Dharam Sankat Mein is  a remake of the 2010 British film The Infidel which is Directed by Fuwad Khan and Produced by Shariq Patel, Sajjad Chunawala, It is a low key version of PK and a slightly high-concept companion piece to 2012’s OMG. Dharam Sankat Mein is  going to hit the theatre today so let’s see how it is....

 
Dharam Sankat Mein is the story of Dharampal Trivedi (Paresh Rawal), a Hindu with an unhealthy hatred for Muslims, who finds out that he’s adopted and born to Muslim parents. With the help of his Muslim lawyer and neighbour  Nawab (Anu Kapoor), Dharam tracks down his biological father, but before the two can meet, an imam insists Dharam learn a few Islamic customs.
 
During the day, Dharam tries to be a better Hindu for his son’s lover Shraddha, whose father is a devout follower of Neelanand Baba (Naseeruddin Shah). During the night, he sneaks out to his Muslim neighbour’s (Annu Kapoor) house to learn more about Islam for his father. You genuinely feel for Dharam in these portions, which are also the best parts. This includes a hilarious scene where he kisses a punditji on the back of his hand and greets him with a salaam alaikum. In another scene, he is taught to pronounce the syllable Kh right (from the epiglottis, like in My Name is Khan).

 
As film buffs know well, one of the hardest thing to do in India cinema is to make any sort of religious joke in films.Dharam Sankat Mein had quite an uphill task of balancing comedy and the religious sentiments of its audience. It succeeds fairly well – the jokes are in good taste and the film presents the hypocrisy in blind belief, rather than faith per se. Both Hindu and Muslim customs, two polar opposite sides of the spectrum, are made fun of with equally measured, over-careful restraint. Gujarat’s ban on alcohol gets a subtle dig.
 
PK managed to steer clear from controversy because of its star power, but Dharam Sankat Mein, being a little film, becomes a bigger victim of the censors. The cuts it's had to suffer are brutal – a kufi is digitally blurred throughout the film. Whole scenes have had to be chopped off, making transitions between the scenes awkward and nonsensical.The censorship takes away the satirical bite of the film, rendering a remainder that is passably fun and intermittently hit or miss.
 
What works is the lead pair of actors. Shah is hilarious and Rawal’s performance manages to score both laughs and sympathy. What doesn’t work is the imagery. For some reason the film is dimly lit, with uninteresting production design, which is strange considering director Khan was a DOP before. The songs are terrible, but fortunately there are just two of them, if you exclude the ridiculous end credits music video featuring Sophie Chaudhury. There is also a grating, out of place and unnecessary melodramatic jaunt in the third act with a drunk Dharam. Still, there are enough goodies in the film to negate the negatives. Even if the film doesn’t find its audience in the theater, like OMG, Dharam Sankat Mein should develop a cult following on the telly.