Everybody Says I’m Fine is a 2001 Indian drama starring Rehann Engineer as Xen and Koel Purie Nikita. Xen is hairdresser with the ability to read his customer’s minds. Nikita is an outspoken socialite who seems to be the only person that Xen can’t read. The movie follows Xen as he secretly tries to help his customer’s with their problems. Warning: My review contains plot spoilers.
I rented the movie because I thought it was a Bollywood romance. I like the random singing and dancing that accompanies most Bollywood movies. This movie contains no dance numbers and very little romance. Instead it is a drama with an interesting twist. I loved the movie. It definitely makes an impact.
The movie opens with a young Xen witnessing the freak death of his parents. He helplessly watched his parents die as he was trapped in a sound proof room. As an adult, Xen now lives in a world of very little noise. He keeps his TV on mute and never opens his windows to the outside world. He lives a reclusive life in an apartment above his hairdressing shop. Even though he is a recluse he is still a very likeable character and all of his hairdressers and customers are very fond of him.
Xen has the ability to hear his customer’s thoughts when he cuts their hair. Xen uses this ability to help his customer’s discreetly. Several storylines are introduced with Xens ability. Xen helps a boy with a girl he likes, he stops an actor from committing suicide, and he helps a divorcee salvage her reputation. Xen also falls in love with Nikita. He does ruin their first romantic interaction by revealing that he can’t read her mind. Nikita takes great offense and thinks he is implying she must have major issues if he can’t read her mind. She quickly turns the tables and points out the faults in his reclusive lifestyle and how he stops all noise in his life. Xen wakes up the next day and decides to open his windows and turn the TV mute button off.
Some time goes by and Nikita shows up on Xen’s doorstep upset and soaked from a rainstorm. They quickly strip and make love. It was quite a moving love scene and very unexpected because I’ve only see Indian movies with discreet kissing and no love scenes. Either way, it has to be one of the best love scenes I have every seen. The next morning Xen asks Nikita when he can see her next and she says in a month because she is going on vacation to the Bahamas with her father. Now this is where the movie takes an unexpected turn.
Xen has a regular monthly customer Mr. Mittel who is a successful businessman. Mr. Mittel’s thoughts are full of abuse towards woman. I was given the impression by his thoughts that he was sexually pursuing a woman who was resisting his advances. The big twist and quite a shocker is that the woman turns out to be his daughter Nikita. Xen quickly puts two and two together and decides to fix the problem. Mr. Mittel’s hair appointments are always late appointments anyway so Xen has the shop all to himself. He relaxes Mr. Mittel by offering him a drink. As Xen cuts his hair, he hears Mr. Mittel’s thoughts about how he is going to teach his daughter a lesson for coming home at seven in the morning. Unbeknownst to Mr. Mittel, she had spent the night with Xen. I knew Xen was up to something but I was quite shocked when he proceeded to ram Mr. Mittel’s head against the counter over and over again. He then drags Mr. Mittel’s dead body to his car, rolls the car down a hill until it crashes, and basically fakes his death.
Nikita comes to Xen’s shop that same night, in shock over her father’s death. She sits in the barbers chair and Xen proceeds to cut her hair. He can now hear her thoughts and learns all the terrible things her father has done to her. They both break down and the scene is very emotional. The next day Xen is overjoyed to learn that he can no longer hear people’s thoughts. Nikita and Xen embrace and the movie ends. Wow.
The movie was totally unexpected but amazing. I recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers. I did learn that I need to pay more attention to ratings on movies even if they are foreign. I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars.
