MUMBAI: When it comes to a sports film in India, the theme has to be 'against all odds' and 'the triumph of the underdog'; people are always with the underdog. But Ferrari Ki Sawaari lingers somewhere between a children's film and a charade.

Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Director: Rajesh Mapuskar. Cast: Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Ritwik Sahore, Deepak Shirke, Satyadeep Mishra, Seema Bhargava, Aakash Dhabade, Nilesh Divekar, Vijay Nikam, Paresh Rawal, Vidya Balan (Friendly appearance).

It is about a young lad, Ritwik Sahore, who has the potential to become the next superstar of cricket, his determined father, Sharman Joshi, who is willing to invest his last rupee to encourage his son, and the grandfather, Boman Irani, who hates anything cricket. There is no angle provided for a female actor in the story.

Sharman Joshi, as he proudly introduces himself, is the head clerk at the RTO in Mumbai. He is so honest he finds a cop to pay the fine when he has to break a signal and nobody has seen him do it. He often helps the traffic police clear traffic jams. His son, Ritwik Sahore, loves cricket and also shows great potential to make it big someday. Sharman spares no efforts to get what his son needs in pursuit of cricket. That is, when he watches his son checking a bat out at a sport shop and putting it back after seeing its price tag, Sharman puts together the money from all his hiding places, including breaking the piggy bank. The bat cost Rs 2800 and he manages to buy it but then comes an impossible demand. Ritwik has been chosen for a coaching camp at Lords and the fees amount to Rs 150,000.

Boman Irani is no help as he has a past related to cricket which is not very pleasant and, as such, he does not let his son Sharman take up the game and also discourages his grandson from it. Boman Irani, it turns out, was a Mumbai Ranji level player along with Paresh Rawal. Both had merits to make it in the Indian team but there was place only for one of them. On the day of selection, Rawal plays dirty and smashes Irani's specs. Unable to spot a bouncer, Irani loses his sight in one eye. Since then, he has been sulking, spending his days on the sofa in front of a TV and munching peanuts. (Somehow, he has managed to marry and produce a child in Sharman in the meantime.)

Just when Sharman is mulling over the problem of raising Rs 150,000, in walks Seema Bhargava, an as- loud-as-they-come Punjabi wedding planner. One of her clients is a municipal corporator who wants his son's baraat to ride in a Ferrari instead of the traditional horse. The car he wants to ride in is one piece in Mumbai and is owned by Sachin Tendulkar. If Sharman manages to borrow Tendulkar's Ferrari using Boman Irani's contacts, there is Rs 150,000 in it for him. Sharman reaches Tendulkar's apartment and from behind the door he is handed the car keys. It seems he has been mistaken for the car wash guy and handed the key. Tendulkar has a number of cars but it looks like Ferrari is the only he cares to wash!

Sharman drives the car away to make his Rs 150,000 but leaves two very worried men behind, Tendulkar's domestic help, Aakash Dabhade, and the building watchman, Deepak Shirke. The duo has a few hours to trace the Ferrari before its owner arrives from his trip. As the two go around looking for the car on Shirke's moped they account for some funny moments in the mishmash that follows.

Meanwhile, Sharman Joshi has managed to make Boman Irani come to terms with the fact that Ritwik is extremely gifted. He bowls to Ritwik and sees his talent for himself. He now joins the efforts to see his grandson through to his Lords trip. The money is lost and then found again, the corporator's son wants to get even with his father for always showing him a gun, and so on: such things carry on in an attempt to make Ferrari Ki Sawaari funny with little success. Eventually, the film drags. Ideally the duration should have been 90 to 100 minutes instead of the 139-minute running time it now has.

Ferrari Ki Sawaari is a one track story about a father and son and the latter's ambition. Side tracks don't make up for the sagging script. There is no female lead in the film; Sharman is a widower tending to his son as well as father. There is no scope for romance or music that may stay with a viewer. Direction is not up the mark with too many loose ends; one can't make things brighter by lighting up an entire Parsi colony for Christmas if the spark is missing in the content.

Editing is shoddy. Sharman Joshi comes up with a sincere performance though his role offers little variations. Boman Irani, made up to look a frustrated loser, is his usual self but without any funny lines. Ritwik Sahore is the best of the lot, natural all through. Satyadeep Mishra as the coach is good. Seema Bhargava as the loud Punjabi is rank bad. Aakash Dabhade and Deepak Shirke are very good. Vijay Nikam and Nilesh Divekar are good but with sectional appeal as they play typical rogue family. Paresh Rawal in a cameo is okay. Vidya Balan's item number lacks in both, visual as well as audio appeal.

Ferrari Ki Sawaari is a funny film that fails to entertain; it is neither a fully children's film nor family fare. It faces a tough time at the box office.