It's only fair that director Mrigdeep Singh Lamba’s debut film should carry a warning: “Teen Thay Bhai bears no resemblance or relevance to the lives, fights and frights of people outside of the Punjab. It may be of no interest to non-Punjabis”. After all, it is a delightful and dippy Punjabi fairy tale.

Like all fairy tales, this one too is about silly and simple village folk who have lost their moorings, and whose journey to happily-ever-after involves seemingly unnecessary tasks, evil men of authority, witches, a misunderstood dwarf, the elements, and magical resolutions followed by grand transformations.
But since Teen Thay Bhai is from “The Book of Bedtime Fairy Tales for Punjabi Puttars”, happy ending here means bhangra and shaadi; the tasks are set by a dead and divine Dadaji and involve his adarsh and asthiyan; the quest takes place in a lonely and cold house where quaffing whiskey is a necessity; women don’t figure much, and when they do they bring bras and trouble; there is a smug Pomerian (Pomeranian). And since this is a tale from the Gill and not the Grimm Brothers, it’s politically offensive.
We first meet Chixie Gill (Om Puri), a sadiyal from Bhatinda and the eldest of the three brothers. Chixie owns a naade-elastic ki dukaan, is generally irritable and especially frustrated these days because his large and round daughters prefer samosas to grooms.
Brother number two is Happy Gill (Deepak Dobriyal), a dentist of dodgy skills, and then there is Fancy Gill (Shreyas Talpade), a two-bit actor in Punjabi films.
They all live separate lives but are bound by ties and genes even they are unaware of.
News arrives that Dadaji is dead. Brothers rush to Dadaji’s village house where a vakil tells them that Dadaji had a bungalow near Manali which can be theirs after they fulfil Dadaji’s wishes. The deal is that Dadaji, now in a brass pot, must spend one year with each brother, and for three years, on his death anniversary, the three brothers must spend two days together in the bungalow on the hill.
They agree and we next meet them in year three. A snowstorm is raging outside and Chixie is the first to arrive, with whiskey, a jar of cream and an electric fly swatter. Happy comes next, with his relaxing electric iron, and then Fancy, carrying Dadaji and Shanky the Pomerian in an ice-box.
There’s not much brotherly love. Just lots of abusing, slapping and hurting each other. You see, Dadaji (Yograj Singh) was a respected elder of the village who loved his zameen like his mother and would not sell it. But Chixie had dreams that didn’t involve playing daddy to his little brothers. So he left. Happy loved the dhobi’s daughter (Ragini Khanna) but naughty Fancy ruined that romance.
The elder brother who fled but failed, the meek middle one who loved but didn’t dare, and the young one who is still toddling are together just so they can lay their hands on the money — to marry off fat daughters, to open a dry cleaning shop, to fly to America to make Return of the Blue Lagoon. But there’s a reason why Dadaji is still inside a pot.
Dadaji's house can't be defiled, so the brothers venture out chasing a mysterious midget, are instead lured by churails. We know that this is a Punjabi fairy tale because the witches are white, blonde and roll psychotropic substances in paranthas. Brothers give in to temptation and now they must pay. They are hauled to a police station by a deranged cop with cruel and humiliating torture implements — bottle opener, stapler, scotch tape, vacuum cleaner. Bas, then what, the brothers come of age, join forces, escape, rescue Dadaji and arrive in their village to find love and happiness.
Teen Thay Bhai is a fantastic tale about zar, zoru and zameen. The plot is silly and crammed with slapstick moments. But all is held together rather nicely by crackling dialogue, great actors with superb comic timing and heart-warming little scenes.
The credit for creating convincing and entertaining Punjabi setting and characters – the English language is mauled brilliantly, there are painful kachcha, anus, penis and farting situations — goes to the director. His casting is bang on, including the one-dialogue supporting actors, as is his choice of lyrics and music. The film’s dialogue, with a generous use of crude and violent idioms, are very funny and clever. My favourite was this line from a cute Ramlila scene: “Khich ke phado is bandar di rassi, Nahin peelani ise Lanka ki lassi”. A very promising debut, indeed.
Though Shreyas Talpade hams and overdoes his bumbling Golmaal act, he is entertaining. Deepak Dobriyal is, as always, fabulous and engaging. But Teen Thay Bhai belongs to Om Puri. This is his elakka, and one can see that in his body language, adorable quirks and perfect delivery – police becomes polss, and Chadha is Chadhe. His slaps are rapid and his banter engaging. It’s been a long wait, Mr Puri, but worth it.