Cyrus Broacha's comedy disappoints in Fruit and Nut

Offbeat, I am afraid, is a rather tricky term.

In the domain of low-budget cinema, its definition ranges from meaningful, ironic and abstract to silly, obnoxious and uninspiring. But clever filmmaking, as witnessed through films like Khosla Ka Ghosla [ Images ] and Bheja Fry, isn't restricted to a mere budget. Either the script has it or it doesn't.

In the case of director Kunal Vijaykar's debut comedy, Fruit and Nut, it doesn't. If the wishy-washy caper's intent is to draw your attention towards its minutely mocking tone and decipher its slow satire, it fails miserably, chiefly because almost all its characters appear to have escaped a bizarre complex of an imaginary zombie planet. They don't look from this world. They don't dress like this world. They certainly don't talk like this world.

Here's how: So there's a guy named Jolly Maker (Cyrus Broacha [ Images ]). Jolly Maker! Yeah, that's funny. Have your sides split yet? Haven't budged even, right? He ties his shoelaces all wrong and trips on his feet. Does that amuse you? He walks into clear day with his umbrella open confusing his neighbour's plant-watering session to be a rain shower. Those smiley-faced weapons out yet?

He bumps into his dream girl escape a kidnap with her limbs tied and mouth taped but is too much of a fool to help her out. Ha ha? He swabs the boss's office floor by rubbing himself onto it, dressed in nothing other than his undergarments. Surely Cyrus can do better than this.

The comedian's superb timing and trademark repartee is wasted in an under-written role that requires the viewer to feel sorry for an entertainer known to have made a name laughing at himself.