Mohandas – A Man Lost in his Own Nation
“Fake lives are real and the real does not even exist.”
I heard about the movie Mohandas a few months back. I searched on Youtube and after playing with the keywords for a while, finally found the trailer. I was interested as I loved Mazhar Kamran’s work in Satya. After finding the trailer interesting, I kept waiting to hear more about the movie from someone on PFC. Sadly, no one recommended. Nor did anyone talk about the movie. Last week I came to know the movie is releasing on 4th September. I was worried whether the movie will release in Bangalore or not. Thankfully it did. It is running 2 shows in entire Bangalore. Talk about fate of Hindi indie films in India!
The film tells the story of Mohandas, a brilliant student despite economic backwardness and how his life turns topsy-turvy when he finds out someone impersonified him and is working in the coal mines instead of him. His story is then sent to a news channel based in Delhi and how a journalist tries to uncover the truth.
Mohandas revives the cinema of the late 70s and early 80s when movies talked about social inequities and had something to say. It looks really different than the rest of the Hindi movies just because of the landscape. The barren lands, the coal mines, the dust, the poverty all adds up to create an atmosphere of frustration just like the protagonist is experiencing.
There is a scene in the movie when Mohandas says, “Woh kagaz kahan se laoon, jo yeh baat bataae, ki main hi main hoon.” And then you see the despair in his eyes and the camera shifts to the all the other characters present there and no one has an answer. That makes the movie scary and very topical. Identity theft is a very serious issue in the internet age and several instances have been found. The movie which talks about it is located in a village in Madhya Pradesh which probably does not have electricity.
The beauty of the film lies in its story. Here there is a movie which has a story to tell. You get deeply engrossed into the movie as it progresses. It is like slow burn. As the movie progresses, one feels the frustration, anger, despair of the protagonist. The rustic color palette that the movie uses due to the real locations is so different than the regular Hindi movies we see, that it becomes a character of its own.
The characterization in the movie is also very realistic. We see a lot of people with gray shades for a change. There is a local journalist who is interested in Mohandas’ case as it might help him get a break into national television. Although the local people talks about Mohandas’ case, no one is interested to really help him out.
Towards the end of the film, after the verdict is given, the cast breaks into song and dance mode. It kind of comes out of place in context of the movie and I was wondering why on earth the director added this. Thankfully the movie does not end there and the reality prevails. The movie ends brilliantly. It feels like a tight slap on the face. Although it might feel pessimistic, it is actually closer to reality.
Coming to technicalities, the cinematography is really good. But we expect that from Mazhar Kamran. There were two instances where it went out of focus, but I think it was the flaw of the projection. The background score (and sometimes the lack of it) adds to the mood of the movie. Since real locations have been used, it looks very believable. However, one scene at the beginning of the movie which shows Sonali Kulkarni’s apartment is very unrealistic. How come she, a journalist live in such a posh apartment? Even if she does, the color choices of the interior decor are cringe worthy. There are instances in the first half where the pace slackens and probably needs a little bit of editing. The flaskback of Mohandas’ childhood is very clichéd. Similar scenes of poor child shining in school have been shown umpteenth times.
Coming to performances, Mohandas has an ensemble cast. Nakul Vaid underplays the role beautifully. His eyes do show the pain. Sonali Kulkarni is good. Aditya Shrivastav as always is brilliant. Uttam Halder, someone I never saw before is really good as the local journalist. Govind Namdeo, Sushant Singh and Akhilendra Mishra are competent. Sharbani Mukherjee falters to some extent. I thought she didn’t look the part. Also the way she speaks is unconvincing.
Mohandas is a rare Hindi movie which dares to speak something different. It is an independent movie in the true sense. It makes a very strong socio-political statement of the current times.
It is flawed. But then flawed brilliance is still brilliant, right?
Post Script:
One noted film critic (or not) while reviewing Mohandas has said, “…not all stories have the potential to be adapted for the big screen. Mohandas suffers due to this reason.”
There were 7 people in the theater other than me. Except for one guy, I don’t think anyone was even remotely interested in watching the movie. I could overhear popcorn discussions frequently.
While coming out there was huge rush as Fox also finished next door. The discussions were detailed analysis of the northern and southern hemisphere of Udita Goswami and what cars Arjun Rampal drove. Within moments of coming out of the theater, it felt like another India.
Tags: Indie, Mazhar Kamran, Mohandas, Sonali Kulkarni
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amazing work, amazing post…
atleast someone bothered to discuss and why r we restricting to with all due respect to every1 kashyap and vifhal. thr are lesser number of audience in such films than no. of posts on pfc…
ya i am second with you ‘mlost’…quickgun murugan ka bas 1 review aaya PFC pe but kaminey ke reviews abhi tak aate jaa rehe hai…
Damm. This movie is shown only in a handful of m.plexes in mumbai. Pity.
I was expecting mainstream journos to review this movie but alas hardly 2 reviews overall. Good that at least somebody in PFC bothered to review it, shows PFC is not about few people.
PS: Its not listed in guerrilla reviews.
Blog: Mohandas – A Man Lost in his Own Nation http://bit.ly/q3t3D #mohandas #indiecinema #cinema
yeah, and to think a crappy pseudo movie like Chintu Ji has got much better reviews and many more reviews because it at least has a Rishi Kapoor. Though, even the cinema where I saw Chintuji had just five other people.
