Desi Galaxy

Being Cyrus is a psychological thrillar with stars like Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani and Saif Ali Khan. Directed by Homi Adjania who is debuting with this movie and is well aware of the fact that Hindi cinema has almost always treated Parsis in comic light. This is also Saif Ali Khan’s first English movie and probably the first off beat movie too. Though Saif considers Salam Namaste as an off beat movie aswell but the off beatness was ignored due to the fact that it was produced by Yash Raj Films.

Being Cyrus is a story of a very bizarre chapter in the life of a Parsi guy, Cyrus (Saif Ali Khan). Cyrus lands up at the Sethna home in Panchgani, and lives with Sethnas for a year. He’s a drifter, and stays with them because he wants to learn how to sculpt. Naseer plays a retired sculptor. This movie pokes fun at the stereotypes surrounding Parsis that Hindi Cinema has portrayed for a long time. As the scriptwriter Sooni Taraporewala puts it:

“I think it’s a stupid sense of humour. Parsis have a good sense of humour, we can laugh at ourselves and so we just choose to shrug it off and not burn buildings down.”

This film has some twists. You would find funny things but you would be surprised that you found these things funny while they were really not funny. Saif Ali Khan, while talking to Hindustan Times told:

My character is a guy called Cyrus and he seems to have a deep interest in pottery - one who seems perfectly normal and quite charming, but is slightly intriguing and quite dangerous because of how innocuous he seems. Cyrus is an orphan who has learnt through experience and has a slightly unique take on life and isn’t as affected with things as other people are - almost existentialist in that way. He has grown through this life from outside, which is actually a line from the script.

Is the movie about relationships? Could we say it is a bold film? Being Cyrus is my first English film. It’s a quality film. It’s a bit of a thriller. It only took 20 of my shooting days and has been shot amazingly by cinematographer Jehengir Chowdhary. It should be evaluated in its own space. It is on relationships but it’s not just on Dimple (Kapadia) and me. It is a bold subject but not sleazy or a horror film.

Dimple Kapadia playing an important role as Katy in this movie had to gain extra weight for Being Cyrus. She says “It is not on complications in relationships. It is not on dysfunctional marriage either. How would I describe the film? I would say it has a lot of black humour in it.”

Boman Irani tells about his role:

I play a very crude and angry Parsee. I mean he is so angry that he fights with the neighbors, with the dogs, anyone he finds and he can fight with them. The age of this guy is between 48 and 50 and how he is just angry at the world. And yes, it’s a nice story about which I can’t say much because the minute I give you the outline you would start guessing. And it’s better not to guess but to see to really like the film.

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