Mastram

The widespread interest in guilty pleasures and fantasies of life can be seen from the popularity of 'kirtu.com', a website that created two famous housewives Savita Bhabhi and Velamma. Erotic stories and magazines have dominated Indian markets for ages. The film 'Mastaram' is débutante director Akhilesh Jaiswal's take on this sensual issue.

A bank clerk Rajaram Vaishnav (Bagga) aspires to be a writer. He decides to quit and pursue his dream following a spat with his superior. However, publishers refuse to work with him as they fail to find uniqueness in his work. At the behest of a publisher Mr Purohit, Rajaram decides to write 'masaledar' stories. Instead, he ends up writing steamy stories using the pseudonym 'Mastram'.

Director Akhilesh Jaiswal who co-wrote Gangs of Wassepur has handled a bold subject with significant ease. We know 'sex sells' but are reluctant to discuss it. This taboo has made lives pleasure and miserable at the same time. He also highlights the plight of struggling writers. The ascent of English made Hindi authors vulnerable as the new generation failed to understand the emotions conveyed through their words. Today, they are left with very few options.

Rahul Bagga is excellent as Rajaram, a timid, ambitious and budding author. Tara Alisha Berry (making her acting debut) fits perfectly into the role of his 'sati-savitri' type wife. The village backdrop has paved the way for a few stage actors to give useful supports and provide better insights into rural mindsets (connected to erotica). The film, which gathers your interest in the first half, hurries to its climax in the other half.

I am going with three out of five stars for Mastram. It is a must watch for all conservative pseudo- intellectuals.

Watched in one full sit and enjoyed it lot of sensuous scenes no nudity but the screenplay and actresses are good it will make you c**!!

This movie had a very thin line and even not developed well. Screenplay is very slow. Dialogues are deliberately tried to keep under the boundary line of explicit stuff. Makers have just tried to encash the title of a widely read porn book. There was clear cut confusion that are they trying to sell some erotic stuff or going to explore the emotional dilemma of a porn writer. Sometimes they lean towards emotion then again bend towards some steamy stuff. Outcome of this confusion is shallow emotions and slow erotica. Publicity guys work is commendable and interesting. They have conceived far better interesting and unique lines then the film has dialogues, like Agar Aapko Inke Bare Mein Pata Nahi Hai To Apne ChaCha Ya Tau se Puchhe, Cumming Today. Performance wise Rahul Bagga is just OK. Tara Alisha Berry, main female lead, looks pretty and acts well. Aakash Dahiya is fine. Music is so so.

The message it tries to convey is a solid one. I have to pat Akhilesh Jaiswal in the back for coming up with such a daring venture: to talk about porn writing of the 80s/90s when there was no easy access to kinky/imaginative porn. But then, when I dived into the execution, I think I'll limit to a hand shake.

There are no background score & sounds. And the dialogs & ounces of audio it has is either precise or garbled, failing to keep the audience hooked with the respect to the video it accompanies. The narration is shoddy. The story is about an aspiring writer who ends up being the anonymous mastermind, only known as Mastram, behind the locally popular porn comics. His life goes upside down when competition and opposition from the society drives him into paranoia. The lead actor does good work but I am more impressed with the actress who plays his sweet, innocent wife. Supporting cast is fine.

Screenplay is a tad slow but as the plot advances, the pace keeps up. Coming to sex, there is not much graphically; verbal references maybe cringe-worthy for some but I can tell you they are bold enough and funny, at times. Very poor handling of cinematography, editing, sound mixing, and art/setup departments. Publicity was amazing but the final result is lackluster, owing to the theme it talks about. Even the 2-3 sex/foreplay sequences are extremely mild and let me not talk about the camera work in these sequences.

Not that I was expecting porn (literally), but when you adopt porn writing as a subject, a little boldness is appreciated by the audience if not the censor board. The trivial humor saves the day and the climax paves the way for thoughts, which is why this experimental indie is an average potboiler.

BOTTOM LINE: Give it a try when it is released to home media.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NO

Porn: Mediocre (no visuals) | Foreplay: Mild | Nudity: Mild | Vulgarity: very Mild

This is the story of struggling writer who quits his job for his dream of writing. But to make his dreams come true he has to write erotica which is not acceptable openly in the society. Nonetheless his books are in demand which earns his good amount. Simultaneously (forced to show his books to his wife) he publishes his decent novel which eventually failed to make success. All this brings frustration. Finally his family and friend know about his writing nevertheless he is happy with his writing because people like. All these situations create comedy which is worth to watch.