Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

So the most crowd pleasing title Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola having a distinctive casting, offbeat music and the film which grabbed most of the attention towards, Vishal Bhardwaj after his terrible 7 Khoon Maaf returns with this original story of MKBKM. Bhardwaj has always tried to be original towards his plot, think of Kaminey where the film worked with critics along with the masses too. Bhardwaj is a kind of director who gets adjusted to his surroundings vividly. Bhardwaj's music is unique having a typical title track, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola starring Imran Khan ( Matru ), Anushka Sharma ( Bijlee ) and Pankaj Kapoor ( Mandola ). Though this casting is different from anyone's point of view but worked brilliantly at this piece of cinema.

The plot displays unrefined rural locales of Haryana where a kinky, odd industrialist Harry Mandola ( Pankaj Kapoor ). The village is named after his surname Mandola. He himself, known as Mandola most oftenly, is a personality with acuteness in his thinking regarding money, serious, cunning and slick. Mandola wanted his area to be announced as an economic ward obliged to which he forces the native residents who had their farmlands, to sell and leave the village. But Politician Chaudhari Devi ( Shabana Azmi ) who appeals him into thwarting off the villagers. Mandola's MONEY while Chaudhari Devi's POWER can only unite when their offspring's get married to each other. In the midst of all, Mandola's Man Friday Matru ( Imran Khan ) who has nothing to do with these situations enters them, tends to bring some drastic change against land extortion and defends the villagers.

The scenery is captured beautifully, though it is unrefined, raw but that's the beauty of this film. Bhardwaj puts the best comical scenes between the breathtaking star Pankaj Kapoor and Imran Khan, who just sets the cinema on the right track. Imran Khan gets the mood for watching such a type of genre while Pankaj traps everyone in his histrionics. The Director then ( itself in the first half ) tries to bring a mysterious character Gulabi Bhains ( Mao ) but the balloon burst right before the interval leaving nothing to forecast in the second half. Practicality is what Vishal Bhardwaj tends to assure in 'Matri Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola' and it forces him to choose for a midway which was more apt towards deep red before pink. The abusive manner doesn't consent an impact pretty much like the odd and unusual presence of Gulabi bains (Buffalo). The song 'Jiski kheti uski zameen, hatt lootne wale' conjointly imitates the same emotions.

All in all to be a Vishal Bhardwaj's film you expect some twists in the second half but the plot is empty making everyone go predictably right and have a banausic continuity. The man who stands alone in the film is Pankaj Kapoor with his stupendous drama. He just fills the glass which was emptied by the storyline to the way it had to be. Pankaj Kapoor's drama win right from the very first shot where he is in his drunken amazement scowling some Haryanvi dialogues. Shabana Azmi gets an easy role but stills does as if she has somnambulism problem.Anushka is good, peppy and cheerful.

Pankaj Kapoor saves this film with his acclaimed acting but still Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola departs you displeasedly. In all the second half is sluggish and most foreseeable without any twist and turns.

With Vishal Bhardwaj behind the camera one can expect something new in the offering. This time Bhardwaj goes the quirky humor path with a socially relevant subject. Even though Indian politics & old lunatic politicians could be the maximum source of entertainment, for some reasons they are not utilized to the fullest. Bhardwaj-Chaubey's script is one such rare political satire that deals with land scam – a perennial problem pan India.

The film begins with a weirdly catchy shot with a limousine being parked in a farmland in front of the local wine shop. The limousine accelerated to bump into the stall as we get introduced to Harry Mandola, the millionaire & his affinity towards "Gulabo beer". He personifies "Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde" being the Good Samaritan when he is drunk but during his steady state he is an authoritative, manipulative businessman who is planning to take away the land of the farmers for personal gain. To add to it there is the corrupt minister with her sinister ambitions to climb the ladder of politics through tactful alliance with Mr Mandola. All plans goes awry as Mandola under his uncontrolled drunk state forced the farmers to start a revolution against him.

