High on wit, but doesn’t make the cut

Film: Tere Bin Laden

Director: Abhishek Sharma

Cast: Ali Zafar, Pradhuman Singh, Sugandha Garg, Piyush Mishra

Hear this. A small-time Pakistani reporter dreams of a bite from Big Apple. So what does he do? He sends a tape with an Osama lookalike threatening mayhem in the US. Tere Bin Laden is one of those whacked-out satires that sounds far funnier in theory than it finally is on screen... For no fault of the lead actor, one might add.

Ali Zafar’s comic timing could put some of our desi Khans to shame. Ali is a young actor with considerable screen presence. What’s more, he seems to secrete a sharp sense of enjoyment when confronted by the outrageous.

This is high-wit low-budget comedy, and it shows. The gags and one-liners involving the preparation to put the fake Osama in the line of fire are pungent parody in principle. But the film’s meagre budget muffles the mirth.

Finally it’s all about placing cameras in