The After Hrs review: 'Gali Gali Chor Hai'

Film: Gali Gali Chor Hai
Director: Rumi Jaffery
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran, Satish Kaushik, Mugdha Godse, Annu Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, Murli Sharma
Rating: **1/2

We’ve seen a fair share of films made on corruption before. And as in most of the films that’ve been made in this genre earlier, this film too highlights the helplessness and desperation of a common man who gets trapped in the corrupt bureaucratic system (Kundan Shah’s dark satirical classic comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron or Pankaj Kapur’s Office Office anyone?).

And just like most of the films made earlier, this one too fails to come up with a solution. Though you can’t really fault the filmmaker for that, after all, isn’t this ever-elluding solution, what our own leaders haven’t been able to figure out yet. But this doesn’t stop the audience from feeling just as cheated at the end as they feel cheated by the system at large. Instead of coming away with an inspired feeling of hope, you find yourself reinstating the belief that ‘police and matters of the law are best to be avoided
— Kaun pade inke chakkar mein?

The issue is such that it generously lends itself to films that are dark, political and social satires, but the filmmaker skims through the surface, and before the dark belly is exposed so much that it becomes threatening for the film to earn the tag of arthouse cinema or dark satirical fare, the audience is pulled away with a quick end.

Bharat (Akshaye) is that common man here with his father (Kaushik) and wife (Shriya). A bank cashier, every year he participates in the Ram Leela playing Hanuman, with the aspiration to graduate to playing Ram someday. Alas, it’s the MLA’s brother who gets to play Ram, because of the political connection. Accepting this power-play is accepted like it’s the most done thing, clearly a reflection of our real society.
The trouble begins when Bharat refuses to lend that MLA a room in his house, that the corrupt politico wants to set up his election office. Instead, the father lets the room to his rival contestant and ends up earning the wrath of the politico.

What ensues is a nightmare for Bharat where he finds himself running from pillar post and falling prey to the corrupt system where everyone from the witnesses to the cops can be bought. The nexus shown between police and criminals, like they are the most obvious partners, evokes some laughter, as well as some more sympathy for Bharat.

The film starts off with a promise, but it’s the second half that gets a little disappointing with more situational comedy inserted, not to forget a rather seedy item song. And when you expect Bharat even as the common man to take on the system and then wait to face the repercussions, the filmmaker seems in a rush to end the saga for the hero. The take on Ram Leela running parallel provides an apt corollary, but again it doesn’t have the same affect that the Mahabharat scene from Jaane Bhi Do had. The love triangle of sorts is a forced distraction too.

Corruption as the deep-rooted evil in our society has never been as hot a topic, as it is these days thanks to the Anna movement. But this film fails strikes to hit hard, while the iron is hot.

What does make the film worth a watch however, are the effortless performances by the actors and the supporting cast. Akshaye and Shriya give fine performances, as do Satish, Annu, Rajpal and Akhilendra. The dialogues are interesting initially, even though they fail to move you much in the second half. Overall, it’s worth a watch, but you won’t find yourself tom-tomming about it galli galli.