Maska (Netflix) - Rumi Irani (Prit Kamani) dreams and aspires to be an actor, but has limited talent. What he does have is a traditional, family owned Parsi cafe in South Mumbai that once boasted of an extensive menu and loyal clientele, which he doesn't think much of. Rustom Cafe is currently managed by his mother, the spunky and fiery Diana Irani (Manisha Koirala), who has been able to run it on a skeletal basis with a limited menu who is waiting for her son to take charge and return the cafe to its original glory.
But Rumi has to realise his dreams at any cost and therefore, brokers a deal to sell off the property to a prominent chain for a price that will fund his launch vehicle into the silver screen. He has magic fingers and invests time and effort into the cafe to rebuild its reputation and win back the clientele with the agenda of convincing his mother to sell it off. She agrees under duress and for the love of her son, but is heartbroken.
Maska had a massive potential of becoming an emotional sojourn sans the melodrama. The premise and build up were also pretty strong, with Manisha Koirala, Prit Kamani and Javed Jaffri creating a perfect stage for telling the story of a turnaround. Unfortunately, director Neeraj Udhwani spends far too long on the prologue and Rumi's dalliance with acting and his love for Mallika (Nikita Dutta). He should have made more efforts to showcase Rumi's disillusionment with his acting career, realization of his culinary and entrepreneurial skills, attachment with the family business, appreciation for his mother's expectations and the development of his love for Persis (Shirley Setia), the girl who is instrumental in turning him around. But all of the above is encapsulated in about 20 minutes which makes it a suboptimal and underwhelming climax, albeit predictable right from the beginning.
But do give Maska a chance, it surely makes for a one time watch and appreciation of the fact that it could have been handled better.
