severely in many of her sequences.The direction by debutant Homi Adajania is very fresh and promising and he couldn't have made a better start to his career. The storyline is not amazing but strong enough to take the viewer by surprise in the end. Yes, the movie doesn't have any songs to offer but music and sound play a somewhat major role all throughout the film, adding to its suspense and drama. Only the screenplay could have been a trifle better. At some points, it wasn't clear as to what the director was trying to say. And I don't believe that could have been intentional. Or maybe, it was.I have saved the man in the lead for the end. Saif Ali Khan, in his first English film, has shown that he is capable of a lot more than playing the 'chocolate-boy' that he has traditionally done. He was perhaps not the obvious choice for the role of a distressed, orphaned individual but all would agree that he did ample justice to the task assigned.All in all, Being Cyrus is a very entertaining first-time watch, if only for the difference it has to present. Seen independently, it would get a 6/10 from me. But as it happens to be one of the first of its kind, it deserves a nice 7.

"Being Cyrus" is ... well, ...about Cyrus (Saif Ali Khan). The film essentially centres around him and the other characters just provide him with the material to play his game. They are mere pawns in the game that he is very much the master of! The film, as everyone probably knows by now, revolves around the fortunes, or rather misfortunes, of a Parsi family ... the Sethnas. There's Dinshaw, an artist to the core... eccentric, lost in his own little world ... completely oblivious, or seemingly so, to the immediate world around him. His wife, Katy ... a frustrated, scheming shrew, if ever there was one! One actually feels that she gets her just desserts at the end of the movie! On the other hand, one actually feels sorry for Dinshaw because he doesn't even realize what hits him ... and WHY!The plot seems a bit convoluted and fuzzy at times. What, for example, does Katy pay Cyrus all that money for? What does Cyrus do with it? He's certainly not seen spending much of it! Why does he spend endless hours instead in a studio/workshop doing God alone knows what! Why, in the first place, DOES he go to Dinshaw's place, ostensibly to learn the ropes of fine clay pottery making? He doesn't seem to achieve very much there either ... since one merely sees him constantly trying to get seduced by his hostess, a nymphomaniac to the core! All is of course revealed at the end ... but till then, things seem a bit of a mystery.Which brings me to the actual theme of the film. The suspense is very well maintained actually. It's a crime thriller with a difference. But, at least for a lay person like me ... some of what happens, seems totally uncalled for. Murder, euthanesia ... whatever you may choose to call it. There are also gaps ... After all, how can one get into another person's mind ...since the entire film is in flash-back? Things somehow don't quite add up.The acting is good on the whole. However, Cyrus has such a perpetually bored, dyspeptic expression ... could have done without it, I feel! Dimple has over-acted a bit. Or perhaps she's meant to be hyper and irritating! But it still seems like a trifle too much of over-acting!From the point of view of displaying the typical traits of a community ... I think "Being Cyrus", is certainly right up in the front. The places, the people, the degradation, the hopelessness ... it's all very well portrayed.The one point which really struck me as being a bit odd was the lack of balance between the parts of the film prior to and post intermission. The second portion seemed to flash by and even before we knew it, the film had come to an end. It's like getting a jab in the arm and suddenly sitting up and going through the actions in super fast motion! The first portion, on the other hand, seems to drag a bit. Nothing moves ... it's like being in a state of suspended animation.However, on the whole, I think the movie is well worth watching. If not for any entertainment value ... the film is worth watching for the sheer novelty of the plot.