Pack a room with half a dozen acting talents and you can guarantee yourself a decent film. That's the one big take away from Jai Ho Democracy. At 90 minutes it's a breezy watch. Unfortunately, this rookie endeavour doesn't stick to the basics. In a bid to be dramatic and relevant, it strives an extra mile. That's where its ambitions get the better of it. It has some great moments of Parliamentary parody but it's shabbily put together and such a rookie attempt at satire. It ends up lampooning its own cause.

Every once in a while a movie that promises something fun but fails to keep its promise, is released. These try hard to fly but instead fall flat on the ground. This week Jai Ho Democracy has the unfortunate honour of clinching the aforementioned title. Jai Ho Democracy is directed by Ranjit Kapoor who co-wrote the satirical classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. However, the story of this film feels like a Saturday Night Live parody skit, which has been expanded into a feature film.

When you Google search the term 'democracy', it yields the result stating that, 'democracy' means a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. In the last few years, Bollywood has witnessed a few films that were made on this theme. While some of them were hard-hitting and in-the face, there have been others that have made a mockery of the same. This week's release is JAI HO DEMOCRACY, a political satire.

A minor incident at the Indo Pak border threatens to escalate. In the fray are soldiers from both sides, shrill media persons, and puffed up politicians, all hell bent upon making things worse. Good premise for a satire, especially since Ranjit Singh, who co-wrote the immortal 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron' is at the helm. But 'Jai Ho Democracy' declares itself to be a dud right from the opening, because of the sheer ineptness and flatness of execution.

When a film ridicules the loopholes of a nation's administration on the strength of infantile digs and shallow sensationalism to serve as some sort of eye opener, it weakens its own argument. This is what happens in the case of Ranjit Kapoor's Jai Ho! Democracy, a movie purporting to be a political satire but set on a flimsy premise.

It all starts with an irrelevant incident. After spotting a hen in no man's land, across the LOC between India and Pakistan, a junior cook of the Indian army is forced to enter the forbidden land to claim the Murgi. As soon as the youngster is pushed into the area, Pakistani soldiers open fire objecting this move. The Indians demand that they should be allowed to retaliate.

A farmer hangs himself from a tree at a political rally. And you wonder how much lower the below-the-belt politics of this country is likely to go. Laughter seems to be the only remedy to the sickness that has ceased the process of statesmanship in our country. That the India-Pakistan issue is being fuelled and fired for various nebulous reasons is a fact that we all must face before a solution to the cross-border strife can be found. Facing the face-off at the border with farcical directness can be exciting in a certain kind of cinema.