Forget Johnny Gaddar, Manorama Six Feet Under and Ek Chalis ki last
local Rajat Kapoor's Mithya IS the coming of age of the individual
Bollywood film.A film that doffs its hat to Brian De Palma's The
Untouchables, Akiro Kurosawa's Kagemusha and effortlessly switches gears
between laugh out loud noir, gangster drama, the common man's tale and
the beaten to death lookalike situation is the film Farhan Akhtar's
much touted super(s)hit Don should have been.Its hard to be objective
while reviewing something like Mithya, because as a movie lover the film
leaves me satiated.There are inspired moments and ideas that seem
headed towards greatness.Yet the film falls short of greatness.
The film takes a bit of a while to take off, making you shift slightly
uncomfortably in your seat, but once it does the smashing narrative
keeps your eyes glued to the screen.As a host of Bollywood clichés
unfold, what with the amnesia bout, the struggling Bollywood extra, the
family crisis and the double role, Kapoor's film keeps throwing you
loops unfolding at its own pace and unleashing each of its many aces at
will.And there really, lies the genius of Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla's screenplay as they merge the most hackneyed of all Bollywood plot devices into this intricately woven thriller with gumption.
But having done all of the great work, the denouement
drrraaaaagggs.In any other film I would waved an unsympathetic finget at that, but not here.Normally, a twister should entail revolutions around the plotline, but Kapoor in the second half isnt interested in this as much as he wants to indulge in philosophical realms.And the climax is redolent of this very fact.
A stringent budget leaves the film quite weak in terms of resources and
they show.The film is not too pleasing on the eye, and with the
exception of a few shots, the lighting and camera-work leave you cold.
The background score gels wonderfully with the narrative though.
Mithya is quite easily, the most genre defying film I have seen in Hindi.It is impossible to slot the film in a particular genre, and when you have a side splittingly funny film(thanks to a Buster Keaton brand of deadpan wackiness, instead of the usual sexual malapropisms and trespasses in vulgarity that we are forced to endure).a bizzare tale of a struggling extra which segues into a gangster epic, and yet at the epicentre of it all lies the philosophical question of illusions, you'd agree that I am definitely not waxing rhapsodic.And thankfully, the film does not go about addressing this issue in an unambiguous manner(ala Eklavya, which hammered Dharma down your throat), but allows you to search beneath the surface.A number of sequences standout in the film.My favourite was the surreal dream sequence.
Most of all, if there is any reason why Mithya merits a larger audience
than its getting at the moment then that is Ranveer Sheorey.Sheorey might never
get to play such a character ever again, but in his big chance to be Al
Pacino he aces it and How!The ease with which he renders the
absurdities his character goes through, a holistic plausibility and
trapezes between lost, dreamy, desperate(portraying a gravity that puts
the so-called experts at'intense' acting like Ajay Devgan to shame)and
having fun at the expense of Gawde's henchmen(staccato scene stealer
Brijendra Kale), he makes you sympathise as well as empathise.Quite
easily one of the finest performances seen on Indian celluloid in
recent times.
One might cavil that Kapoor sketched his characters only to suit the
twists and turns of his plot, thereby giving them a bad deal.Vinay
Pathak manages to override his shoddily written part with ease, so do
Harsh Chayya, Saurabh Shukla and Iravati Harshe.Surprisingly Naseeruddin Shah
sticks out like a sore thumb.Neha Dhupia as the Naseer's moll is a
stunning sight to look at but she is just not emotive enough to be up
to the demands of her character.
In sum if this film is anything to go by, I most eagerly look forward to
what Rajat Kapoor is brewing in his hermetically sealed kitchen for his
next.This film is what would remind you of Ram Gopal Verma in his glory
days, and yet more.If only someone could drag the audiences to keep it
afloat at the ticket window.
