Mr. Singh/Mrs. Mehta

Many of the readers might recall that in the eighties, there was a particular genre in Hindi cinema which mainly revolved around subjects of infidelity, extra-marital affairs and some unusual man-women relationships. The movies released under this genre, more or less relied just on their skin-show and few controversial scenes which easily used to become the talk of the town in those days. Among the famous directors of such movies was Vinod Pande who came up with films such as, Ek Baar Phir, Yeh Nazdeekiyan, Ek Naya Rishta and Sach. Post 2000 too he came up with two more movies on this same old pattern of his, which were, Sins (2005) and Red Swastik (2007) featuring Mona Chopra in the lead, now famous as Sherlyn Chopra.

The present Mr. Singh Mrs Mehta is also exactly made on the same guideline, which believes in only one way of bringing in the viewers and that is by showing few naked bodies at regular intervals of its running time and nothing else. With only a one line script and four characters cheating with each other as its base, the movie solely depends upon its erratic nude scenes and has nothing else to offer in the name of cinema.

Right from its first scene itself the director clearly shows his main purpose of making the film and even the posters of the movie convey the same. Sharing a similar theme with "In The Mood of Love" (Hongkong) (2000), Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta doesn't offer you a single moment to enjoy. The pace is lazy, the developments are boring and the performances are just not worth talking about. In fact, in few scenes, its the dialogue delivery of Aruna Shields (the nude model), which brings in some rare laughter in the theater.

In straight words its probably the worst movie of this year wherein the direction is poor, cinematography is amateurish and the acting is pathetic. But coming to the nude scenes in the movie, the handling of these sequences both by the director and the Censor Board clearly reveal the double standards of our Indian Culture we are living in.

Our society has always believed in suppressing things especially whenever it comes to a sensual interpretation or subject of sex used by the medium of art, literature or cinema. And Mr. Singh Mr. Mehta once again proves this eternal truth prevailing around us from ages.

In this current example, at one end the director is trying to take advantage of the sexual curiosity or craze in the younger generation by putting some nude scenes in his film which actually have no meaning at all in the script. And on the other hand the Censor Board even after giving it a clear Adult Certificate, blurs down all those scenes entirely and leaves everything on the individual imagination of the viewers making it even more sexual or rather funny for the audiences. So in a way with "Mr.Singh Mrs. Mehta", both the director and the Censor look like trying to make a fool of the viewers with their own childish kind of suppressing acts.

But thankfully our Indian viewer's intelligence has grown significantly in the last decade, with the World Cinema now coming at our door steps through the digital medium. So now no such attempts can fool the audience anymore and the producers should stop making such crap in the name of multiplex movies or new age cinema of any kind.

This movie is in my opinion, an excellent piece of work. The movie doesn't take the normal routine so typically-bollywood route. It's a class movie with superb performances, especially that of prashant narayanan who plays a painter in the movie. The movie deals with the extra-marital subject in a simple and realistic way, far away from the drama that movies create and handles it skilfully in the form of an essentially naturally flowing script. The movie doesn't claim to have any of those edge-of-the-seat moments but it does enough to keep you engrossed and empathise with the characters. Not everybody would find the movie entertaining or engaging though and rightly so, because it's not meant for everyone particularly, the yet-to-grow audience who still goes out to watch movies like Bodyguard. The movie seems slow in some places and the voiceovers for female leads adds somewhat to the problem but it doesn't work too bad. A word about the music. Excellent! Highly recommended for mature audience!

The movie simply takes though the complexity of the relationships in a simple way. The delicate relationship between the two lead characters are enjoyable. The content of love and betrayal have been portrayed in a different manner, involving minimal confrontations, more in a subtle and indirect way, Artistic??

Sound track is awesome with good background music including situational songs.

However the ending was little shady, i.e. did all four of them knew about their affairs at last?

Overall I enjoyed it.

This is NOT a movie for a regular audience of 'Hindi Film Industry'. If you want to leave behind your brains at home and watch stupid 'Govinda' kind of movie, then please stay away.

If you liked Arth (1982)(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083578/ ) remember the song "Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho", then you will like this movie. You need a mood to taste a mature and adult theme.

If you have a bit of patience, are not judgmental without reason and would want to give the film to develop itself to be a 'drama' that appeals to your intellect, then please watch this.

It has a very creative plot and grows in a very realistic and practical way. The subject of relationship between a man and a women have been treated in a mature way. There is nice use of colour, locations and beautiful nudity (without being disturbing the audience).

Music is soothing and blends well with the theme and situation. Most of it is ghazal. I wont mind buying the CD.

Actors have done a good work. I say this again there is patience involved in watching this movie, if you give it a chance, you will truly be rewarded with a refreshingly nice film to come out of Hindi Film Industry.

If you are from India, I would request you to understand that the movie is not made in India, and characters, actors, locations will have a mix of the western culture that this movie comes from. Look at it with a objective outlook before criticising it.

Interesting films like this one and Arth are really missed in today's age of 'Golmaal movies' Audience are repeatedly treated to trash and brainless humor. Don't be a dummy, prefer your intellect and emotions to be treated with respect, when you pay such heavy ticket prices.

Definitely watch this if this genre of movies appeals to you.

This has to be the worst sophomore effort to have reached Indian cinemas in a long time. Forget Salman Khan, forget Govinda, forget even Gunda or Dada Kondke, this film, in Roger Ebert's immortal words for "Freddy Got Fingered", "isn't the bottom of the barrel, doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel, should not be in the same sentence as barrels." There is so much to fault in this film, and so little to admire that I am at a loss where to start.

How about the dubbed, artificial voices of the Mrs Singh and Mr Mehta? How about the horrid make-up? Mr Mehta is wearing eye-liner, for crying out loud! How about a butchering of every scene? How about ham-handed set-design? How about atrocious dialogue delivery? How about ugly actors? And let me not get started about the plot.

Save your money and your time and skip this piece of trash.