Let me say right at the outset that you must make it a point to see Barah Aana before it flashes out of the screens (our balcony had a total of 4 occupied seats – two of us and, till the interval, a pair of grossly overfed women who looked like they would sit for any film provided they had ample snacks). BA is an immensely entertaining experience, only a few steps short of outright excellence. But all this is once you've weathered the first 30 min or so where it goes into a prolonged, explicit and wearying exposition into the mostly prosaic and generic background of its central characters.

Carving out their day-to-day existence in Mumbai's ever-growing slum community of migrant workers are the film's protagonists, an unlikely trio of friends. Shukla (Naseeruddin Shah), a car driver who rarely speaks, plays the quasi-paternal figure to Yadav (Vijay Raaz), a watchman with reedy voice and lack of both literal and figurative backbone, and Aman (newcomer Arjun Mathur) an upwards aspiring coffee shop employee with the hots for a firangi girl that frequents the joint.

Settle down for a period of ennui as the film rattles off a laundry list of issues the trio faces on account of being meek survivors way way down in the food (and other necessities and luxuries) chain: Shukla is repeatedly put down by his employer's fat fuck socialite wife, Yadav is bullied by the building residents and cannot afford to send money for his child's treatment, Aman's attempt to propose to his innamorato end in what the geek community would describe as Epic Fail. Despite the sincerity of the actors and meticulous sense of location, these proceedings lack grip and the film appears to tread on the Madhur Bhandarkar school of “stating the obvious” film-making. Attempts at irony include a scene where Yadav is discussing the multiplex trend of selling 2 rupees worth of popcorn for 60 rupees.

The plot-wheels take an interesting direction when a depressed Yadav accidentally knocks out a “snotty rich bastard” type and in fright drags his victim home to his friends. In all the chaos of how to let off the snotty rich bastard germs the idea of releasing him for ransom. Planned by the ear and executed with all the clumsiness of amateurs, the attempt nonetheless brings home the honey that will sweeten our heroes' lot in life. They must now decide if this is an episode left forgotten or a new career option. Hereon the film picks steam rapidly and sustains our enthusiasm till the very end.

The change in tone in the second part is nothing short of miraculous. Freed of all the expository baggage, the screenplay moves with breathtaking pace and the onscreen events are consistently interesting. It also helps that the story never tries to get too preachy or moralistic about their acts. The actors share a wonderful camaraderie that brings warmth and life to their equation. Vijay Raaz is the main star of the show, making full use of a part that differs from the random buffoonery he is frequently asked to do. Naseeruddin Shah is in vintage form in a role that relies far more on expression and gesture than on dialog (and thankfully doesn't end in a scene with him unleashing a torrent of screaming to make up for it). Arjun Mathur as the last element of the trio also fits well into his character. Freed of our ennui from the first half, we are also able to more wholeheartedly appreciate the technical values, most notably, the set design (Sree Kumar Nair) which is exceptional in its believability and attention to detail. The slums and other locations are as much characters of the film as the human beings in it.

Moral of the story: If they had only pruned off some of the earlier bits of the story or integrated it as tight flashbacks into the main plot thrust, BA would have been an outright winner. As it is you will certainly find BA enjoyable in its good bits, but take lots of coffee to weather through the earlier chunks that rob it of a full rupaiyah rating.