Mantra

Director Kharkongors #MantraMovie is a well-intended and well-narrated film with a superb star-cast. Rajat, Lushin, Kalki, Rohan and Shiv deliver mature performances. It clearly depicts how the 'India Shining' campaign was actually a hoax, how it forced small, medium and successful Indian companies to go bankrupt. MNCs could afford to invest huge amounts here, buy local raw material in bulk and pay higher commissions to display their products prominently in stores. All these led to the unwarranted closure of small local industries, who could not face the new challenges. A must watch. Rating 4/5.

Nicholas Kharkongor has given us a well thought and well told story. Set from a business owner point of view, how he manages to keep his business afloat and at the same time keeping his family together. All the characters have their own problems and dilemas in life and its just about how they cope with their problems.

Rajat Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin and Shiv Panditt were great in their respective roles but it's Rajat Kapoor who stands tall as the soul of the movie. He is very convincing as a business icon who is struggling.

Obviously this film has a different target audience and not made for the masses, it involves some business and economic terms which many of the audience won't understand but for the target audience it is well intended and well narated film.

It's not a long film and sticks just to the main story and does not deviate. This is a good thing.

What worked:

• it's a well directed, captured and acted movie, with satisfying visuals, editing and background score. Of course, Rajat Kapoor does not fail to impress with his performance. The narrative is kept simple, layered but engaging one. The movie is one of the few kinds in Hindi cinema considering the mood and the content of the movie. Overall, it's a satisfying watch with good ambiance and beautiful setting and narrative.

What did not work:

• the title and the conclusion; maybe I failed to understand the charm and depth of the title of the movie, but it failed rather irrelevant with the narrative. Of course, it would have relevance with the title but I was expecting the movie to end with some meaning or gesture about mantra as a merger or something that symbolized or implied to the title. Also, I would have added a strong or some scenes leading to the conclusion of the movie, which is powerful and satisfying watch. Some might have argued about the language, but in a bigger realm of the narrative maybe we can overlook it as an issue.

Final verdict: recommended

Short, sweet, and to the point showing two totally different problem overall loved it