Review: 'Office Office' is not a patch on the TV show

Film: Chala Mussaddi – Office Office
Director: Rajiv Mehra
Cast: Pankaj Kapur, Gaurav Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Deven Bhojani, Manoj Pahwa, Hemant Pandey and Asawari Joshi
Rating: **

It’s rare to have an Indian television show translated to the big screen. In Hollywood, it’s a constant occurrence; Charlie’s Angels, Sex and the City, The Flintstones were popular on the idiot box before they played in theatres. Last year, Khichdi: the Movie became the first Indian TV show to be adapted for celluloid, and managed to keep the humour intact in the film version too.

A film adaptation seemed like a good idea for Office Office, probably one of the best shows to have graced Indian television where Mussaddi’s weekly run-ins with corrupt government officials were a respite from unending saas bahu soaps. Sadly, though, some things are best enjoyed in small packages.

Chala Mussaddi - Office Office is one such case. You are introduced to a 62-year-old Mussaddi (Kapur) whose biggest crime is that he is “the common man.” His wife dies due to negligence on the part of the staff at a hospital, railway officials extort money out of him, the swamis at Benaras exploit him, and when he returns home after a two-month long trip, he realizes his pension’s been stopped. Mismanagement by pension officers results in Mussaddi being declared dead in their files. “Aur jo aadmi zinda hi nahi, usse pension kaise milegi?”

Mussaddi then has to prove that he is alive. Interesting plot, may be, but difficult to sit through. To begin with, the film runs out of steam in the first half hour, the humour getting repetitive after. Similar jokes served in small doses in weekly episodes were enjoyable, but stretched to an entire film they seem not so funny. Also, the five actors we saw in different garbs in each episode (Sanjay Mishra, Deven Bhojani, Manoj Pahwa, Hemant Pandey and Asawari Joshi), reappear in different roles in the film too, which is confusing. And they all tend to overact.

For a feature film, the story seems unoriginal. Kapur’s character reminds you of Kamal Kishore Khosla, portrayed by Anupam Kher in Khosla Ka Ghosla, whose idealistic views clashed with his son’s more practical approach towards corruption. In Office Office too, Mussaddi and his son (Gaurav Kapoor) share contrasting point of views. The difficulty a senior citizen goes through in getting his pension was beautifully depicted in a sequence in Lage Raho Munnabhai; an entire film on the issue seems stretched.

Director Rajiv Mehra and writer Ashwani Dhir are unable to take the humour quotient a notch higher in the film -- if anything, it’s diluted -- and even with a playing time of around 100 minutes, the film seems too long.

A super performance by Pankaj Kapur aside -- he’s brilliant as usual -- there’s not much going for Chala Mussaddi. You’d rather stay home and watch reruns.