Mickey Virus

Welcome to the world of hackers and Trojans – with enough idiosyncrasy and meticulousness, writer/director Saurabh Varma narrates a story which is seldom witnessed on the silver screen. With its titular resemblance to the sleeper hit of 2012,Vicky Donor , Mickey Virus is a complete departure in its theme and subject which delves into the murky world of cyber-crime and hacking keeping the humor quotient intact.

Set in New Delhi, the plot is centered around a lazy mastermind , a genius hacker Mickey Arora (Manish Paul ) who is hired by the Delhi Police led by ACP Sidhant (Manish Chaudhary) and his assistant Bhalla(Varun Badola) to crack the racket of the cyber gangsters who have created ruckus in the city through serial murders. Mickey is a slacker , hangs out with his gang – Chutney, Floppy and Panjo who are whiz-kids in their own admissions and is smitten by the sexy lady, Kamayani(Elli Avram). After a lot of resistance due to his work-phobic attitude, he succumbs to the demands of the ACP who is hell-bent on this 'Hacking ki duniya ka Sehwag' but little does Mickey know that he is sucked into the whirlpool of dangerous nexus with life-threatening ramifications. What happens next !

Varma picks the nuances of Saddi Dilli with flourish – the grey marketplace of Nehru place where people even sell 'W' alphabet of the keyboard as 'M' (After all , its oolta M !)are captured with great details. He has done his research on the subject well and this becomes more apparent from the plethora of information bombarded on the average viewer related to internet and software lingoes(server crash, firewall, buffering..).After a few funny sequences in the beginning, he throws us altogether into a different orbit of intrigue and mystery and keeps us riveted till the climactic revelation. There are particularly no glaring flaws but I wish Varma could have been more innovative while dealing with the serious portions and the romantic angle involving Manish and Elli. He appears myopic while handling the cat-and-mouse game where every tick of the clock matters.

Manish Paul is a delight to watch ! As a débutant (with a passable cameo in Farah Khan's disastrous TMK as Master India), he exudes charm and confidence with his impeccable comic timing.His vocal rendering(Pyar China ka maal hai ) is equally quirky !Elli Avram looks jaw-dropping gorgeous and is sincere in her part. Mickey's hack-gang comprising of Raghav Kakkar, Puja Gupta and others give him a credible support.Manish Chaudhry is very convincing as the stern cop, but the real combat machine here is Varun Badola who triumphs with his ingenious straight- faced humor and mouths crackling dialogues with typical Haryanwi accent.

If suspense thrillers are your cup of cake, then go for it – You will have a good time ! And that's not all, there is a scope for its sequel too !

My Rating : 3/5

A project completely dependent upon the already famous comic persona of TV actor-anchor, Manish Paul, MICKEY VIRUS is a fairly entertaining film if we keep aside its awkward and unconvincing climax ruining the fine build-up. It has an enjoyable first half, mostly providing the funny moments through its Computer-ish dialogues, having a strong youth appeal using the Delhi ambiance, which also lacks the perfection as seen in VICKY DONOR). Yes, the humour element in it takes a back seat since the film turns into a thrilling crime mystery post interval, still the racy pace doesn't let you feel the missing factor and the new twists in the story line keep the interest alive. However as the secret is revealed, it doesn't turn out to be that convincing or hard hitting at all, hampering the overall impact of an engrossing watch as it ends.

Thankfully made on a fresh subject, the film begins on a shaky note but then goes on to deliver the promised humor constantly, mainly through its well written lines. Revolving around a computer hacker caught in a messy trap, it has some cool graphics, better than many other films of the past using the same element. At times romance disturbs the progression but the justification arrives later as the con begins and there are very few drops in its narration before the long climax. Both the background score & cinematography keep the energy going along with a few above average songs including "Sajna Ve".

As expected, Manish Paul impressively is the part of almost all the entertaining sequences of the film and he once again proves his excellent comic timing in its debut film too. Elli Avram looks stunning but doesn't get much to do as per the script (except serving the glamour quotient of the film, as required). Out of the friendly group, Puja Gupta gets the maximum scenes and she is fine, whereas Raghave Kakkar, Vikesh Kumar and Nitesh Pandey (Professor) are just all right. Manish Chaudhari repeatedly delivers a similar kind of act as seen in his previous films but the one actor who comes up as a clear winner among the supporting cast is Varun Badola, who is simply lovable as the assisting inspector.

