Boman, Cyrus to tickle audiences in ‘Fruit & Nut’ (IANS Preview)

NEW DELHI - A first reference to the movie title reminds one of a Cadbury chocolate with the same name. VJ-turned-director Kunal Vijaykar’s debut movie “Fruit & Nut”, releasing Friday, might not be high on buzz but promises rib-tickling humour courtesy its star cast.

“Fruit & Nut” is a social parody starring Boman Irani, Cyrus Broacha and Mahesh Manjrekar. Dia Mirza also plays a pivotal role in the film produced by Studio 18.

“It’s a madcap comedy. There is no way of defining this film. You can’t slot it as a comedy or anything else. I don’t think anyone has seen a film that is this bizarre. We are not being pretentious by saying we have made something extraordinary,” Boman has been quoted as saying.

The director has teamed up with his ex-colleague Cyrus in the film. Both worked as VJs and after that they teamed up for CNN-IBN’s show “The Week That Wasn’t”. Vijayakar wields the megaphone for the satirical comedy and Cyrus hosts it.

The movie revolves round Jolly Maker (Cyrus), a simple and hard-working, middle-class struggling bachelor in search of love, money, friends and success.

Jolly, an accident-prone nerd who leaves a trail of disaster behind him, works as a clerk-accountant in a greedy and corrupt builder Khandar’s (Mahesh) office.

Things take a funny turn when Jolly’s colleague, Monica (Dia), is kidnapped. After a roller-coaster ride and a series of comical mishaps, Jolly finds himself in the middle of a plot that has been hatched by an insane ex-Maharaja (Boman) to destroy Mumbai.

Playing the Maharaja, Boman enlivens the Indian version of Playboy magazine chief Hugh Hefner in the character. Called Harry Holkar, he not only lives with young and pretty women, like Hefner does in real life but also claims authority over Mumbai as his princely state that his forefathers have ruled.

He has also been shown to have his own dungeon very much like Hefner’s Playboy mansion where he celebrates life in style.

Even the initials of Boman’s character have been consciously kept the same as Hefner’s to attribute a similarity to the flashy billionaire.

“Fruit & Nut” was slated to release last year but was postponed because the producers, Studio 18, couldn’t understand the final product. Vijayakar was asked to re-edit the film.

With big-budget movies like “Blue”, “Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna” and “All The Best - Fun Begins” as its predecessors and much-awaited “Aladin” and “London Dreams” as successors on Oct 30, it is to be seen if this light-hearted movie manages to tickle the audience’s funny bone.