Vishal Bhardwaj takes a different route from his usual dark psychological themes and tries to explore the capitalist exploitation of the affluent & the wrong usage of power. Mao Tse Tung is symbolically webbed into the narrative hinting on communistic ideology as the shadowy "Mao" helps the farmers in their fight to get their land back. Bhardwaj-Chaubey's script is wacky,zany at times surreal that doesn't become overtly didactic. There are ample sequences (especially in 1st half) which have the mark of genius Bhardwaj. The scene where Mandola & Matru are trying to pull a Well away from their path in a drunken state reflects the existential struggle of the farmers of the society. They provide us with the ingredients to survive but we tend to ignore their significance, while the politicians are up to their own games. The serious subject has been absurdly camouflaged with utter sincerity. The dark humors are well placed. One of the finest sequences involves the gathering of the politicians as they take up their wine glass & lustfully shouts "Kursiyan" (chairs of political power) instead of "Cheers". From Zulu tribe to UFO, Bhardwaj incorporated everything that can add in to the madness- with master touch being the creation of Gulabi Bhains (Pink Buffalo) which plays a crucial role in the film. The dialogs are exemplary with unique twisted take on common proverbs. Sample this "tumhare ghar mein Mao Lenin nehi hai kya". Karthik Vijay's cinematography helps in portraying a real & surreal world which gets blended by perfect editing of veteran A Sreekhar Prasad. Vishal Bhardwaj music is always different and here also his music gels with the mood. Gulzar seems to have enjoyed a lot penning those quirky lyrics. Seldom has he got the scope to write such interesting lines like "oye Dolli Dolli Dolli, meri vitamin Ki goli". I am sure he must have been bored to death writing the typical romantic songs for JTHJ and with MKBKM he embraced air of freshness.

The pillar of the film, veteran Pankaj Kapoor as Harry Mandola, is rocking. He effortlessly slips into the role and took "Split personality" in Bollywood to another level. He again showed his versatility and proved why he is considered amongst the top actors of our country. Imran khan was easy on eyes and tried his best to do justice to the complicated role of Hukum Singh Matru. Hopefully his acting prowess will get noticed with this one. The role of bubbly Bijli is tailor-made for Anushka Sharma and she didn't miss doing justice to the confused daughter of rich father suffering from "Meena Kumari Complex"(as coined by Matru). Shabana Azmi made her presence felt with her lecherous act of climbing the ladder of success. Another fine acting talent of Indian cinema, she showed her spontaneity in the sequence with her son where she is explaining her motive behind the thirst for "power". Arya Babbar surprisingly leaves impression as Azmi's stupid yet calculative son "Badal" who is trigger to Azmi's success.Navneet Nissan makes her presence felt in the small insignificant cameo.By the way what was Ranbir Shourey doing in that once scene? Lastly, the smile of the "Gulabi bhains" is addictive..Did I mention that I am also hallucinating like Mr Mandola?

On the whole the Bhardwaj should be credited for depicting a clash between communist & bourgeoisie and also dealing with a grave issue like land-scam. Probably this time he wanted to reach a wider audience which can be felt in the 2nd half when things becomes over simplistic & bromide for the entertainment of regular cine-goers. The climax is disappointing by Bhardwaj standards when one looks back & checks his uncompromising brilliant masterpieces like Maqbool,Kaminey,Blue Umbrella,Omakar. Nevertheless even a strictly decent Bhardwaj film is better than most of the Hindi films being churned out recently. Like one can't expect Messi to score in every match it is difficult to expect brilliancy from each & every film by any director. Having said that I feel a Vishal Bhardwaj,Anurag Kashyap,Dibakar Banerjee film should never be missed as they bring something new to the platter.And repeating myself, even a not-so-great film by any of them is better than most of the other Hindi films.

Give MKBKM a chance. There are enough moments that have the stamp of VB. Icing on the cake is the presence of ever reliable Pankaj Kapoor.

Madness with a mission and purpose, that's 'Matru Ki Bijli ka Mandola' in nutshell! Right from the word go, the movie seems to be sheer moron-ism! You will end up saying 'Kuchh bhi' so many times esp. before intermission. But dare not leave the cinema-hall at intermission going by the slack slow lack-luster and not so impressive first-half. Post intermission, however, the movie picks up pace, zeal, direction and life! Not delving much into the story line, I will straightaway go to my observations and comments:

• MKBKM couldn't have been so without the veteran 'manjha hua' perfectionist Pankaj Mandola Kapoor! He literally brought the weird Harphool Singh urf Harry Mandola alive on-screen. Seems Vishal Bhardwaj wrote the character keeping him only in mind. He does full justice to both his avatars, first, of a polished, sophisticated yet politically exploited millionaire and that of the rebel, cuss-worded, almost mad and guilt-filled man.

