Yes Boss

Starring: SHAHRUKH KHAN * JUHI CHAWLA * ADITYA PANCHOLI * GULSHAN GROVER * ASHOK SARAF

Synopsis:

Mumbai...The city of dreams....High rise buildings, vast golden beaches, shimmering waters, glittering nights and people...loads & loads of people...all eagerly waiting, wanting and fighting to achieve the Perfect" world for themselves as well as for the people they love.

Love...An emotion which fights for its right to survive in this city of dreams & ambitions and somehow manages to blossom its way into the heart of the city's cosmopolitan lifestyle. This battle of emotions, feelings and love over the grind and the pace of the city rages on as the city dwellers continue to tick like clockwork.

One such person is Rahul Joshi (Shah Rukh Khan), a young ambitious man who will do anything to keep his "BOSS" Sidharth Chaudhary (Aditya Pancholi), happy. Rahul aspires to start his own advertising agency as promised by his boss and all is going hunky-dory till both Rahul & his boss lay eyes on a beautiful model, Seema Bakshi (Juhi Chawla). Seema, a middle-class hostelite, also has dreams of making it to the top of the glamorous world of high-fashion and acquiring the affluence & fame which go along with success, or if need be marry an aristocrat who can give her all the comforts in life. This is where the roller... coaster ride of human emotions & desires start. Rahul starts to love Seema but Seema gets taken in by Sidharth's smooth talk and Siddharth only wants to keep his pie and eat it to.

Now what does Rahul do? Does he forsake his love for his only ambition? Or does he reveal to Seema, Sidharth's insincerity in their relationship? Or does he...like...always...simply listen to his boss and meakly say... "YES BOSS"!"

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Hmmm. The girl? Or the office?

Undoubtedly there are excellent, vastly entertaining Indian films out there (Black (Bonus - Free Star Dust Awards 2004 DVD), Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India, Main Hoon Na, Kuch Naa Kaho (2 Disc Set), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, off the top of my head). But a very large percentage of Bollywood cinema requires from the audience - especially the Western audience - a grain of salt (maybe two grains of salt), a certain mindset, and lowered expectations. So many films come out of Bollywood that the law of averages dictates that a lot of them can't be quality stuff. And Bollywood is never too shy about borrowing plots and premises from Hollywood. This time around plot and premise ideas are lifted from the 1960 Jack Lemmon classic The Apartment and from 1993's For Love Or Money which starred Michael J. Fox and Gabrielle Anwar. YES BOSS, released in 1997, stars Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, although he gets second billing to Aditya Pancholi, who plays the bad guy.

Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) dreams of having his own advertising agency, a dream he believes can be realized thru the influence and financing of his boss Sidharth (Aditya Pancholi). Accordingly, he toadies up to the man, playing Sidharth's willing right hand man. But what happens when his philandering boss sets his sight on a girl Rahul himself fancies? Seema (Juhi Chawla) is a nice, beautiful middle-class girl who toils as a model and keeps very material goals in mind. She confesses to Rahul that if she herself can't achieve her goals, then she'll marry someone who can get them for her. In finessing things so that Sidharth gets close to Seema, Rahul has to face up to his own feelings, and eventually has to make a choice. The girl? Or the office?

Two and a half stars for this picture. YES BOSS is 2 hours and 37 minutes of corny film-making, but, if you're a Shah Rukh Khan fanatic, then it makes for decent watching. I didn't mind it. But if you don't know who Shah Rukh Khan is or if you haven't seen a Bollywood flick before, then you might want to wait on this one. The positives are that actress Juhi Chawla is lovely and does invite interest and sympathy and Shah Rukh Khan ultimately salvages his smarmy role. No, he's not as charismatic as Jack Lemmon or Michael J. Fox, but there's an invested anticipation as we await Rahul finally standing up against the domineering Sidharth. But, before he does, Rahul engages in so much unabashed fawning that I wanted to slap him. Meanwhile, Aditya Pancholi plays his reprehensible role with ease. His character just coldly keeps on dangling that ad agency carrot at Rahul. Pancholi is good to hiss at.

Sometimes I'm in the mood for classy Ivory Merchant stuff and sometimes I hanker for cheese. Overall, I found YES BOSS to be a slice of cheesy heaven. "Cheesy heaven," I call it, somewhat in appreciation, but I'm a Bollywood veteran by now and I know what I'm walking into. Inept acting (Johnny Lever continues to get on my last nerve), one-note characters, a plot drowning in soap opera suds, and tedious musical numbers. Yup, they're all here. But, as I've said, I'm used to the cheese, was ready for it and even had fun with it. But I don't really blame others for rolling their eyes at the blatant hokeyness of it all. And, ultimately, I can't really recommend YES BOSS. When Rahul and Seema finally declare their love for each other (in the middle of a fistfight with the villains, no less), this scene is fraught with so much cheese that I started laying out mouse traps. November 10, 2007

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