No Mumbaikar can ever forget July 11, 2006-the day when 7 blasts were exploded in 7 different local trains; even though they may not have been directly affected by it. Mumbai Meri Jaan throws a light on this same ghastly incident. It’s basically fictitious but the events and the execution is so real that it creates a big impact on you.
The film has 5 characters-Suresh (Kay Kay Menon), an unemployed youth who looks on Muslims with suspicion; Rupali Joshi (Soha Ali Khan), a reputed TV reporter who is soon going to marry her love (Sameer Dharmadhikari); Nikhil Agarwal (Madhavan) a staunch patriotic and nationalist who would happily travel in crowded local trains and work in Mumbai rather than accepting a job in the US; Tukaram Patil (Paresh Rawal), a police constable working since 35 years and about to get retired in a week and Thomas (Irrfan Khan), a South Indian migrant selling coffee. None of these characters are associated with each other. And the July 11 train bomb blasts make a significant change in their lives. Mumbai Meri Jaan traces the lives of these 5 persons, from July 11 till a week after the bomb blasts-July 18.
Though Mumbai Meri Jaan focuses on the blasts, it doesn’t throw light on terrorism or the police interrogation on the blasts. The focus is only on the 5 main characters. Mumbai Meri Jaan may remind one of Black Friday (which also dealt with bomb blasts) and Life in a…Metro (it also had lots of tracks in it).
The movie is gripping right from the first frame. The events and sequences that follow only make the goings-on more interesting. The blast scene comes suddenly and was utterly shocking. Also the events in the film are completely real. The film deals with each and every thing that happened post-blasts such as suspicion on Muslims, getting scared of stepping in a local train, making a hoax call and so on. After Black Friday, Mumbai Meri Jaan is definitely the film which presents a perfect realistic portrayal of Mumbai.
Though the film has as many as 5 tracks, the film doesn’t confuse or bore the audience, even for a single moment, thanks to its powerful screenplay. Even the climax was unique and heart-rending. The film ends on a positive note by saluting the spirit of Mumbaikars.
All the 5 tracks of the movie were interesting. The best one is undoubtedly Kay Kay Menon’s! The scene where he follows a Muslim guy all the way till Haji Ali Dargah was highly amusing! Its culmination was fantastic. It’ll surely touch you!
The Madhavan track was terrific and completely real. I know many such instances where people used to feel scared entering into a local train post-Blasts just like Madhavan’s character Nikhil. Thus, it depicts a true picture of the psychological trauma of many Mumbaikars during that time. Its final scene was interesting too.
The Paresh Rawal track was the most interesting track in the film! It was the funniest yet it was very touchy too. It shows the good side of the cops who may be interested in doing their job honestly but unfortunately are not able to do so. Paresh Rawal’s speech in the climax is the highpoint of the film.
The Soha Ali Khan track wonderfully depicts how the media in order to gain TRPs don’t even care about people and their sentiments. The scene where the news channel prepares a story on Soha and telecast it on TV was funny but at the same time highly shocking! However, I found the ending of the track quite abrupt. Finally, The Irrfan Khan track threw light on the survival of the poor in Mumbai. It became more and more interesting and unexpected as it raced forward. Interesting one!
Each actor performs his best. However, three of them are scene-stealers-Paresh Rawal, Madhavan and Kay Kay Menon! Paresh Rawal went totally into the skin of his character and performed the best! His Marathi-type accent and the way he carried out his role is worth applauding. Throughout the year, he does so many films and in each film he plays a character with a different look, get up and way of speech. Truly, Paresh Rawal is one of the finest actors we have today in Bollywood!
Kay Kay Menon was as usual in terrific form. He was fabulous in the scene where Paresh Rawal talks to him into the van. After a thunderous performance in Shaurya, it’s good to see him again in an excellent performance. He’s also going to be seen in Drona!
Madhavan’s performance was flawless. Right from the first scene till the last, he gives an impressive performance. Watch out for the scene when Madhavan sits on the tracks minutes after the blasts looking dazed and shocked and when he’s inside the train in the climax. He was terrific! I wish to see him more in Hindi films!
Soha Ali Khan was good, no doubt, but I don’t feel she should have accepted this role since she portrayed a similar type of character in Rang De Basanti too. At this point of her career, she should do different roles rather than playing same ones. Irrfan Khan’s accent was very bad but that doesn’t make a problem since he mouths very few dialogues in the film. Also, he didn’t have the typical South Indian look. But his performance was as usual perfect. Vijay Maurya as Constable Kadam was excellent. Sameer Dharmadhikari was good. Others did a good job.
The film had only song (by Sameer Phaterpekar) which was not at all needed. However, the background score was terrific, especially in the Kay Kay Menon scenes! Sanjay Jadhav’s cinematography was top notch. Editing was superb.
Yogesh Vinayak Joshi does a great job as a writer and an extraordinary job as a dialogue writer! Some of the dialogues in the movie were hilarious and interesting too! The screenplay (Yogesh Vinayak Joshi and Upendra Sidhaye) was highly engrossing and gripping and helped the movie maintain its flow.
Finally, Nishikant Kamat’s direction was highly superior. He had earlier directed a thought-provoking Marathi film Dombivli Fast wherein he had also done a great job. His execution was neat and perfect and didn’t make the movie boring or too quick or dragging-it was just perfect. Hoping to see Nishikant Kamat do the same great job in his forthcoming flicks too!
Some of the best scenes of the movie:
1. The first scene
2. Madhavan’s entry (where he talks about the hazards of plastic bags)
3. Irrfan Khan’s entry
4. The bomb blasts
5. Suresh’s encounter with Tukaram
6. Thomas humiliated in the mall
7. Suresh following Yusuf (amusing!)
8. Nikhil with his NRI friend Vinod
9. The last 20 minutes of the movie
On the whole, Mumbai Meri Jaan is touching, sensitive and moving but what works is-it’s completely real. It portrays a realistic picture on the 7/11 Bomb Blasts and will surely impact you. Unfortunately, the producers haven’t done the promotion properly. But I feel each Mumbaikar should watch this film. Go for it!
(PLZZ RATE MY REVIEW AND ADD A COMMENT)
(AND PLZZ READ MY REVIEW ON DOMBIVLI FAST, A MARATHI MOVIE DIRECTED BY MUMBAI MERI JAAN'S DIRECTOR, NISHIKANT KAMAT. The link: https://mouthshut.com/review/Dombivli_Fast-148870-1.html)