Mohandas is definitely a much superior work.
Like you, even I only knew Mohandas from a couple of posters. There were no TV spots anywhere to be seen, and while it piqued my interest I had no idea what the film is about. Needless to say, it hasn’t released in Dubai
but I will catch it on DVD when — if? — it is released.
It’s a shame that a movie need an item song to even rate a decent release.
Mohandas has featured in many international film fests, praised world wide, we can clearly see – its not getting a good release – but people who claim to be passionate about cinema haven’t yet seen the real piece of cinema – just because its not in vogue…
Aniruddha- you are right there are two India’s indeed when you compare Mohandas and Fox.I stumbled upon this movie while I was in the middle of some study of forthcoming releases.I do want to see the movie but been unlucky- the movie hasnt released in Chennai.I can surely relate to that feeling of yours when you say you looked like the only one interested in the movie.It happens to me all the time.When I feel the urge to watch such a movie- I follow a simple rule- just go ahead and watch it- no asking out family members or friends to join in.Its my small way of helping the small film movement- wish more power to movies like Mohandas- now hoping to find it soon on DTH or DVD- wont beat the big screen experience though !!!
I was thinking of telling my parents to watch it. But when I checked, Mohandas didn’t release in Kolkata.
I think other than Mumbai,Delhi and Bangalore, Mohandas didn’t release anywhere else.
I hope they release the DVD soon so that atleast they can get some money through it.
i’m going for it dude…all thnx for d review…like sethu has said just go for the movie without inviting any friends, family etc…
I noticed the posters in a multiplex around a month ago..it said the film has been to many film festivals..tht’s the only info I had about it…thnx for the review…BTW I an’t see it even in the PFC “upcoming movies” section where star ratings are given…
Nice review Anirudha…I saw it yesterday and it once again reminded me about India which we saw in Delhi, Mumbai etc and one in small village of Madhya Pradesh. Mohandas is a tight slap on the face of society. One can really feel the state of mind of Sonali kulkarni, when one of her colleague says I love my country because he is going to a lounge party… Mazhar Khan has used real locations for the movie and dialect used was purely belongs to that place…the words like gajab, even the style of abusing like ******wala belongs to MP. Mohandas makes you thinking that what will you do, if someone says you are not you.. The main problem is corruption which has converted democray into Lootocracy and i realise it more when after watching movie I came out, I saw a policeman was scolding a very poor women and when people asked him why he is doing so… the prompt reply was.. saali dhandha karti hai… and just opposite some some rich guys were taking drugs, but policeman was not noticing them… this was the situation in Saket, posh area of south Delhi.. one can imagine the condition in small village of MP.
The poster of the film had blown me away, was looking forward to it so much. I guess it didn’t release in Cal.
It only released in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. I am amazed that they didn’t release the movie in Kolkata as I personally think Kolkata has the best audience for art/indie films.
Hope it will release next week.
Thanks Aniruddha,
For the post, I was wondering why no body is writing about the movie I ve not seen it yest as its not released here in Doha, Qatar. but i would definitely give a Watch. whenever it gets released,
damn, mostly comments from folks who haven’t watched this fakest of films. curious to know the after of the watching.
though the rudimentary well-intentioned excuse, this mess of a film’s a classic example of how an interesting premise gets ruined by people who have no clue about filmmaking.
i was transported decades past watching this sorry film, not for any evocation of small-town india we’ve left behind, but for pre-primitive notions of filmmaking cobbled together.
so much for positioning oneself as Indie! and the post’s title employing the film’s tagline!
Thani I will not say anything against your opinion about the film as everybody has their own views after watching a movie. And I completely respect that.
However, I do disagree when you say this film is fake. Mohandas is definitely not a fake film. The emotions are very real. It is not a exploitative film like say New York where the director was hell bent on exploiting the emotions in order to get the sympathy of the audience.
kamran is probably a good cinematographer but not a good director. The Mohandas’s story as much compelling it sounds on paper, the film I think wasnt.
@thani , finally a sane comment
i dont mind watching a movie in empty theatre but indeed the film was bad.
‘Mohandas’ is actually based on a long story by famous Hindi writer Uday prakash. For People who red story before watching the film, this is a not-so-well execution of a very important tale of our times. but for those who are comparing it with other bollywood stuff, ‘Mohandas’ is a film to watch (because of true power of the story it has)
This is a literary piece which I wrote last year just after ‘Mohandas’ first screening in Osian’s in New Delhi…
http://mihirpandya.com/2008/07/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8/
Thanks Mihir for mentioning the name of Uday Praksh. If anyone interested in the good and insighful interview of Hindi writer Uday Prakash, check here
http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/up1.html
Mihir, very well written. Thank you for sharing it.
I liked the movie as it had a very important story to tell. It is very different than the regular Hindi movies and it is an original and honest work.
Yes Aniruddha, It is a original and honest work. There are many ppl in Malayalam and bangla cinema who took literature as a source material but in Hindi cinema this literature and cinema connection is still minimal. In this scenario ‘Mohandas’ is a small but welcome step forward.
Thanks for reading my article…