Jan 14, 2013 11:10 AM
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It’s not uncommon to read about vast stretches of farmlands coming under the government’s plan of ‘special economic zone’ and the agitation that follows as hundreds and thousands of villagers fear eviction from their own homes and farms. Many films have been attempted on this core idea since more than half a decade. But when it comes to Vishal Bhardwaj, expecting something conventional and predictable would obviously be wrong. In that regard, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola does succeed. Moreover, the humour in the film is witty and at places, never-before-seen. But the film comes with a baggage of glitches which prevents Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola from becoming a classic satire of Bollywood, in the lines of a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro!
The story of the movie: Hariya aka Harry Mandola (Pankaj Kapur) is the richest man in his village in Haryana, named after him – Mandola. The gentleman is a chronic alcoholic and suffers from terrible hallucinations if he doesn’t get his daily (over)dose of popular local liquor, Gulabo. His daughter Bijlee (Anushka Sharma) and Man Friday Matru (Imran Khan) are fed up of his drinking habit and the change of behavior and mindset he undergoes when he’s drunk. But their efforts of getting him away from liquor prove futile. Things turn sour when Bijlee is all set to marry Badal (Aarya Babbar), son of a powerful manipulative politician Chaudhari Devi (Shabana Azmi) and on the other hand, Mandola villagers refuse to allocate their land to the government for ‘development purpose’.
The first scene of the film itself gives a firm indication that the movie will be crazy, funny and, for the lack of a better word, hatke! There are sequences in the beginning that go overboard and over the head too and one fails to comprehend what exactly is happening in the film. The dialect poses a problem too. But very soon enough, one gets a hang of things and once that happens, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is a fairly decent ride. The humour quotient is exceptional. Be it the entire ‘gulabi bhains’ angle or the ‘drunk Mandola vs sober Mandola’ or the mystery of Mao and many other such factors, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’s funny moments are novel and give a distinct touch to the film. While the fun quotient gets unreal at places, the villagers’ episode and their problems seem straight out of life. The climax drags but ends on a hilarious and acceptable note.
Imran Khan is natural and underplays his part beautifully. One might wrongly assume he hasn’t performed with gusto but then, that was his victory – he made it look so natural and effortless. He picks up the Haryanvi dialect quite well too. Anushka Sharma’s entry sequence is out of the world, to say the least. The actress plays a character with contrasting shades and does total justice. She gets in full form towards the finale which was quite a treat! Shabana Azmi looks stunning and was terrific in her negative and manipulative avatar. Aarya Babbar does show his worth but at places, he was too over the top. Navneet Nishan leaves a mark in a small role. The actor who plays Kamini was beautiful. Ranvir Shorey and thers were quite okay.
And lastly, Pankaj Kapur is just out of the world! The actor has worked in number of films and has given his best in all of them but his performance in Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola shall stand out and will remembered more than many of his other worthy performances. The actor is a teetotaler but is extremely natural while playing the chronic drunkard. His constant blabbering of ‘paincho paincho’ and ‘bhootni ke’ and also his hallucinations were quite a treat. At the same time, his character was much more – a man who’s in a dilemma as to whether he should sacrifice his daughter’s happiness for his insatiable greed. Kudos to the actor and also to the writing team for coming up with such a brilliant character…hats off!
Vishal Bhardwaj’s music doesn’t quite meet expectations and is average. Title song and also Lootnewaale works but the rest doesn’t quite make an impact. Background score is exhilarating. Kartik Vijay Thyagrajan’s cinematography is splendid. The locales of Gujarat are wonderfully shot. Sets are quite appealing (especially the raised mound in the middle of the fields and the pool area in Mandola’s palatial house).
Vishal Bhardwaj’s story and dialogues are quite impressive but the script (Vishal Bhardwaj-Abhishek Chaubey-Sabrina Dhawan) is not. It works at places but could have been tighter. Same goes for Vishal Bhardwaj’s direction. Keeping in mind the plot and the wacky humour, Vishal Bhardwaj does show his brilliance at several places. But there are places where the film falls flat (the ‘Operation Mao’ scene particularly). A good job overall though it would be great if Bhardwaj gives another Kaminey or an Omkara in his next!
Some of the best scenes:
The first scene
Matru reprimanded by Mandola in front of the villagers
Bijlee’s entry
Mandola starts hallucinating
Matru-Mandola ‘shift’ a well
The intermission point
Untimely rains in Mandola
Matru and Bijlee fool Baadal
The climax
On the whole, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is a nice joyride. The humour is wacky and in many ways, exceptional while Pankaj Kapur comes up with one of the best performances of his career! If only the writing was consistent and the narrative was crisp, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola would have been a cult classic! Nevertheless, it’s still worth a watch!
