Drawn
from
the
innermost
recesses
of
its
extraordinarily
versatile
profound
and
prolific
creator's
mind,
somewhat
like
the
water
that
emerges
from
Boman
Irani's
well
at
the
end
of
this
delicately-drawn
satire
on
babu-giri
and
red
tape(ism),
Well
Done
Abba
is
a
little
sparkling
gem
of
a
film.
Its
humour
warmth
and
tenderness
are
not
as
easily
obtainable
as
was
in
Benegal's
last
comedy
Welcome
To
Sajjanpur
which
was
far
more
readily
and
immediately
engaging.
Well
Done
Abba
takes
longer
to
settle
and
sink
into
our
satiated
sensibilities.
Long
parts
of
the
film
describing
the
Hyderabadi
protagonist
Armaan
Ali
(Boman
Irani)'s
close
encounters
with
babu-giri
and
the
bewildering
maze
of
the
bureaucracy(somewhat
like
Pankaj
Kapoor
in
the
serial
Office
Office)
are
done
with
a
sense
of
insouciant
indulgence
that
takes
the
bite
away
from
the
cruelty
of
watching
a
man
run
from
one
musty
office
to
another
trying
to
get
a
well
dug
into
his
parched
backyard.
Everyone
wants
a
bribe.
No
one
wants
to
do
what's
right.
A
world
waiting
for
water
to
emerge
from
Mother
Earth
was
recently
created
in
Shayam
Benegal's
nephew
Dev
Benegal's
Road
Movie.
Unlike
Dev's
film
Shayam
Benegal's
parable
on
a
soul
waiting
to
be
nurtured
never
remains
as
dry
as
the
landscape
it
describes.
Thirsty
famished
Hyderabad
is
no
strange
hinterland
to
the
ultra-perceptive
Benegal.
One
of
his
first
feature
films
Ankur
(still
considered
by
many
to
be
his
finest)
was
set
in
rural
Hyderabad.
It
was
real,
grim
and
relentlessly
dark
in
showing
subjugation
and
injustice.
Now
Shayam
Babu-God
bless
his
jaunty
soul-has
mellowed
down.
His
vision
is
far
more
forgiving
of
our
beaucratic
trespasses.
He
even
chuckles
over
sex
through
the
characters
of
Ravi
Kissen
and
Sonali
Kulkarni
who
are
forever
at
it.
Cinematographer
Rajen
Kothari
goes
through
the
cluttered
lanes
of
old
Hyderabad
with
jaunty
steps.
No
one
is
looking
for
despair
here.
It's
a
life
lived
at
the
edges
with
a
zest
to
seize
the
day.
The
flawed
and
aberrant
characters
in
Well
Done
Abba
ranging
from
the
embittered
police
inspector(brilliantly
played
by
the
Benegal
regular
Rajit
Kapoor)
to
the
self-serving
but
not
evil
politician(Rajendra
Gupta)
are
characters
who
move
dexterously
away
from
the
realm
of
the
grotesque
and
caricatural
to
becoming
signs
and
representatives
of
our
times.
Standing
non-judgementally
over
the
delicate
satire
Shyam
Benegal
seems
to
say...
this
is
the
way
we
are,what
to
do?
Benegal's
characters
are
not
hopeless
losers.
The
director
with
some
skillfully
subtle
sensitive
and
sharp
writing
from
screenwriter
Ashok
Mishra
lifts
his
people
from
the
clammy
clutches
of
corruption
and
dejection.
These
are
people
who
exude
the
sweaty
aroma
of
lived-in
people
eking
out
a
dignified
life
from
the
morass
of
anarchy.
Benegal's
narration
is
steady,
tender
and
in
no
hurry
to
make
its
point.
The
pace
is
even
and
delightfully
devoid
of
anxieties,
but
sometimes
far
too
crowded
with
inner
explanations.
The
canvas
is
crammed
with
semi-pivotal
characters
in
the
bureaucracy.
We
are
subjected
to
vignettes
from
the
bureaucrats'
home
life
which
seem
to
unnecessary
prolong
the
film's
inevitable
progress
towards
a
triumphant
finale.
Boman
Irani
in
both
his
avatars
as
the
Armaan
Ali
and
his
seedy
twin
Rehman
Ali,
renders
rollicking
wrinkles
and
creases
to
the
film's
over-smooth
edges.
He's
delightful
as
the
bewildered
working-class
soul,
the
over-protective
father
and
the
near-nirvana
soul
who
at
the
end
realizes
the
struggle
to
have
justice
is
actually
a
journey
towards
God.
Minissha
Lamba
as
Boman's
spirited
daughter
gets
into
the
skin
of
her
character
with
a
career-defining
determination
and
emerges
with
a
character
who
is
feisty
modern
and,
yes,
Muslim.
Sammir
Dattani
as
the
sweet-tempered
do-gooder
who
supports
the
father
and
daughter
shows
a
discernible
growth
as
an
actor.
This
film
is
actually
the
beginning
of
a
new
phase
for
Dattani.
All
three
characters
hold
their
Hyderabadi
accents
in
place
without
slipping
out
of
character
for
even
a
minute.
Watch
out
for
all
the
usual
Benegal
actors
like
Lalit
Tiwari,
Ila
Arun,
Yashpal
Sharma
and
Ravi
Jhankal
to
newer
entrants
into
this
super-prolific
director's
hall
of
films
like
Ravi
Kissen(playing
an
over-sexed
Bihari
engineer)
...they
all
know
what
we've
known
for
years.
The
world
of
Shyam
Benegal
is
filled
with
an
anguished
realization
of
moral
and
political
corruption.
But
by
God,
Benegal
knows
how
to
juice
our
social
milieu
in
his
cinema
without
seeming
exploitative
or
melodramatic.
Well,
done
Mr.
Benegal!
Story first published: Monday, March 29, 2010, 11:44 [IST]