Life, according to a song in the Bollywood comedy “My Friend Pinto,” is cute, and has many moods: sometimes it’s misty, sometimes it’s crispy (or so goes the translation). “My Friend Pinto” also has many moods, too many really. It’s cute, sort of, as well as crudely slapstick and sweetly picaresque, and just a bit misty and crispy.  Prateik as the hero of the Hindi comedy “My Friend Pinto.”  If the director Raaghav Dar had tried to do less, he probably could have done more. But he and his co-writer, Arun Sukumar, lard the story with subplots, and it runs away from them early on, careering from tone to tone.  Michael Pinto (Prateik), a Goan innocent, is at sea in the big city (Mumbai) on New Year’s Eve. We also follow (partial list) gangsters, ex-gangsters and a washed-up B-movie star; a kidnapped child; a puppy (cute, with a little bandanna); street kids; a love interest (an underpowered Kalki Koechlin); and Michael’s friend Sameer (Arjun Mathur), stuck in traffic with his mean wife. These lives intersect, overlap and converge for a party at Club Envy.  Some of the subplots dither and come close to being unbearable, and the message — those who befriend Michael are transformed for the better — pure cornpone. The movie, though, isn’t completely awful.  For one thing it has Prateik. The simpleton Michael may be an odd career choice for an actor courting stardom, but even with a goofy, empty smile, Prateik has charisma. And though Michael may be an innocent, when he dances, all bets are off: the hips shake and the ladies swoon.  Directed by Raaghav Dar; written by Mr. Dar and Arun Sukumar; director of photography, Gargey Trivedi; edited by Shan Mohammed and Dipika Kalra; music by Hitesh Sonik; costumes by Shabina Khan and Darshan Jalan; produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Ronnie Screwvala; released by UTV Motion Pictures and SLB Films. In Manhattan at the Big Cinemas, 239 East 59th Street. In Hindi, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes. This film is not rated.  WITH: Prateik (Michael Pinto), Arjun Mathur (Sameer), Kalki Koechlin (Maggie), Divya Dutta (Reshma) and Makrand Deshpande (Don).
Prateik plays Michael Pinto, a Goan innocent who meets a host of Mumbai characters, in this Bollywood comedy.