Cirkus movie review: Sparsely funny, mostly listless Comedy of Errors with a message

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Varun Sharma, Jacqueline Fernandez, Pooja Hegde, Murali Sharma, Siddharth Jadhav, Johnny Lever, Vrajesh Hirjee, Sanjay Mishra, Sulabha Arya, Cameo: Deepika Padukone Director: Rohit Shetty Language: Hindi with a handful of Tamil Two pairs of doppelgangers living in different parts of India land up in the same town. You will learn how this freak situation came about if you watch director Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, a comedy of errors in which there are inevitable mix-ups involving spouses, lovers, concerned parents and crooks until the truth is revealed at the nth hour. Ironically, Rohit Shetty’s much-lambasted comedies give us more authenticity in the use of language in southern Indian settings than most commercial Hindi cinema bothers with. To get an idea of the triteness in Cirkus, sample this conversation that takes place when Sulabha Arya’s character aims a firearm at a man: He: “Meri Nirupa Roy, give me that toy.” She: “First leave Joy.” How long will Hindi film-goers have to settle for rhyming lines and malapropisms in place of intelligent slapstick?