A couple of years have passed since Rishi Kapoor succumbed to leukaemia & incidentally at that point of time he was involved in Hitesh Bhatia's "Sharmaji Namkeen". Unfortunately, there were significant portions of the movie still left to be canned & various options were considered as stated by Ranbir in the trailer. Eventually Paresh Rawal stepped in & what we eventually get is an endearing flick that gives us a smile on our face even after it concludes.
Sharmaji (Rishi/Paresh) was the Assistant Manager in a private appliance manufacturer company & due to financial constraints, he was forced to take up voluntary retirement. Being a widower, he tried to keep himself engaged taking care of his sons & the household chores. But he wished for more in life & that's when his friend suggested to make use of his expertise in culinary skills to good effect.
This is Hitesh's directorial debut on the big screen & he has penned the script as well along with Supratik Sen. The basic theme was about the need to understand our elders & the insecurities/hollowness that they feel when retirement sets in & also the necessity for such elders to realize that if they so desire there is always scope to explore new passion. I'm sure that it sounds like a subject that we have come across in the past like the Rishi starrer "Do Dooni Char" to cite one. But Hitesh infuses it with a sense of realism in the manner in which the characters were created & keeping the mood light (thanks to a fantastic cast) without resorting to any type of melodrama. However, personally I felt that the latter half lacked the zing with which the movie started and ended in rather tame terms. On the technical side, pretty much everything was neatly done.
It was a role that was tailor made for Rishi & the veteran nailed it with ease with his vibrant energy and naturalism. Kudos to Paresh, who despite being a brilliant actor himself didn't try to stamp his style but tried to keep it as true as possible to the way Rishi portrayed that character. The rest of the cast have all done their parts aptly be it Suhail Nayyar (as Sandeep), Juhi Chawla, Taruk Raina (as Vincy), Sheeba Chaddha, Ayesha Raza etc.
Verdict: After having his share of the limelight in his younger years, Rishi made a successful transition to character roles over the past decade and a half from "Hum Tum" onwards. Since then he had rediscovered himself with many eye catching performances which culminated with "Sharmaji Namkeen" which was indeed a befitting swan song. In short, do check it out!!!
Rating: 3/5
Regards...Ben
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