Man Dola Re!!!!
Scene is set,
warning titles of harmful effects of addictions and minute later, white
limousine in Haryanvi village runs into an alcohol vending shed closed on dry
day!!! Reason, an alcohol cant get his fix and few scenes later the drunk leads
marching revolution against his own capitalist agenda only to realize in his
sober state of repercussions that he has fallen into. The movie has set the pace; key is in the
ignition and engine jump-started. The latest installment from Vishaal Bharadwaaj
is no adaptation unlike his previous masterpieces, but a morale questioning
rhetoric presentation. He wants to use witty humor to highlight the lefties
movement that gave light to activists like Medha Patkar, Anuradhati Roy and
Mamta Bannerjee a way to break 30-year rule of CPM on West Bengal.
Set in a rural Haryana village Mandola,
movie wants to highlight capitalist agenda in form of Mandola’s (Pankaj Kapur);
an merchant who has been named after village; dreams of building factories and
malls. He has a moral side that comes out after alcohol intoxication, which not
only self revolts but also files planes and jumps out of parachutes. Thus to
restrict his self-conscience he hires a law graduate Matru (Imran Khan) to stop
him from alcohol indulgence. Soon it is revealed Matru has hidden agenda, and
it isn’t courting Bijlee (Anushka Sharma); Mandola’s daughter. Also to define a
clear villain, Bharaadwaaj creates MLA chaudary Devi (Shabana Azmi) and her
wannabe shrewd son Badaal (Arya Babbar). The characters chosen, plot set now he
plays with script to get farmers, Matru, even Bijlee after second half ,
alcoholic Mandola and mystery Mao the agricultural land off the claws of
Chaudri Devi, Badaal, sober Mandola and his goons namely bank chief, inspector.
Thus the line is drawn it’s the socialist movement against the capitalist
dreams of progress and humor is used well but can get lost in the screen. The
movie travels through the Matru’s socialist movement to protect the weaker
class from getting exploited, Mandola’s self discovery awakening journey,
Chaudary Devi’s ambitions of self progress for herself and Baadal and the raw
romantic undercurrents between Matru and Bijlee. As there is usual pattern and
the proper defining characters, the climax also follows the routine of good
guys win against bad guys
Bharadwaaj from his past presentation has
set our expectation on fire; hence it is no surprise when many of us don’t feel
the appetite was attended to. Although a good movie with loads of bearing issues
it lacked the underbelly. It did ignite the engine but spark wasn’t enough to
last the whole journey, needed refueling. Movie is like a good foreplay with an
unsatisfying intercourse and non-orgasmic climax. The reason being over
indulgence of part of director, the screenplay got him carried away. The
darkness of script is lost, so is humor. The acerbic tone is replaced by
slapstick and in some cases accidental funny. The scripts bears weight of
social, political, moral and ethical issues; but screenplay doesn’t singe them
well making it a sectional movie rather than a continuous presentation.
Even with all this flaws, one
can forgive them for certain beautiful parts and well written dialogues. There
were masterpieces in parts like Chaudary Devi explaining her agenda of progress
to her son, the drunkard Mandola asking why has a law graduate Matru come back
to village only to serve as chauffeur. Then there is scene where drunkard Kapur
wants to protest against himself; also Matru and Bijlee moments with their
sexual undercurrents were powerful.
Another USP for movie is characterization of Mandola, and which Pankaj
Kapur exploits it powerfully. Weakness come from poor characterizations, like
Matru; played brilliantly by Imraan Khan; is too idealist and lacks personality
unlike Bharadwaaj’s previous protagonists. Then there is Bijlee, manic depressive complex
personality who has fire but lights the wrong matches and also in my opinion
would have been a good Mao again whose identity was very predictable and clichéd,
revealed far too early in movie. Chaudary Devi, another powerhouse
performance by Azmi, is the same old
power hungry, corrupt single mother, female political figure that visits frequently
these days in Bollywood, Badaal a silly son of powerful mother another species
which noted commonly these days in media. One cannot question music by
Bharadwaaj and lyrics of Gulzar but some songs are very badly placed and
lengthens script especially post intermission when the climax although
predictable doesn’t come too quickly enough,
All in all, MKBKM has good tone for a
good stage presentation but lacks in screenplay writing and editorial display.
Acting has been good for limited characters given to actors but dialogue and
humor uplifts the script. But some humor is lost and some is clichéd, sarcasm
would do just to a script like this. The light comedy misses the dark nature of
script which might have had come handy. Kapur’s dual personality portrayal is
definite star of the show. The movie hits the spot but fails to quench the thirst.
As said in the start of movie, too much texting causes pain in fingers, too
much ghee causes heart attack, Bharadwaaj’s too much indulgence made this movie
likeable not loveable.
Ratings-***
(Good)/5
