Mumbai Meri Jaan – Below Average Screenplay & Preechy!!
Hi ,
Caught a screening of the eagerly avaited Mumbai Meri Jaan, and have to admit, if this was about the spirit of Mumbai, then one came out of the theater feeling very dispirited.
In an audience of approx 40 people, in the Bay Area, this is what worked in the film. Some very fine acting, good dialogues and fine production values. Now the big drawback and bore. It was very, very long. Paresh Rawal’s character while acting well, was very, very preachy. Each of the stories seemed to start and stop and then start and stop. If this was meant to be an Indian Crash, it was a crash all right, of the screenplay.
In an ensemble movie, it is hard enough to build on one character arc and here the director/screenwriter built on 5-6, except they did not move in the direction of ‘I care about this character.” It was too shallow a level. As an example, Soha’s story in the film, came to a conclusion by the Intermission and from there on it was just taking space.
Talking heads, or too much dialogue, can mess up a screenplay. Paresh had a speech towards the end which went into 6-8 pages of screenplay. Writing 6-8 lines of continuous dialogue can wreath havoc, so imagine what 6-8 pages can do.
Although the underlying premise was very solid, it only showed one side of the movie and if the theme was that, yes the city has no soul at a higher level, but deep inside it does, then that was not at all apparent, to the viewer, and that made it more frustating, cause it had the makings of a very complelling screenplay, gone hopelessly wrong. Eg the soul of the city was depicted by a random guy, making prank bomb threats, then seeing the consequences of his action, then suddenly giving a rose in redemption, hardly shows a soul at all. Some characterizations also had a flaw. Soha’s boyfriend is told in the story to be a rising industrialist, then what is he doing in a local train, when the mood of the city is that, if you can afford it buy a car, and if you don’t then the city says you are flawed, as they tell Madhavan (which actually seem more real).
Crash had different stories, but each had a strong character arc, well defined caracters, and a natural progression to “coexistence.” Here it was KK blaming the Muslim community for all the ills in the city and then suddenly the Muslim community being only “do gooders,” from giving him free tea, to giving his Shirdi Sai Baba prasad, to giving his business (again the point being in scriptwriting it is mentioned you make a point once and get on, don’t three or five way reempahsize the point, else it seems forced, especially in a film that is bordering on realism or at least attempting too.
One felt sad, cause this one had huge potential and the actors gave a super performance. Can’t say the same to the screenwriter, director and editor. It seemed to go on and on and if this was about the pulse of Mumbai, then the pulse cannot all co exist in all the folks trying to come to grips with life, in a city bustling with life. To be fair a couple of audience members did stand up and applaud at the end, so maybe I am being overtly harsh on the movie, and probably this will make me unpopular in PFC, but the fact is, merely because you are trying something different, doesn’t mean you don’t get the script reviewed by a few objective sources and incorporate their feedback, cause if this is the “new age scripts” coming from Bollywood, then we are no better off than we were to start with.
By no means in the league of an Aamir, Jhonny Gaddar or a Manorma, those were engaging or had a crisp pace and a solid story. This one is a documentary attempting to pass of as a feature.
Sincerely,
Vivek ” either Bollywood and it’s constituents are not open to hearing critiques at the development stage or they have not yet grown up but live in a meri kutti tumse kyonke tumne kuch negative feedback diya”Kumar
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Vivek, you have gone conmpletely wrong. Nishikant or anybody from the film did not show anything explicitly about the pulse or spirit of Mumbai. It is the story of these principal characters and how their lives were affected. The spirit and all was talked by the actors in the “making” which had nothing to do with the actual film.
The slow progress and the overemphasizing of the same kind of scenes are definitely not the drawbacks. In fact for me they tell the story and reveal the characters more deeply. The last speech of Paresh Rawal is mindblowing man. Their relevance to the other characters is superbly taken into account.
Kudos to Nishikant.
But as the truth goes – you can say that I am also wrong :-)
Accha hai bahut acchai…. “bhai har koi film ki tarif kar raha hai aur mai bhi karne lagu, aur mai bhi film ke bare me accha likhu to mere me aur auro me kya antar reh jayega, isliye mai film ke bare me alag cheejen likhunga kyunki jo meri samajh me aaya wo nasamjhon ki samajh me nahi aaya”…..accha hai bahut accha hai. Your target has been achieved your post is going to get maximum number of comments.
Vivek “Dude, this sign-off is really lame” Kumar,
Do something about it.
– Gopi
What a Lame post!!…
i follow soccer forums all around the web and so is with PFC,
Every once in a while i confront a person like the author who writes for the sake of being different,MMJ is one gem of a movie…the Screenplay/direction is to notch!!..by any standards…
* There were at least 5 moments(in the hall i was wathng the movie)/ excluding the end when people clapped loudly to appreciate the irony depicted th rough dialouges/and clever screen play.
*most of the hall stoop up in applause after the movie finished….
*Dialouges were the most well written in Recent times..
*What an ensemble of actors and they delivered every bit of it,(SOHA/PARESH probably delivered carrer best’s)…
*DOP did an excellent job! awesum camera angles…
But my dear author!!…we wont do a KUTTI with ya..it would be a waste of time as was ur post…Proobably u made a wrong choice by choosing MMJ as ur punching bag…it’s gonna hit u back cuz of its sheer cinematic brilliance!!..
Deepak
Sorry Vivek, I REALLY beg to disagree with you. I thought the screenplay was really well constructed with some brilliant dialogue, and the film succeeded very well in passing on its message without being didactic. Yes, the Soha track did reach its conclusion by interval and the rest was stretching it without any variation, and the film was perhaps 15 minutes too long, but the rest is superb.
vivek,
go & watch PHOONK if MMJ has disappointed you..& im not trying to be sarcastic..majority of the public is liking it..most of the places shows are housefull!!
