Mirzapur-The Movie, Review: Gang Bang, Bang Gang, Bang Bang
Mirzapur-The Movie, Review: Gang Bang, Bang Gang, Bang Bang
If you are looking for novelty, in terms of story and screenplay, this is not your film. If you are turned on by Mafia Dons running parallel governments and illegal rackets, with the active collusion of the police and Ministers, you are most welcome. But wait a minute. Have you not seen this at least a hundred times in the last 20 years? And many of you have seen the 2018 series on Amazon Prime TV. So…well, if you cannot have enough of the same, you may head for Mirzapur. No, not The Mirzapur, located in south-eastern Uttar Pradesh, sitting on the southern bank of the Ganges River, in the Purvanchal region of the state, but the nearest cinema-hall that is screening the film version of the series.
On OTT, the series was created for Amazon Prime Video by Karan Anshuman, who wrote the script, along with Puneet Krishna and Vineet Krishna. Anshuman directed the first season of the series, along with Gurmmeet Singh and Mihir Desai, the latter of whom directed the second season and third season, along with Anand Iyer. The series was produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar of Excel Entertainment. The film too is an Excel production, but this time the credits are a bit different. From the writers, only Puneet Krishna is retained, and of the three directors who were on board for the smaller screen, we have only one here: Gurmmeet (also spelt Gurmeet) Singh, in his feature film debut. Exit Vikrant Massey, enter Jitendra Kumar and enter Ravi Kishan, as a rival Don. Most other characters are retained from the OTT series.
The following is not a long paragraph. It is an overview of the film, in the form of a running commentary.
Puneet Krishna has penned the story of gang warfare, illogical faithfulness and devotion of thugs to their Mafia bosses (called Bahubalis, or strong-arm men in the film), thugs harbouring dreams of running their own gangs, Dons manufacturing weapons in their private factories, Dons scheming all the time to outwit and grab a rival Don’s turf, a Don willing to travel 1,382 kms by road which takes about 23 hours to cover, to strike a drug deal, completely oblivious to the possibility of a betrayal and a confrontation that will have them at a distinct disadvantage, being in unknown terrain, however strong their battalion be, and with no exit plan laid out about smuggling several truckloads of opium back to Mirzapur, a Don having no faith in the abilities of his only son to get trained for the coronation as his successor, once he is dead or deposed, without giving the son enough opportunity to prove himself, dismissing him off every time, because he gets angry and violent at petty things, a fair-complexioned son of a Don who wants a facial done at the lowdown local barber shop and is ready to use violence because the barber is in the middle of giving a facial to another fair-complexioned man, and asks him to wait for his turn, a midget who runs a cycle puncture (‘pancher’ is what they call it) repair facility in the outlands and beats a customer black and blue when he wrongly accuses the repairer of doing a bad job of plugging the customer’s burst tyre, the same midget joins forces with his cousin, who is the left hand of the Bahubali, and because he is a 'fan' of the Bahubali's son, for reasons unknown, he jumps into the fray when an all-out battles rages, inviting sure 'pancher' (death), a woman who is married off to the Don after his wife’s death although both families know that she has a lover, the woman continues to have a physical relation with her lover while being a dutiful wife at home and sells him down the river when she is in danger of being exposed, leaders of clans in power constantly planning to seize the territories of other clans, Ministers eyeing the post of Chief Minister, which they hope to reach with the help of thugs, each Bahubali claiming that his clan believes in acquiring everything it ants by hook or by crook, the protagonist Bahubali (can there be such a thing) repeatedly flouts the philosophy that Bahubalis do not kill anybody, but order their henchmen to finish off opponents and betrayers, one Bahubali confronts another and wages war, he then faces another Bahubali and wages war, one lieutenant decamping with the booty and facing the wrath of his boss, a right-hand man of a Don looks at a passing camel and talks to the rider, as if he had a premonition that the camel and the rider are participating in a race and the owner must be administering steroids to the camel, which he relieves the owner of, and injects himself, with a veterinary steroid, since he thinks that he will need the booster to make his 12-pack bulge blow up to a balloon size, to a 24 pack, a father who berates his older son for working with the Bahubali as his right-hand man, but turns a blind eye towards his other son, who is the left-hand man, the father using the police to prevent the ‘errant’ son from leaving Mirzapur, the police holding him, seated on a wooden bench, with a single-hand hand-cuff, allowing his mother to smuggle in a gun in the ‘tiffin’, facilitating his escape, of the three Muslim characters in the film, two are the trusted bodyguards of the strong-arm men and the third, a woman, is the keep of a pretender to the throne, and all hell breaking loose in the desert of Jaisalmer, in the end. Yes, this is not the complete story. It is not meant to be. Oh! I almost forgot that Mirzapur has a mid-credits scene that makes it very clear where the sequel of the franchise will begin. A sequel?
