Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam

Writer-director Sanjay Chhel is no Stanley Kubrick, and yet I suspect he was somehow able to strike the same deal with his producers, as Kubrick did with the studio that financed his last film. It's popularly believed that Kubrick didn't allow Warner Brothers to see any rushes, any scenes of Eyes Wide Shut before he delivered his final cut, even though the studio had poured millions of dollars into the film. Watching this comedy written and directed by Chhel, I think I can safely say nobody but the film's creator could have had any clue what they were going to see. Of course, in the case of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick delivered a haunting portrait of marital loneliness. With Maan Gaye Mughall-e-Azam, on the other hand, Chhel has created a wretched mess of a movie -- a jumble of footage in search of a plot. Paresh Rawal and Mallika Sherawat star as a married couple who're part of a theatre troupe in a small town in Goa who must yet again stage their version of the classic period romance Mughal-e-Azam, because the police fears their political satire might be a little too sensitive in such difficult times. The film after all is set in 1993, shortly after the communal riots that rocked the country. Rahul Bose plays what appears to be a seemingly jobless RAW officer who falls for Sherawat when he sees her on stage, and subsequently conducts an affair with her behind her husband's back. Kay Kay Menon stars as a ghazal singer with underworld connections who disguises himself as an undercover cop. When Bose learns that Kay Kay is working closely with a Dubai Don on a plan to blow up the country, he gets this theatre troupe involved in a mission to foil the Don's sinister operation. Liberally borrowing the premise of the Mel Brooks starrer To Be Or Not To Be, writer-director Sanjay Chhel turns in an asinine farce that one can't expect anyone with even the slightest intelligence to actually find funny. The dialogues are full of repetitive puns, characters respond to each other in rhyme, and far from following a cohesive screenplay, individual scenes end with punch-lines and clap-traps. I understand this film's meant to be a comedy and one's expected to make allowances for logic, but Maan Gaye Mughall-e-Azam isn't just illogical, it's seriously lacking in any common sense whatsoever. It's also a showcase of the worst performances you'll see by some very fine actors - Paresh Rawal, Kay Kay Menon, Pavan Malhotra and Zakir Hussain seem to have sent their acting skills on a holiday while they were shooting this film, and even the comically gifted Mallika Sherawat isn't in particularly good form. Rahul Bose has precisely three expressions in all, and he alternates between them through the entire duration of this film. I must go back to the point I made earlier - did really no producer, no actor, nobody associated with this film in any capacity have any idea what film they'd gone and made? Because I'm not sure you could find a worse movie than this if you went searching for one. There's no question of any rating for this film, they're lucky we don't have a negative rating scale. I suspect the members of the Censor Board fell asleep while watching this film, how else could they have allowed the use of so many expletives. Every other character uses the words maa ki and behen ki very freely, one character's name is Bashir Bastard, and one chap even uses the F-word. There's a very good chance you'll be swearing just as much when you're leaving the cinema.

i saw the preview show..i freaked out..this a superb movie of 2008. A New but Classy attempt to try to create humor as well as give a patriotic message, in which the director has succeeded completely.its a mad mad..laugh riot..best work of parseh rawal..mallika is hot..i loved kk and Rahul bose too..bollywood film can be wacky..tile song is funny and has witty lyrics. everyone should see it and wait to see the superb outcome.... this film has everything.......sensuality of Mallika sherawat....terrific performance of Rahul Bose...charisma of paresh rawal.....and above all foot tapping music and there is not even one dull moment in the picture.....this is certainly a SMALL MOVIE WITH BIG IDEAS go have fun and its a TOTAL PAISA VASOOL!!!!!!!!!!

A very Bad remake of a Very good Mel Brooks comedy To Be Or Not To Be.

The movie has tried to be very Intellectual but is a a pure Rubbish. Using Bombay serial blasts as a backdrop for the plot the movie tries to show a nexus between Politics, Police, Underworld and Bollywood thru comedy. They have also tried to emphasize that any cultural censorship is the bed rock of decent, quoting "Where one burns books, one will soon burn people." –Heinrich Heine

In a fictitious town of St Louis ( how unimaginative ) of Goa a group of theater actors are recruited to intercept a consignment of RDX which is suppose to be used in Bombay serial Blasts. This is would be very insulting to the families of the blast victims. Imagine a comedy made about 9/11.

The promoters of the film may point out that in the original Hitler was the nemesis but the context was entirely different. And in their lies the difference.

What a waste of such talented bunch of actors.

'Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam' is a poor rip-off of the classic 'To Be Or Not To Be'. Perhaps they thought nobody would notice since the original movie came out about half a century ago. As a film itself, it does not have much to offer except for the comedic scenes which are quite funny especially the sequences with the play and those between Kay Kay Menon and Mallika Sherawat. The non-comedic bits are boring. Sanjay Chhel is quite a bad director because he just does not succeed with telling a convincing story. It lacks focus and fails to engage. All the Muslim characters are portrayed as terrorists. The songs appear randomly and are shot like MTV clips. Paresh Rawal is pretty much in his usual comedic mode. There's nothing new about his acting here. Rahul Bose hams it up. Pawan Malhotra is passable. Mallika Sherawat is okay. It is Kay Kay Menon who steals the show proving yet again that he can do comedy. 'Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam' is overall a poor show. One cannot expect more than a very few laughs.

Who this movie is *not* for: If you like movies that make some sense, you won't like this at all. There is absolutely no meaning in the story and way too many editing and concept flaws. The jokes are cliché and the acting not as entertaining. The star cast is pretty poor. If you are a fan of Paresh Rawal and love his acting and movies, you will dislike this movie a lot because his character is meaningless. If you are looking for a comedy movie and like Priyadarshan style, you'll hate this.

Who this movie *is* for: If you like Govinda movies i.e. slapstick style, you may find this OK. If you don't care about acting, direction or story; rather just some fun songs and something you can watch with family, then this is OK.