Film: King of Bollywood

Director: Piyush Jha

Cast: Om Puri, Sophie Dahl, Manoj Pahwa, Diwakar Pundhir

Rating: ** 1/2

An erstwhile Bollywood star who's hell bent on making a comeback with his flamboyance intact, an eager Brit-Indian fan, who wants to document her idol's life on celluloid, a resourceful secretary 'married to his star' and an indifferent star kid, who refuses to bite the acting bug – King of Bollywood is all this and much more.

A spoof built around Mumbai's tinsel town, King of Bollywood is supposed to be Om Puri's day out, reveling in comedy. Directed by advertising pro Piyush Jha, KoB is an attempt at humour that sets out trying to ridicule Bollywood and its many vagaries, but ends up by reducing it to a crass universe filled with base, crotch-scratching and ignoble souls.

Casting couch, underworld financing, stars dancing at weddings for some extra moolah , a kingly throne inspired by Bal Thackeray's seat of fortune – Jha has tried to grasp the many singulars that go on to make a whole – Bollywood, but unfortunately reduced one of the largest revenue earning industry to a mere kingdom of debauchery, where intelligence is passé.