99 (2009)

Director: Raj and DK

Story: Raj and DK and Sita Menon

Cast: Kunal Khemu, Cyrus Broacha, Boman Irani, Soha Ali Khan

Music: Shamir Tandon, Ashutosh Pathak

Time: 133 minutes

Bottom-line: A smart mix of reality and fiction; 100% entertainment

Inspired by the India-South Africa cricket betting scandal of 1999-2000, 99 is a comedy-drama that uses that very scam as a backdrop for a tale of mix-ups, goons, theft and importantly, (lots of) money. The film features an ensemble cast including Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan, “The Week That Wasn’t” Cyrus Broacha, Boman Irani, Mahesh Manjrekar and Vinod Khanna.

 

Cyrus as Zaramud (left) and Kunal as Sachin

It’s only after that one run to reach a century that you get a standing ovation; if not, no one remembers the 99 runs you scored.

Mumbai: Sachin (Khemu) and Zaramud (Broacha) run an illegal business where they clone SIM cards of mobiles. In an attempt to escape from the cops, they steal a Mercedes belonging to a gangster, AGM (Manjrekar), and damage it beyond repair. AGM catches them and uses them as hitmen to get back his loans from his other borrowers in Delhi. Meanwhile, Rahul (Irani) is a gambler, betting money on everything from poker to cricket matches. He has also borrowed money from a lot of loan sharks, including AGM. His competitor in betting is JC (Khanna) – based on the real-life bookie. When the bag of money – that Sachin and Zaramud take from Rahul to AGM – gets stolen, the only chance the three of them have to get back the money is by betting on the tie-breaker ODI match. Do they “hit a century”? Or do they “get out at 99”?

 

Boman Irani as Rahul

99’s success relies on Kunal Khemu’s charisma and Cyrus Broacha’s comic timing. The Laurel-Hardy type combination really works wonders, and the chemistry between them is brilliant. Outrageously dumb and cunningly smart at the same time, these two carry a lot of energy, which is balanced by the far saner character of their hotel manager and Sachin’s love interest, Pooja (Soha). Boman Irani’s character is the most interesting of the lot – a gambler with a list of “theories” and “signs” that lead him to his money, the way he juggles to pay off his loans to all the different people, while pacifying his wife at the same time, is truly hilarious.

 

Soha as Pooja

The hyperlink narrative – joining tales involving small-time crooks stealing briefcases to millionaires throwing fortunes on a match – and the backdrop of cricket all add to the fun. One aspect where the film differs from reality is that the actual 4^th ODI is shown as the tie-breaker match in the story, as a plot device. A lot of subtle humour comes from the Indian stereotypes, from the way people treat cricket as a religion, how every girl in Delhi is either named only Pooja or Neha, and the newspaper headlines you see just before the closing credits. The plot twists are unexpected, and the story is filled with so many quotable punchlines and jokes.

One of the cleanest comedy films in the past decade, 99 is surprisingly (and sadly) underrated. With a fast-paced narrative, well-crafted plot twists, and, as the tagline says: part fact, part fiction, pure fun, this is a film you must watch, cricket-lover or not!

My Rating: 4/5