Be
Ajay
Devgn
and
Konkona
Sen
Sharma's
guest.
Paresh
Rawal
makes
the
first
bonafide
guest
appearance
in
our
cinema.
And
what
pest
this
guest
is!
So
many
films
about
the
guest
as
an
intruder.
But
this
one
takes
the
creak.
And
yes
we
do
mean
creak.
The
plot
sets
out
portray
the
bin
bulaye
mehmaan
as
a
pest
rather
than
a
guest
and
finally
spends
agonizing
playing
time
portraying
him
as
a
messiah
in
a
dhoti.
Trust
Paresh
Rawal
to
get
into
the
skin
of
his
character.
From
first
frame
to
the
last,
Paresh
has
a
blast.
He
doesn't
let
go
of
a
single
moment
of
joy
in
embracing
the
role
of
the
unwanted
guest
in
Mumbai's
very
hectic
self-absorbed
nuclear
family
where,
as
Devgn
says
in
his
heated
summing-up
homily,
even
parents
are
not
welcome
after
the
first
few
days.
What
happened
to
good
old-fashioned
hospitality?
So
how
welcome
is
this
film
about
an
unwelcome
guest?
Atithi
Tum
Kab
Jaoge
has
its
entertaining
moments.
But
it's
essentially
a
one-episode
sitcom.
And
you
wonder
how
far
the
talented
writer-director
Ashwin
Dheer
will
stretch
this
version
of
Hrishikesh
Mukherjee's
Bawarchi
about
the
quirky
and
persistent
stranger
who
changes
a
family's
way
of
looking
at
life?
At
mid-point
director
Dheer
and
his
characters
including
the
indefatigable
Rawal
run
put
of
steam.
Post-interval
the
narration
does
a
vivacious
volte-
face
.Suddenly
the
boorish
loudly
burping
belching
and
farting
guest
becomes
a
demi-god.
A
saviour
spreading
sunshine
across
the
4-walls
of
Devgns'
well-appointed
home.
Rawal
repairs
all
of
Devgn
and
Konkona's
domestic
and
work-related
problems
and
leaves
their
home
after
having
spread
enough
goodwill
to
do
away
with
the
other
pollutant
emissions
in
the
first-half.
Dheer's
writing
is
a
skilled
synthesis
of
satire
and
a
strong
message
on
the
virtues
of
an
extended
family.
Regrettably
the
passage
from
unwanted
guest
to
atithi-almost-dev
is
achieved
with
not
enough
anand
in
the
transition.
Many
passages
of
the
film
are
designed
as
very
little
more
than
diversion
and
deflections
indicating
the
fracture
in
family
values
easily
reparable
with
some
persuasion
from
an
old-fashioned
rustic
guest
with
values
that
suggest
a
deep
connection
between
the
religious
scriptures
and
common
sense.
Get
Ganpati
Bappa
to
visit
your
living
room
and
it's
all
well
for
the
world.
Life
in
the
cities
is
not
that
easy
to
fix.
But
no
harm
in
creating
interesting
Mr
Fix-It's
on
celluloid.
The
flawed
but
watch
able
film
goes
through
a
series
of
cleverly
orchestrated
fable-like
chapters,
none
uninteresting,
but
most
of
them
repetitive
beyond
a
point.
The
whole
track
featuring
Paresh
with
'Kalia'
(Viju
Khote)
on
the
sets
of
a
film
gets
tedious
after
a
point.
Devgn
and
Konkona
try
to
be
funny.
He
is
in
-command
of
his
comic
world.
She
is
above
it.
Konkona
Sen
needs
to
drastically
expand
her
repertoire
of
expressions
from
grimace
and
grin
to
more
far-reaching
expressions
of
suburban
serenity.
There's
an
interesting
cameo
by
Satish
Kaushik
(playing
a
harried
film
director)
.
And
the
funniest
line
comes
from
Kaushik
when
after
repenting
the
way
he
allowed
his
wife
to
treat
his
mother
Kaushik
resolves
to
make
a
"Baghban
type
of
film".
Atithi
is
just
that.
It
starts
off
as
a
savage
satire
on
the
perils
of
hospitality
but
ends
up
as
another
Baghban.
Finally
you
aren't
watching
a
film
about
family
ties
but
a
film
that
ties
up
the
family
in
reams
and
reams
of
comic
chaos.
Vulgarity
and
double-meanings
strictly
not
admissible.
Story first published: Monday, March 8, 2010, 11:47 [IST]