I liked the film a lot, fantastic
But it is a bit lengthy movie for my taste (towards the end)and preechy
And background score is too old fashion & too overdramatic
@ Vivek,
Agree with you. I went to see the movie with big hopes as I had heard a lot about Nishikanth Kamat and his Dombivili Fast but was left underwhelmed. There were some inspired moments in the movie but as you say, the points which the makers wanted to say, they said very early on and then kept repeating it.
Superb ending though.
I found it worderful to be able to read such diverse opinions of this film, right here on PFC! It’s inspiring that so many different spirits and talents are expressing their own feelings and reviewing a film from so many different angles. I read all the pieces written about it and now am looking forward even more to seeing the film in the next couple of days. Just so I can then make up my own mind about it…
I liked the film, but was a bit disappointed because of high expectations. The Irrfan and Kay Kay stories were progressing very well till their very convenient culmination. The events leading to the ‘change of heart’ of the two individuals went against the overall tone of the film, something that wouldn’t have looked so out of place in say a Subhash Ghai film like Black and White, but hurts here.
Having said that, I must also say Paresh Rawal and his final speech itself make the film worth watching. Not to mention some great dialogue. I also didn’t have any issues with the pacing.
The film was a sulkfest. I mean you are trying to give me an elevating experience by showing compassion. I get it. But no joy in sadness. Don’t quite feel for it. The potentially best sequences have been made to look bland for a touch of realism. And the insensationalism of it all is aimed at creating a fulfilled emotion. It doesn’t. All it does it make you sulk, and sulk some more, till you can happily justify it. Disappointed.
The movie was quite good ..but in no way exceptional. I found it way too preachy and repititive (in parts) for my liking.
Movie was a let down. It lacked crispness, good points made when repeated again and again endlessly become gnawing. As usual PFC will not easily accept criticism of the work of one they view as ‘their own’ and there will be endless debates over this mediocre film. just like with ‘no smoking’.
Hi Vivek,
I completely agree with you. The movie was a big let down. It had all the makings of a landmark movie but it turned out to be a big disappointment.
Yes, it was a good sincere effort but at times that is not good enough. You need to execute it well and execution was lacking. There are places where it was very amateurish.
But we need to support such cinema because otherwise we get – Black and White,Maan Gaye Mugale Azam , Phoonk etc etc.
We will have our CRASH… soon.
Zindagi me bhale khud kuch karein ya naa karein ..
lekin agar koi aur kuch achcha karta hai to uski maarna jaroori hai …
saala isne aisi movie banaayi to banaayi kaise ..
har koi tareef kar raha hai .. galat baat … ye to ekdum bore movie thi …
koi naach-gaana nahi … koi kahaani mein twist nahi ..
aisa kaise chalega…
Hollywood waale to hamesha SUPERB movies hi banaate hai … hai naa !!!
But plz let me remind u that Million Dollar Baby, Which won the Academy Award was way ahead to MMJ in comparison of Boredome and lack of pace …
Still ppl like u keep praising hollywood stuff and discourage ppl like Nishikant …
MMJ is a wonderful movie .. A very very real, honest and touchy movie …
I am not a mumbaikar … still I could feel the pain of the ppl of this city after watching the movie..
Its definitely worth a watch … A Sincere and Brave Attempt .
Vivek,
i truly agree with you, the length of the movie is really long and the second half of the movie is so dragging and there are many planted scenes in the movie aswell, which really makes it shabby.
Saw the movie yestrday, i usually write on movies who accordingly to me are either exceptional (hazaron khwaishe aisi) or utterly dumb (rang de basanti)
But since this had a very good theme and was about Mumbai here i write about it extending your review, 3.5 to 4 is what i can give out of 5.
let me just sum it up rather than taking much of your time
Plus points 1. Character : Paresh Rawal, KK and Raghvan
Scene : 2 minute silence, Raghavan’s friend in hospital. KK’s mindset change incidents. Policevan scene with Paresh preaching, US friends of US talking about citizenship and their psuedo patriotism and i miss my country bak bak.
Dialogues: Paresh Rawal, KK, Raghavan (again)
Minus points: Characters: soha, irfaan, policeman kadam.
Scenes: all of soha’s scenes was a definite waste of time,
Friends of Raghavan talking about US attacks were not required here at all.
I dont understand how Irfan’s life was affected by the blasts and in what sense was the spirit of mumbai attributed to his life and its happenings.
The film ends with a thought provoking message about communal discords and the unity of humanity in adverse times hats off to that.
MMJ has many of the strengths of the golden age of hindi cinema — the 1950s — i.e. social critique+melodrama which i think is the greatest strength of popular hindi cinema. the best raj kapoor/guru dutt films had this, so did bimal roy. MMJ does well to draw on the strengths of this golden age cinema while updating the scenario and acting styles.
why are your comparing this film to “crash’? it is nothing like crash which in my humble opinion was a predictable, preachy film that won a bunch of oscars though it pedaled a bunch of cliches about race in los angeles etc etc.
MMJ is a little gem that brings back the emotions that are at the heart of good hindi cinema… we do not need to be like CRASH — which was way to action-oriented anyway.
i felt for a multiplot film — where different people from different socio-economic strata are trying to respond to one traumatic incident — the film covered a lot of ground quite convincingly.
most importantly, it has a redemptive quality about it in the end — you know that thing that keeps people going though life is horrible!! the final use of the song from CID i thot was brilliant… brought tears to my eyes — the beauty and joy of that song — what a great close…..