Toaster

Ramakant, a miserly middle-class man is obsessed with saving every penny. When a wedding he and his wife (Sanya Malhotra) attended is abruptly called off, he embarks on a bizarre, relentless quest to get back the expensive toaster they gifted. His pursuit results in series of mishaps, accidental murders, blackmail, amidst a group of eccentric neighbours. It is simply a bad day at work for Rajkummar Rao. While he has pulled off comedies effortlessly before, this one is too much of a farce to salvage, and the cluelessness is visible on screen. Sanya Malhotra puts up a neat show, as she generally does, though her role contributes little to the proceedings.

There is something about Rajkummar Rao’s comic timing — subtle or not — that always hits home. In Ludo, we saw it in the undying love that his ’80s-styled character had for Mithunda — displayed via moves, mohawk and the breathless rattling of the menu at the joint he served in as a waiter. In one of his earlier films, Talaash, where he played the supporting role of a cop, his character’s dilemma to stay or leave, while in the background, when his boss, played by Aamir Khan, engages in a shouting match with his wife (Rani Mukerji) in a public space, proved to be a masterclass in understated lightness in a scene that was otherwise exceptionally intense. In Stree 2, a franchise that has given him immense opportunity to flaunt his comedic chops, the scene where his Vicky desperately mimics Jana’s (Abhishek Banerjee) mother in wholly unintelligible phrases just to drown out her grating voice, is meme gold.

Toaster—the confused new comedy on Netflix from debut director Vivek Daschaudhary and the first film from actors Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa’s new production house, Kampa Films—wastes a great premise. Meet Ramakant (Rajkummar is never NOT a joy to watch in a comedy) who’s a terrifyingly, debilitatingly cheap. I’m talking ‘argues for a six-rupee refund on his phone bill’ level kanjoos. His way of being includes taking his wife to the local gurdwara for langar to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and sneaking toast from his neighbour every morning to save himself from having to pay for breakfast. That, or attending local political rallies or religious processions for the free food.

Ramakant (Rajkummar Rao) is not just a kanjoos. He is the kind of maha-kanjoos who feels like he’s won a lottery if a telephone company returns the six rupees he insists it owes him. Six, yes, count ‘em. His comely wife Shilpa (Sanya Malhotra), addicted to crime shows, hates the fact that they live in a building society full of senior citizens, one of them being a Mrs D’Souza (Seema Pahwa), who can be sweet-talked into reducing their rent.

It’s been a while since we watched a good Bollywood comedy. And perhaps longer since a director has used the perfect comic timing of Rajkummar Rao in a movie script. Rao, who has featured in a spate of mostly unforgettable films in recent years, perhaps got bored with the repeated roles that were being offered to him year after year and decided to back a genuinely funny film called Toaster. Released on Netflix directly, it’s the kind of film that makes you laugh out loud at mundanity, the everyday chaos that the Indian middle-class balances in life. Directed by Vivek Daschaudhary and produced by Rao’s wife, Patralekha, Toaster feels refreshing amid the heavy-duty pan-India action films that filmmakers are constantly feeding us.