• Shabana Azmi is the other pillar of the film performance-wise. Both these actors of the erstwhile parallel cinema weave magic on-screen. She is quite convincing as the shrewd, opportunist, ruthless chief-minister of state. After Makdi, Vishal has given her yet another meaty role with negative shade and she as usual scores full marks.

• Imran 'Matru/ Mao' Khan gets into skin of the role as the film progresses and carries the rugged look well. However, he still lacks the killer-instinct of his competitor Kapoor (Ranbir) to carry such roles with 100% conviction. 'Bijli' Anushka is as usual her bubbly and loud best. High time gal! Move on and experiment. We are bored of seeing you in similar avatars in all your movies till date. Special mention of Arya Babbar who has been handed over the responsibility of creating silly comedy in the flick. He does it well, though he many a times he tries hard to copy the mannerisms of his pa, Raj Babbar. However, going by the character he plays, he looks merely a caricature of his actor father. Rest of the star-cast is fine.

• Now coming to the treatment meted out to the movie. The subject of effects and intricacies of land seizing from farmers by big corporates for industrialization and dirty politics involved in the same is innovative and very relevant. The dark rural 'Bharat' behind the shining urbane 'India' has been shown well. However, the mode used by Vishal this time is that of 'nukkad-nataks' which do not impress everyone especially in the beginning. The director has also used a lot of symbolism viz. Pink-cow somehow reflects the conscience of Mandola. The movie tickles your funny bone at many places and mention of many real- life political and business names brings in more relevance to the subject. Despite lot of pink-ism ('Gulabbo' and 'Gulabi bhains'), the movie isn't on a feminist mission!

• This doesn't mean that there is no flaw in the film. There are lot many of them viz. * Excess songs (at unwanted places) * Slack editing with many unrequired portions like that of aircraft crash (The media scene after that reminds you of a certain 'Joker') * Slow pace pre-interval - Good part is that unlike most movies these days which die after interval, this one peaks during climax and carries a 'happy ending'.

• Music has a usual Vishal Bhardwaj stamping and camera work too has the darkness quotient of Vishalism. Going by the serious subject highlighted by MKBKM, the entertainment quotient thereof and super performances by PK and SA, I would go with 3.5 stars out of 5. One time watch to banti hai bhai!

P.S.: Be ready to get 'beaucoup De' 'gaalis', which has now become a common culture in Bollywood flicks now!

There is one thing I genuinely like about the General audience. If they don't like a movie, they would not care two hoots, unlike most of our critics and 'thinking-audience', about the film-maker who made it. If they think something is trash, Trash is what they call it. On the other hand, Critics and the 'intellectuals' are forced to think twice before rubbishing any film by a maverick film-maker.

But the bitter truth is - if we take out the name - Vishal Bhardwaj - there is very little else to savour in the whacky yet directionless 'Matru ki Bijlee Ka Mandola'.

Don't get me wrong, but its a rather disquieting experience to see the guy who made Maqbool, Omkara & Kaminey fail to realise a concept to its fullest - that had much potential for humour as well as intensity, for style as much as sincerity.

Not to say that Bhardwaj doesn't pull it off at all. Perhaps the most charming parts of MKBKM are the ones belonging to first half, where the film comfortably veers ahead with a couldn't-care-less sort of leisurely pace, never bothering to 'take the story forward' - an aura which seems even more apt considering the milieu it is set in.

The film begins with two POVs of the same scene - letting us in early enough about the stylistic brush-strokes he is going to use perhaps, further for his latest offering. Mandola - Now here is a character who acts Suicidally moral when drunk, and acts according to the world's evil ways when in his prime. The confidence comes across in the initial reels when the film charters its path sans any melodramatic dispositions - leisurely pace is an aura very few directors manage to pull off, and its not surprising when Bhardwaj does that.

Whats unsettling is how overboard Bhardwaj went and simply wrote and wrote this script until there was possibly nothing else of color that could be incorporated. As a result, the narrative looks too stuffed and sadly the film hardly ever manages to keep count of all its tone-shifts and mood-swings.

