How far would you go – or how low would you stoop – to own a bungalow in Mumbai? This rhetorical question produces easy-going laughs in Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai.
Raj Trivedi’s Hindi comedy is a worthy addition to the set of films about home-owning aspirations in one of the most usuriously priced property markets in the world. The JioCinema streaming release has a superbly sly central performance by Amit Sial as a man who will stop at almost nothing to fulfil his heart’s desire.
Mitesh’s need is simple: to own the bungalow that he has been eying since he was a boy. Mitesh has been on the other side of the gate, enviously looking in. He now wants in, at any cost.
Inveigling himself with the bungalow’s owner Govinda (Paresh Rawal) is easy enough, despite a sign warning, “Trespassers will be killed.”
But managing the old man’s demands, balancing his wife Rukmini (Sonali Kulkarni) and his children, and attending to his mistress Preeti (Sonnalli Seygall) while also keeping the money flowing does fluster the even-tempered Mitesh on occasion.
Greed is both good comical in Aditya Rawal’s screenplay, which has dialogue by Devang Tiwari and Amit Pradhan. A host of secondary actors waft in and out, including Faisal Khan’s cheerful moneylender and Nitesh Pandey’s shady businessmen.
Paresh Rawal is wonderful as the deceptively benign, soon-to-be-annoying Govinda. But the sharpest player is Mitesh, who is steeped in a game that he can’t control as well as he wants to.
The Zen-like tone barely wavers, even when things get hairy for Mitesh. Funny without trying to be loud or slapstick, and on the money about Mumbai-style hucksterism, Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai can be too undemanding at times.
Any expectation that Mitesh’s scam will be scaled up is futile. The plainly shot film feels a bit stretched even at 102 minutes.
The quest for more comfortable housing in Mumbai can go in all kinds of directions. But this movie chooses a safe route, leading to a flat outcome.
Amit Sial’s hugely enjoyable performance – seemingly laidback but actually attentive to detail and mood – keeps the movie in pleasant zone throughout. Even after Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai has run out of ideas to give Mitesh what he yearns for, Sial is around to supply the wan smile and yet another hustle.