As the first notable attempt from director Saurabh Varma, MICKEY VIRUS mainly scores for its novel subject, well worked upon lingo, entertaining first half and Manish Paul. However with a different & severely edited climax it could have been a much better venture for sure. Also with a subject majorly dealing with the city culture (hugely dependent on gadgets), it is going to find fewer takers in the interiors and smaller centers. So keeping this fact and the film's fresh, out of the routine subject in mind, I would like to rate it as a nice, well attempted metro entertainer, just missing the target due to its final reels.

When the trailer of Mickey Virus was unleashed on the internet, everybody started comparing the movie with critically acclaimed Vicky Donor(probably both the films were Delhi based and title sounded same). However, if Vicky Donor was heaven then Mickey is a ride through hell.

Delhi Cops are on the verge of cracking a case which involves high intensity of hacking for which they seek help of young-clad, computer geek Mickey. As they start solving the case, series of events unleashes new mystery involving lots of twist and turns.

First time director Saurabh Verma chooses the script which promises to deliver an intellectual-comic thriller but believe me neither there is any story nor any direction. The plot is confusing as is the screenplay. First half is monotonous and perfunctory. Chemistry between Manish Paul and Ellie Avaram is half baked. Things turns bit interesting after the murder but loses the steam with a blink of eye. Cinematography is okay. Art direction is fine. Editing is loose. Dialogues are over-the-top. Music is disappointing. Manish Paul shows some potential as Mickey Virus but needs to improve on his expression. Ellie looks gorgeous but has long way to go in terms of acting. Varun Badola steals the thunder and is the only silver lining in the film.

Overall, all the hype-hoolah surrounding film is drowned by a wafer thin plot. Neither comical nor thriller.Poor 1/5

I enjoyed the movie. The young hacker was well played by the newcomer Manish. And the two other major characters , the police ACP and his side kick Valla, was played quite believably by the actors. There are some welcome twists. Kamyani was played with delectable visuals by Elli avram. Her entry point as the cartoon character Kung fu chameli was stunning in an yellow sari. The rapid progression to love seemed forced but the focus of the screenplay was on the other issue. The laid back but shrewd character of young hacker was portrayed well. Shades of Noir thriller comes into the fore towards the end. Some amount fun is there in the interplay between the lead characters. Well worth a watch in an evening.

Mickey Virus is not a great film by any stretch of imagination but the creators of this film have my respect for trying out something new and unique. The majority of the film is quite enjoyable, but I didn't like how they handled the climax. I have no issues with the inaccurate depiction of hacking as such because it's understandable that the idea is to entertain the viewers and not to turn their experience into a college lecture.

WHAT'S GOOD :

1. This movie has a fresh subject at it's core; the world of hackers. We do have heroes and villains, but it's not the usual story.

2. The movie takes you by surprise at multiple points with it's twists and reveals. I did not expect to see any deaths in the film, let alone the death of a key character half way through the film.

3. Manish Paul's comic timing is pretty good. Manish has done quite well in the past as a television host and this role almost felt like an extension of what he usually does. The expressions on Manish's face and his body language were extremely natural and never felt like he was forcing himself to act.

4. Elli Evrram or Elisabeth Emily Granlund Avramidou looked stunningly beautiful in the film. It's easy to see why she was finalized for this film but the thing to note is that she never came across as an expressionless beauty, this girl can actually act. I wish they hadn't dubbed her voice though, because the voice just didn't suit her and reduced the impact of her dialogues. Viewers can see that she is a foreigner, so why would it be a problem if she spoke with an accent? It's quite surprising to see that an actress who is not from India but can speak better Hindi than Katrina Kaif and Jacqueline Fernandez, looks absolutely gorgeous and is actually capable of acting, is still struggling for work despite being an active part of the Indian Film Industry for the last ten years.

5. The supporting actors are quite good. Manish Chaudhari's command over his craft reflects in every single dialogue of his; he is extremely grounded in his role of Siddhant. Varun Badola, the criminally underrated and underutilized actor is flawless as Inspector Bhalla. Among the friends of Mickey, Puja Gupta was quite charming as Chutney.

WHAT'S NOT GOOD :

1. The movie deserved a better climax than all major characters just standing in one location and reading lines from a teleprompter.

2. At one point, Manish Paul informs Varun Badola that he has reached quite deep inside the website of 'Bhram Gang', so how is it possible that he never bothered to check out the administrators of the website? That was a plot hole the writers conveniently ignored.

Micky Virus comes across as a light hearted entertainer that turns into an interesting thriller later on, but one can't deny that it's not a very polished product. It's definitely watchable, but keep your expectations on the lower side.