The whacky plot-devices are in abundance here, and even work to a very great extent - A boy gifting an entire Zulu tribe to his would-be is quite a thought, just because she had mentioned some odd day about her fetish for African music.There is an alarmingly incestuous angle to the relationship-mechanics as well, well treated and sans any malice. Apart from these, There is an identity-closure angle, there is a Zulu tribe, we have a very brief UFO scene, A hi-end exec asks one of our leads at least three times about "the revolution".. and then amidst all of this, Mandola (Pankaj Kapur) can't help locking eyes with a all-too- smiling pink buffalo.

Bhardwaj has a lot on his patische here, and tries his level best to make sense by bringing all of them together on one sheet. At times, he even resembles a novelist - playing with the immense possibilities of all the sub-plot that promise some thrill, some mood. One of the most set-piece is delivered when Mandola talks about his dreams as we envision them - the granduer of them all is too overwhelming, and Bhardwaj underlines the whimsical over-the-topness of it all by making the clouds appear and rain.

But when a mood-movie like this enters into a zone where the plot seems too self-important, the balance is simply lost altogether. Because as much as we dilly-dally with the crazy touches and little details, the 'story-listener' in us viewers constantly feels troubled by the ultimate direction MKBKM takes - by the pre-climax seeming like a loosely-knit 'Peepli Live', a satirical comedy about one of the most important issues plaguing our nation.

And despite exceptional performances by Pankaj Kapur (who is mindblowing throughout, actually) and Anushka Sharma in the final portions, the climax does exactly what one fears it would - fail to tie all the madcap strings together well enough, to create a concrete madcap comedy. This is a 'neither-here-nor-there' case, clearly - watchable but had lot more potential.

Vishal Bharadwaj serves you "Mr. Pankaj Kapur on the rocks!"

'A twisted title, Limousine in gehu ke fields, African Zulu tribes, Pink buffalo called gulabbo, Politician sucking a lollipop in fields, Mao Tse-tung's (Maoism wala) desi avatar, UFO in a village?' Yes, this Vishal Bharadwaj film has more bizarre elements than you can ever think of !

MKBKM is one hell of a ride - from crazy, absurd, wacky, bizarre to... social, political, addressing some of the pertinent issues faced by our nation. Here you have one of the greatest actors of India in his elements, with his dual act of - caring, sensitive drunkard 'Hariya' and, a stern, selfish & staunch capitalist 'Harry'. Only actor of his caliber can carry-off such role with aplomb (he is teetotaler in real life). Please, hand over all the awards of 2013 to Mr Pankaj Kapur for his exceptional performance!

Director Vishal Bharadwaj has his own eccentric ways of making social commentary with issues such as SEZ (Special Economic Zones), land grabbing, capitalism, Maoism, corruption, honor killing, lokpal, media and what not! At one point, Bharadwaj doesn't even think twice before taking actual names of politicians -- from Sheila Dixit, to Rahul-s, Varun-s, Scindia-s of Congress as political heirs of successful politicians. It takes some time and effort from our side to get acquainted to this Haryanvi setup and accent...but if you start getting Bharadwaj's references and quirky dialogues, you are into this exhilarating mad-cap ride.

Imraan Khan as 'Matru' does well with whatever he can do with his limited acting capabilities. Anushka Sharma is effective, but she is getting typecast in these type of roles. Shabana Azmi is excellent in her sly and manipulating political avatar. Arya Babbar does well as Azmi's dimwit son.

There are many memorable scenes which only director like Vishal Bharadwaj can think of -- that hilarious fight between Matru and Mandola during "well" scene, Mandola riding a plane after getting drunk, Azmi's monologue about 'progressive' nation called India (over ages), the scene between Mandola and Azmi just before the rain arrives, Mandola telling 'Mao' - tu "left" wala bottle le, or the love story involving something as banal as "tooth-brush".

In some cases, Bharadwaj tends to go overboard especially towards the climax sequence and some of Imraan-Anushka's scenes are simply annoying. Sometimes, the film gets repetitive with street theater (natak) type execution.

Music: Vishal-Gulzar combo for music is delicious as always. It takes the film one notch higher. You get to hear samples of African and Haryanvi folk music in some of the songs. My picks from the album - Khamakhan, Badal uthiyan, Oye boy Charlie, title song.

Verdict: Overall, the film is as twisted as its title. So, watch it if you can digest this genre/Vishal Bharadwaj's films......otherwise you might walk out of cinema hall during the show, like some did where I watched the movie.

P.S. Pankaj Kapur is God of acting.