Teen thay bhai

 

It takes a brave man to make a film that defies convention. So whatever we say about the film henceforth, at least that battle has been comfortably won by 3 Thay Bhai. It is a purely dialogue-driven film, belonging to the old school of thought where there's minimal manipulation. The characters take time to reveal. The music is always a mere accessory, never the star of the scene.

Every joke has a meticulous build-up. The few, far between dramatic moments find a subtle origin somewhere. Exactly the kind of film that is super hard to get right. It's the wise old man compared to hot-blooded razzmatazz, but like most wise old men, is slow and far from being perfect.

Chixie Gill(Om Puri), Happy Gill(Deepak Dobriyal) and Fancy Gill(Shreyas Talpade) are three bickering brothers with disjointed histories and disoriented lives. They are brought together by their grandfather's death(Yograj Singh), and his will. They must fulfill a set of bizarre conditions to land their claim on granddad's booty. Conditions that essentially involve facing adversity together, and discovering how important they are to each other in the end.

Love makes an appearance in the form of Gurleen(Ragini Khanna), which is more of a subplot but done well enough. For starters, the film is Punjabi at heart. A lot of jokes and dialogues will be lost on those who aren't familiar with the language. The performances are good , and Shreyas Talpade takes the cake. His character is one of those you laugh AT and not WITH, and not making a total ass of yourself is tricky there.

Om Puri is his usual Punjabi old man self, while Ragini Khanna is refreshingly natural. It's an unfamiliar story set in an unfamiliar setting- snow filled mountains complete with old British style villas, fireplaces etc. In fact, there are times it feels more like a play than a movie.

There are a few scenes which we don't see much- like them getting high on India's answer to hash brownies: hash-paranthas. Those scenes are, however, in direct conflict with the ones not so well written, which actually end up being tedious to watch. Some jokes are too far-fetched, and some out rightly flat. Think of 'Khichdi' like jokes in a Punjabi setting and you get the idea. It is at best an honest effort to tell an unconventional story peppered with humor. If you watch it, let it be for that effort.