Matru, Bijlee e Mandola

Its a Shakespearean story set in rural India. If you know rural India have lived there, you would feel attached to the movie.This movie is not for urban people who don't know (and don't give a damn) about how things work in rural India.

PANKAJ KAPOOR should have won awards for this movie and for first time i actually liked IMRAN KHAN's work. SHABANA AZAMI too is incredible.

Script is USP of the movie and screenplay is brilliant...although ending was a bit longer than it should have been. Overall,the movie should have been supported more by viewers and critics.

I would give it 8/10.

Pankaj Kapur is the life and soul of this film, delivering an acting masterclass and a riveting performance, that, combined with the overall sheer zaniness and its excellent, rustic dialogue, keeps you hooked and helps gloss over the wafer-thin plot and limited acting skills / suitability of Imran for the lead role

Whether in the opening sequence, while trying to cajole the Theke wala before ultimately driving his limo through his shed. Or trying to persuade the well to move out of his way. Or inciting a revolt amongst the farmers against himself, the man who knows how to make a plan take off but not land, who speaks flawless English when sober and thet Haryanvi when drunk on his favourite desi, Pankaj Kapur is the man with a vision.

As he explains to his delicious (his words, not mine) partner in crime, Shabana, he finds the sight of agricultural fields boring. He would prefer smoke belching factories, a concrete jungle, cubby-hole apartments for workers, whom you pay salaries with one hand and set up glitzy malls to take it all away with another. Shabana, a minister bank rolled by Pankaj's wealth is only too willing as an accomplice, even playing footsie with him during meetings with officials. And the marriage between her son, a superbly played idiot by Arya Babbar and Pankaj's feisty daughter, Anushka should settle matters once and for all.

The only impediment is Pankaj's valet cum driver cum drinking parner, Imran. A leftist, rabble rousing, JNU educated (that explains everything, doesn't it ?) villager, he wants to rally the remaining farmers to not give up their land, to continue to farm.

Shabana's dark, villainous turn, reminiscent of her evil-exuding role in Loins of Punjab Presents is excellent. Arya throws himself enthusiastically in his role of a well-meaning, slightly daft Mama's boy. Anushka doesn't have much to do apart from fetching apples from the bottom of the pond, sympathizing with the villagers and going around bit confused but she does it well.

There is a message here somewhere. Not that hard to get, nor a particularly new one where the rich, the powerful and the politicians combine to loot the common man who is soon left with no option but to succumb to the crumbs being offered to him. In any case, it's a message told with flair, panache and a craziness involving more than a few pink buffaloes

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!

I generally don't do film reviews and frankly I wouldn't have done this unless my driver hadn't been late to pick me up.So if you hate this post, you know whom to blame.

That done with, Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola or MKBKM is in one word, a riot.You can easily see Vishal Bhardwaj dripping all over this flick as he does an excellent job directing this movie(and singing one of the tracks as well).I wont give away the plot but it revolves around three characters: Harry Mandola, a rustic rich construction business owner who's acute alcohol consumption keeps him swinging between two personalities i.e. a bumbling,heavily accented fool and the other of a suave,daughter adoring father.Second is Bijli, Harry's daughter who is a beautiful,wild spirited girl with a golden heart.She's childhood friends with the last main character,Matru. Matru is a LLB graduate who works for Harry as a driver cum man-Friday. Oh! Did I mention Gulabo, the pink buffalo?

So,with that background,the plot revolves around a hostile government land acquisition in a village.But in MKBKM, it's not the plot but the funny little scenes which matter.Both,intense and comic at the same time,Bhardwaj has created a film which is obvious in it's plot yet keeps your wit running as to what happens next. Pankaj Kapur takes away the accolades for his brilliant acting and performance while Anushka's role was far more of being eye-candy with assistance in sub plots (Not that I'm complaining!). Imran Khan too plays second fiddle to Pankaj Kapoor, but his skills and versatility as an actor are simply great.The music as well as direction had the usual yet hatke style of all Vishal Bhardwaj movies. Lastly, the flaws. The dialogues although well written, were heavily accented and required a bit of North Indian blood in you to grasp their meaning. Secondly, although the movie is rated U/A and there are no scenes of sexual depictions, the sly abuse laced language could result in some odd questions from a younger crowd. I mean would you be willing to answer a 7 year old's question: "What does Bhencho mean?" Plus, some scenes are blunt and simply added for over dramatization so if you're one of those so called "true cinema lovers", you might throw up. So to sum it up, as Anushka Sharma's waist says, Dekho Magar Pyaar Se ;)

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.