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.