The second night was better.

Realizing they need to do something to mollify the angry crowds burning Chris Kattan is effigy for his public kiss of Lalima (Neha Dhupia), Priya decides to appeal to Lalima for forgiveness, taking Chris with her.   Turns out Lalima is quite willing to use the situation to her advantage.   When Chris refuses to get her on SNL or Dancing with the Stars, she kicks him and Priya out.

Next stop, a photo op at a girls’ school for former street kids.   To his surprise, Chris genuinely enjoys himself, even after the press have departed.

Media crisis over, Priya and Monty set about trying to get the film off the ground.   Chris becomes obsessed with a now retired actress (Kunti played by Rachana Shah) who he spots on a film poster and is determined to persuade her to be his leading lady, but first, he has to find her in the rural ashram where she’s living.   he sets off with Priya in tow.

Along the way, the two meet cute, celebrate Holi, find Kunti, and then have a typically filmi stupid misunderstanding that threatens everything.

Meanwhile back in Bombay, Monty is pulling out all stops to find financing, ending up in the claws of his father’s nemesis and (seemingly) signing away his father’s studio as the episode ends.

In Part Two of Bollywood Hero there were more moments I actually found funny and less that were either eye-rolling or cringeworthy, though there were still some clunkers that landed with a thud (the scene with the elderly stick of a film financier Monty visits), but this episode seemed to relax and let its hair down a bit, especially when it left Bombay.   And the little girls in the school were just naturally adorable.

And a word about those street shots of Bombay…is it just me, or do they seem to get someone in crutches in practically every shot?

My favorite laugh-out-loud line of the episode:   “Frost Nixon, right?”

And the final night, episode 3, well, so – so.

There were a lot of situations to clear up in one hour: Chris trying to patch things up with Priya, Monty struggling to direct a successful movie and not lose the family studio, Kunti and her rekindled feelings for old India hand and actor Reg Hunt (Julian Sands), and Chris wanting to be a hero – not a funny man – in Peculiar Dancing Boy.

On top of all that, like a good masala flic, Bollywood Hero was trying to be funny and touching and sustain at least a teeny bit of suspense about how everything would be resolved, all in one package.   Tall order.

For me, it didn’t quite gel.   This episode had hardly any laughs compared to the previous night, and for a story about B’wood, they didn’t do the huge happy dance number until the end as the closing credits sequence, and that I did like, but it was late in the game.

Overall verdict on the whole thing: mixed.

For die-hard filmi fans, I think you’ll find it lacking, though you may have the same curiosity I did about how they would attempt to pull the whole thing off and what sort of Hindi movie elements they’d reference.   If you’re a newcomer to all the wonderful entertainment that Bombay’s film industry has to offer, you may enjoy it more and even learn a few things.

That said, I’d still commend IFC heartily for the many resources on the Bollywood Hero website about the history of the film industry and the major players, and for their 12-week long screening of recent Hindi movie hits (we’ll look past the rather dubious selection of the Imran Khan film Kidnap….).   I’m always hoping more folks in the US will discover Hindi movies for themselves and be smitten with them like I was a dozen years back, and if this mini-series serves to do that, well then, good for them.

So far, not encouraging.

Chris Kattan plays a version of himself, and when he despairs at the most recent role his agent has got him (a goat-like alien), he allows himself to be convinced by a young Indian director to go to Bombay and play the lead in Peculiar Dancing Boy.

Upon arrival in the city, Chris gets to do both the fish-out-of-water bit with occasional flourishes of Ugly American.   (“Oh!   Indian food is so spicy here, not like in California!” says he, as he very publicly spits out an appetizer at cocktail party, not once, but twice. )

Pooja Kumar plays Priya, sister of the director and producer of the film and she takes an instant dislike to Chris, which is further supported by his obvious lack of dance skills the next day, at the mahurat of the film.

She fires him, he gets thrown out onto the street (because his Dad back in LA has messed up his credit card; what?   he only has one??) and wanders the creepy (?) lanes of Bombay by night.

Next morning, the director sorts things out and installs him in their family home, where he gets to meet the grandmother (who he first mistakes for the maid).   She teaches Chris how to dance, and he improves a bit, even managing to convince Neha Dhupia’s character, his would-be leading lady, to give him another chance.   To the strains of Bachna Ae Haseeno they take a turn on the dance floor, and then he spoils it all by doing a Richard Gere, and the episode’s over.

Scenes from tonight’s Episode Two show him getting burnt in effigy for the kiss, running out of town, and possibly starting to fall in love with Priya.

As a comedy, last night’s episode was a flop.   I laughed out loud one time only, at Kattan trying to dance on the day of the mahurat.   Everyone knows white men can’t…oh wait….well, I guess they can’t dance either.

For Indophiles or anyone missing Bombay, well, yeah they do film on the street a bit, and guess what, there’s autos, a cow, some goats, people washing themselves in public, and lots of street urchins begging.

For fillum fans, since this is targeted to the US audience, there’s no cameos of big Indian stars like in Luck By Chance, and the music and dance sequences – the very special feature which would be most likely to get americanos curious about Bollywood movies and maybe wantin’ to see more – are seriously toned down.   The only cameos are lackluster appearances by Keanu Reeves, David Allen Grier and Maya Rudolph.

Let’s see what tonight brings…

In anticipation of the first episode of the three-night miniseries Bollywood Hero on IFC (tonight at 10pm), a flash mob in Times Square broke out into a filmi dance yesterday afternoon (keep your eyes open from minute 1:42 onwards for the BH stars).

Had a very interesting interview with the Bollywood Hero (and Slumdog Millionaire) choreogrpaher Longinus Fernandes yesterday.   He was very complimentary about Chris Kattan’s willingness to learn all the dance moves in spite of not considering himself a good dancer at all.   (Hey, what about all those head bops as a Roxbury guy on SNL?)

More detail a bit later today, but for now, just had to say I did enjoy Love Aaj Kal.

Sweet summer flic, Saif and Deepika do well together, even if they don’t melt the screen.   (Their roles didn’t call for that anyway.)