Review: Fruit and Nut

By: Contributing Writer WP

October 24, 2009

By: Ashika Sengupta

The high society of any given country is a ripe target of cinematic comedy. Mumbai’s socio-political climate is clearly not immune from aspiring satirical filmmakers aiming to spoof every nook and cranny of the given culture and its perception of residing in the clouds, echelons above the rest of the world.

Kunal Vijaykar is one such filmmaker who eyes India’s “in-crowd” with a comedic eye, targeting five stereotypically status-obsessed characters in the recent release of his film, Fruit & Nut.

There is nothing really fruity or nutty about this film, which was aptly named after a popular line of Cadbury chocolates in India. Through the eyes of a nerd-turned-celebrity, a rescued VIP, a strange maharajah, a self-obsessed scientist and an evil builder, Fruit & Nut tries rather hard to make us laugh at the expense of a few people far detached from reality. Unfortunately, the film itself is equally detached…from making any sense.

In a plot that is difficult to follow, it almost seems as if Vijaykar was trying too hard to create an intricate story where the humor doubled as both intellectual and slapstick. Yet, the web Vijaykar apparently tried so hard to intricately build is almost too deep, with the moviegoer struggling to follow along at critical stages of the film.

As for the performances, the main stars are average at best, with only a few genuinely funny moments amidst a story that struggles to define its own identity. Cyrus Broacha plays the nerdy lead who manages to find instant fame after he comes to the aid of a stunningly beautiful VIP (Dia Mirza) threatened by a suitcase.

With these two strange bedfellows who develop a rapport, the nerd and the VIP must deal with a Maharajah (Boman Irani) who has a few links missing in his head. Somehow, the interaction between these three people is supposed to be beyond funny, and perhaps, if the film just ran with that, the comedy would eventually show.

Yet, Vijaykar throws in a scientist (Rajit Kapoor), who is completely full of himself, and a developer (Mahesh Manjekar) who has an evil plot or two up his sleeves – and somehow, someway, all these people manage to cross paths and give each other hell.

Unfortunately, there just is not enough character development or substantive interplay and dialogue between all the parties involved for this to be a truly comedic film. Instead, the film as a whole is rather premature. Sadly, perhaps the only redeeming value of this film is that Dia Mirza looks awfully attractive in a sari.

Overall, the film is perhaps too dry for its own good, falling short of being over-the-top hilarious about the real-life people the story aims to make fun of. Further, Fruit & Nut does not add any entertainment value through the soundtrack or score.

While the film definitely has bright spots and some of the punch-lines are spot-on, Fruit & Nut is ultimately too choppy to have much of a following beyond opening weekend. On the bright side, the film has limited competition this week, as the animated flick Bal Ganesh 2 is the only other major release. Accordingly, there will probably be quite a few seats full for this film, yet do not expect that trend to last more than a few days.

Now playing in general release, Fruit & Nut released worldwide on October 23rd.