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Friday, August 29, 2008

Movie Review : Mumbai Meri Jaan - Topical, Meticulous and Engaging.




Rating : 7 / 10


Genre : Drama

Zaraa Hatt Ke , Zaraa Bachke , Yeh Hai "Mumbai Meri Jaan" sang Johnny Walker in 1956 and the situation in 2008 is even worse.Crooks, Economic Diversity are passe. Terrorism, share market fluctuations are the real threats today, but the spirit of Mumbai keeps it on the move no matter what.

"Mumbai Meri Jaan" is not a movie about terrorism, its a study in human psychology!!! It tracks the travails of 5 leading protagonists, who are affected in seperate ways because of the train blasts on July 11th 2006. A TV presenter (Soha Ali Kha)who loses her fiance in the blasts and then faces the brunt of the same media she represents,An old cop(Paresh Rawal) who is about to retire and is ashamed at his helplessness to do anything substantial throughout his career, A poor coffee vendor ( Irrfan Khan ) who is sturggling to meet ends in the city and faces humiliation everyday, A young man ( Madhavan) who is about to be a father and is saved from being blasted into smithereens by a stroke of sheer luck and a frustrated extremist ( K K Menon) who worries more about wondering what mischief Muslims are upto, rather than earn for a living.

This movie struck a chord within me because I could relate to Madhavan's character. I had written an article about it on 17th July 2006 ( have posted it on My Blog Fundae-mentals today). I too was very fortunate not to board the train whioh went boom. I was delayed because our seniors in MBA institute had held us back after college.

Back to the movie - I must give full credit to Nishikant Kamat the director, for having full faith in the story and staying true to it. No shenanigans, no items, nothing. Just some good performances and a convincing story. All lead actors have done a great job , including Soha Ali khan who excels in the scene where sees her fiance's dead boy. Support cast like side kicks of K K Menon and Paresh Rawal are also good. But the cake is taken by Paresh Rawal. His potrayal of an old , to-retire hawaaldaar is amazing. He makes you laugh and makes you feel for his helplessness with ease.

The movie is not jingoistic, it does not try to preach or educate, ( except the Plastic bag scene!!!) , it simply shows the plethora of human emotions, affected by a common tragedy ( much like "CRASH" - the oscar winning film)

Even though the line goes " Zaraa Hatt ke , Zaraa Bachke" you should not stay Bachke from Mumbai meri jaan... Go watch it.

3 comments:

Pavan said...

Yeah..a must watch.

VishAll said...

I was almost in tears...hve met each character somewhere but still felt the pain while watchin the movie...nicely summarized vicks...I first felt it would be more and more abt the blast and the work done post that similar to the usual war movies....but no, its a psychological drama just happening next door.

Rigved said...

Thanks for the reviews funda-mentor. Watching this film goes in my to-do list.

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