Mili

Mili is a drama thriller film directed by mathukutty xavier. It is the official remake of the malayalam film 'helen' directed by the same director.

Jhanvi kapoor has improved a lot since her dhadak days. She has understood the assignment and she knew that only facial expressions were not enough to emote, she definitely did a fine job with her body language as well. Though she needs to work more upon her dialogue delivery, its still a work in progress. She should take more challenging roles like this. Manoj pahwa does some outstanding work here. As mili's father, he shows the anguish and fear of losing his child brilliantly. He is a veteran, who got the space here and just nailed it. Sunny kaushal did not have much to do, his was mostly of a reaction role. The other supporting characters were good. Anurag arora will definitely challenge you with your patience.

The cinematography is brilliant. The freezer scenes are exquisite. The contrast between the outer world and that confined space was brilliantly built up through the camera distance from the character. There was no space in the freezer for mili, close up shots, zoomed in shots were the majority. The sound mixing too is brilliant. You get literally startled in some sequences, when the sound suddenly kicks in. The scene where sound fades out from the freezer, to the employee chamber, to the shop door was a good one.

There is some visual storytelling as well. In the opening sequence, an ant is followed by the camera. What happens with it is literally the plot of the movie, and the ending too is the same ant one. The songs are quite good, not AR's best but 'jeena hoga' and 'tu hai rahi' are really melodious.

There is a brilliant cameo by jackie shroff. The film also talks about the caste differences that is still a major talking point in north india and also the subtle misogyny about a girl working late night shifts. Also, the different shades of police force is also beautifully dealt with.

The screenplay is smooth and seldom lets its viewers off the hook. The emotional core of mili and her father is set up wonderfully and that is one of the major reasons why we connect with it. The character of sameer could have been written better, his love with mili was half baked.

A pretty good remake with some really good performances with an impeccable sound design. Should watch this!!

Janhvi did what she could (and what was in her abilities) to save the slow and uninteresting plot of the movie. At no point were any of the other cast memorable and did not prove useful in any way until the very end. The movie is watchable, but that's due to Janhvi.

Although there were some sweet moments of Janhvi's character, particularly in the latter half of the movie. Those were touching but I wish the other characters were developed more.

The sound track sounded good (AR Rehman ofc) but the lyrics were written by a 9 year old. It seemed like mostly everything in the movie was carelessly chosen.

Survival thrillers are a rarity in any film industry, let alone Bollywood, but there have been quite a few initiatives in the past few years, and I must say, regardless of their successes or failures, I'm glad that they at least attempted to venture into this relatively uncharted territory.

Coming back to 'Mili,' it's an official remake of 2019's Malayalam film 'Helen', which starred Anna Ben (which I haven't seen yet, so I have no way of comparing the two). This appears to be a reasonably competent thriller if I evaluate it strictly on its own merits.

In addition to delivering the expected ingredients of suspense and despair, it also captured the essence of a father-daughter relationship that blossomed into something wholehearted. In addition, everyone's performances were also very commendable. Particularly Janhvi Kapoor.

She may need a dozen opportunities for improvisation, but one cannot deny her willingness to take on unconventional roles that will force her to grow as an actress. She still has a long way to go, but one thing is for certain, she is indeed on the right course.

This was definitely not your typical Bollywood movie. I expected song and dance, and I got something completely different. I was pleasantly surprised by the originality. There were plot holes all over the place, and characters acted nonsensically and unrealistically at times. However, the storyline itself is not bad. The lead actress does a credible job although the writers have her doing some pretty dumb things at times. Nevertheless, I was happy that the movie did not follow the old, worn out Indian movie formula and struck new ground with creativity. The first half was better than the second, but overall this was a solid watch.

This is the usual movie filmed around an expressionless actor Jahnvi kapoor Compare her with her mother Sri Devi. Audience can easily guess what is next and also the end result. Same formula, similar love story, motherless child brought up by single father. Best part of the movie has been shot in the freezer room of the fast food restaurant. Effectively the movie can be compressed to 20 % or even less.

Usually there are a plethora of safety devices for a deep freeze chamber which can be used in such situations. In emergency there are instructions within the freezer chamber for escape. The door lock can easily be opened without a key as one would do it from inside the house of main door. I would not recommend this movie. It is waste of time and money. There are much better choices on Netflix.