Did you find anything new in what you just read above? I didn’t. If you did, god-speed to you. So, no comments about the story, screenplay and dialogue. Coming to the direction, Gurmmeet Singh has either been limited by the series, and has to remain true to it. He has handled all the actors well, which might not have been a difficult task since all of them, but one, have already lived in Mirzapur for 8 years. One cannot blame him for the unbearable length of the film, which runs for a whopping 197 minutes, either, because there are some 197 characters to delineate! However, you must give credit to the writer and the director for making the redundant character of the Bauji, Bahubali Akhandanad’s father, contribute at least one important shot in the whole film, coming when you least expect it
Pankaj Tripathi as Akhandanand "Kaleen" Tripathi (now how is that for the surname)? is cool calculated and icy. He rarely looks menacing or fearsome, and a bit uncomfortable mouthing expletives.
Ali Fazal as Govind "Guddu" Pandit is the surprise packet of the film. After being given a raw deal in Batwara 1947, he is bound to wow viewers in this film.
Divyenndu as Phoolchand "Munna" Tripathi, Kaleen's son, the man with the short fuse and a massive hang-up at being bypassed by his father when sending other members of his ‘army’ on missions, comes across as a nice man in a not so nice situation.
Jitendra Kumar as Vinay "Bablu" Pandit has an ambivalent character to play, and cannot blend with the milieu.
Ravi Kishan as Babban Yadav has grown tremendously as an actor, and, in spite of having a cute face, he sends shivers down many a spine, as the main villain. Villain? Then who is the hero? There is no hero or heroine in Mirzapur.
Abhishek Banerjee as Subodh alias "Compounder" is as versatile as ever.
Rasika Dugal (who spells her surname with a single g instead of the standard double) as Beena Tripathi, Kaleen's wife and Munna's stepmother, would have come across better if she had more meat on her body. Although she has an innocent face, she goes through scenes of simulated sexual intercourse with ease.
Shweta Tripathi as Gajgamani "Golu" Gupta and Shriya Pilgaonkar as Swaragini "Sweety" Gupta, Guddu's and Munna’s love interest have nothing much to do in this first outing. They will have to wait till Part II.
Harshita Gaur as Dimpy Pandit, Guddu and Bablu's younger sister is okay.
Sushant Singh as Bhairav Singh Karnawat gets into his character with a generous moustache.
Mohit Malik as Birju Lohar has to growl most of the time, but he does have the physique of an ironsmith, as mandated.
Sheeba Chaddha as Vasudha Pandit, Guddu, Bablu and Dimpy's mother, displays duality of personality, as he showers love on her family and also helps her son Guddu escape from custody.
Rajesh Tailang as Adv. Ramakant Pandit, Guddu, Bablu and Dimpy's father, is never shown advocating. The paradox of an advocate having two sons and both of them turn out to be goons is a noticeable factor.
Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Satyanand "Bauji" Tripathi, Kaleen's father and Beena's father-in-law; Munna's grandfather, has always delivered his dialogue in almost the Pankaj Tripathi style, though Pankaj is several decades younger. At 82, he is too much an old hand to do anything radically different.
It is difficult to appreciate music, lyrics and singing in a film Gang Bang, Bang Gang, Bang Bang is the only note. Cinematographer Sanjay Kapoor films the ambience and the locales competently. There are no unnecessary pyrotechnics with the camera. Wilson Birampuria’s editing…well, in a 197-minute film, I will cut out any comment.
Filmed on the sets of Mumbai and the outdoors of Varanasi, Jaisalmer and other parts of Rajasthan, Mirzapur-The Movie was made at a budget of Rs. 250 crore.
So should we question the wisdom of the producers for splurging such a huge amount, or should we sympathise with them?
You decide.
Rating: **
Trailer: https://youtu.be/5vMWZhHPlaw
