You don’t see many films in which the sycophant is presented as a
heroic or even sympathetic character. That’s understandable, of course;
while there are worse sins than sucking up to the boss, it’s not nice.
It’s certainly not terribly glamorous. All of which makes Rahul (Shah
Rukh Khan), the protagonist of Yes Boss, an odd choice for the hero.
Rahul is a master toady. He manages Mr. Siddarth (Aditya Pancholi)’s life like clockwork, cheerfully delivering an expensive piano to the boss’s wife and then just as cheerfully delivering a break-up message to the boss’s current girlfriend. Is there any depth to which Rahul will not sink? Well, yes, obviously, because otherwise this would be a very short movie.
Of course, Rahul loves his mother (Reema Lagoo), so we know that deep down he’s a good person. He just needs to meet the right Nice Indian Girl. Enter the right Nice Indian Girl - Seema (Juhi Chawla) is an aspiring model with dreams of her own; she wants a beautiful house, beautiful car, the full package, and if she can’t get the life she wants herself, she’s happy to marry someone who can give it to her.
Rahul and Seema meet cute (it involves borrowed cars and scooters), they go out, and he likes her a lot, but he realizes that she’s looking for someone with money. Enter Mr. Siddarth. Siddarth catches sight of Seema at the fashion show he’s organizing, and wants her as his next conquest. Rahul decides to give up love in favor of ambition, and helps his boss.
When Siddarth’s wife catches him out shopping with Seema, however, a desperate lie leads to one of those trademark bad Bollywood plans; Rahul and Seema have to pretend to be newlyweds, and the pretense goes even further when Rahul’s mother hears about it. She has a heart condition, and so the truth could literally kill her. When the pair are thrown together like that, Seema starts getting pangs of guilt; she’s a Good Indian Girl at heart, after all. And Rahul finds himself falling deeper in love, and more and more aware of his boss’s dishonorable intentions . . .
The movie really takes off when Rahul starts using his powers for good instead of evil. The characters really begin to connect, and once again the Khan-Chawla pairing sparkles. Early in the film, Chawla has very little to do but look beautiful, but she really acquits herself later in the film, with some fine dramatic and comic material. She has a drunk scene with Johnny Lever that is an inspired bit of pure silliness, and supports my hypothesis that Johnny Lever makes every movie better.
I don’t think it’s a real spoiler to say that Seema ends up with Rahul rather than the rich jerk, and the scene where they declare their mutual love is another comic gem, allowing Rahul to demonstrate strong pyaar-fu.
I really enjoyed Yes Boss. It’s the Bollywood formula done incredibly well. Charming leads, great chemistry, wonderful music, a nice fight scene, and a trip to Switzerland. Because when you think of love, your thoughts naturally turn to Switzerland.
Rahul is a master toady. He manages Mr. Siddarth (Aditya Pancholi)’s life like clockwork, cheerfully delivering an expensive piano to the boss’s wife and then just as cheerfully delivering a break-up message to the boss’s current girlfriend. Is there any depth to which Rahul will not sink? Well, yes, obviously, because otherwise this would be a very short movie.
Of course, Rahul loves his mother (Reema Lagoo), so we know that deep down he’s a good person. He just needs to meet the right Nice Indian Girl. Enter the right Nice Indian Girl - Seema (Juhi Chawla) is an aspiring model with dreams of her own; she wants a beautiful house, beautiful car, the full package, and if she can’t get the life she wants herself, she’s happy to marry someone who can give it to her.
Rahul and Seema meet cute (it involves borrowed cars and scooters), they go out, and he likes her a lot, but he realizes that she’s looking for someone with money. Enter Mr. Siddarth. Siddarth catches sight of Seema at the fashion show he’s organizing, and wants her as his next conquest. Rahul decides to give up love in favor of ambition, and helps his boss.
When Siddarth’s wife catches him out shopping with Seema, however, a desperate lie leads to one of those trademark bad Bollywood plans; Rahul and Seema have to pretend to be newlyweds, and the pretense goes even further when Rahul’s mother hears about it. She has a heart condition, and so the truth could literally kill her. When the pair are thrown together like that, Seema starts getting pangs of guilt; she’s a Good Indian Girl at heart, after all. And Rahul finds himself falling deeper in love, and more and more aware of his boss’s dishonorable intentions . . .
The movie really takes off when Rahul starts using his powers for good instead of evil. The characters really begin to connect, and once again the Khan-Chawla pairing sparkles. Early in the film, Chawla has very little to do but look beautiful, but she really acquits herself later in the film, with some fine dramatic and comic material. She has a drunk scene with Johnny Lever that is an inspired bit of pure silliness, and supports my hypothesis that Johnny Lever makes every movie better.
I don’t think it’s a real spoiler to say that Seema ends up with Rahul rather than the rich jerk, and the scene where they declare their mutual love is another comic gem, allowing Rahul to demonstrate strong pyaar-fu.
I really enjoyed Yes Boss. It’s the Bollywood formula done incredibly well. Charming leads, great chemistry, wonderful music, a nice fight scene, and a trip to Switzerland. Because when you think of love, your thoughts naturally turn to Switzerland.
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