Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

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

There is one thing I genuinely like about the General audience. If they don't like a movie, they would not care two hoots, unlike most of our critics and 'thinking-audience', about the film-maker who made it. If they think something is trash, Trash is what they call it. On the other hand, Critics and the 'intellectuals' are forced to think twice before rubbishing any film by a maverick film-maker.

But the bitter truth is - if we take out the name - Vishal Bhardwaj - there is very little else to savour in the whacky yet directionless 'Matru ki Bijlee Ka Mandola'.

Don't get me wrong, but its a rather disquieting experience to see the guy who made Maqbool, Omkara & Kaminey fail to realise a concept to its fullest - that had much potential for humour as well as intensity, for style as much as sincerity.

Not to say that Bhardwaj doesn't pull it off at all. Perhaps the most charming parts of MKBKM are the ones belonging to first half, where the film comfortably veers ahead with a couldn't-care-less sort of leisurely pace, never bothering to 'take the story forward' - an aura which seems even more apt considering the milieu it is set in.

The film begins with two POVs of the same scene - letting us in early enough about the stylistic brush-strokes he is going to use perhaps, further for his latest offering. Mandola - Now here is a character who acts Suicidally moral when drunk, and acts according to the world's evil ways when in his prime. The confidence comes across in the initial reels when the film charters its path sans any melodramatic dispositions - leisurely pace is an aura very few directors manage to pull off, and its not surprising when Bhardwaj does that.

Whats unsettling is how overboard Bhardwaj went and simply wrote and wrote this script until there was possibly nothing else of color that could be incorporated. As a result, the narrative looks too stuffed and sadly the film hardly ever manages to keep count of all its tone-shifts and mood-swings.

The whacky plot-devices are in abundance here, and even work to a very great extent - A boy gifting an entire Zulu tribe to his would-be is quite a thought, just because she had mentioned some odd day about her fetish for African music.There is an alarmingly incestuous angle to the relationship-mechanics as well, well treated and sans any malice. Apart from these, There is an identity-closure angle, there is a Zulu tribe, we have a very brief UFO scene, A hi-end exec asks one of our leads at least three times about "the revolution".. and then amidst all of this, Mandola (Pankaj Kapur) can't help locking eyes with a all-too- smiling pink buffalo.

Bhardwaj has a lot on his patische here, and tries his level best to make sense by bringing all of them together on one sheet. At times, he even resembles a novelist - playing with the immense possibilities of all the sub-plot that promise some thrill, some mood. One of the most set-piece is delivered when Mandola talks about his dreams as we envision them - the granduer of them all is too overwhelming, and Bhardwaj underlines the whimsical over-the-topness of it all by making the clouds appear and rain.

But when a mood-movie like this enters into a zone where the plot seems too self-important, the balance is simply lost altogether. Because as much as we dilly-dally with the crazy touches and little details, the 'story-listener' in us viewers constantly feels troubled by the ultimate direction MKBKM takes - by the pre-climax seeming like a loosely-knit 'Peepli Live', a satirical comedy about one of the most important issues plaguing our nation.

And despite exceptional performances by Pankaj Kapur (who is mindblowing throughout, actually) and Anushka Sharma in the final portions, the climax does exactly what one fears it would - fail to tie all the madcap strings together well enough, to create a concrete madcap comedy. This is a 'neither-here-nor-there' case, clearly - watchable but had lot more potential.

I am pretty sure you know what the story is, so I won't strain on that! Well, it is typical and a lot of movies have been made in the same line of land acquisition and dirty politics - in all languages perhaps!

MkBkM is a musical odyssey of great performances by the whole crew except the writer. Lead actors are solid - Kapur, Khan & Sharma are great and perfectly monetize their characters. Kapur's character is like a villain that you love. Shabana Azmi portrays her stellar performance and I appreciate that!

Editing, screenplay is good; direction is the usual Vishal Bhardwaj and music is punchy yet enjoyable. I won't spill the beans about the pink cow, because you need to watch it to enjoy and take pleasure.

What works and supposedly will in the box office is it's catchy screenplay full of the Bollywood masala which was lacking in most of the 100 crore worth films of 2012. It is definitely not boring a movie to pay 300 bucks for. I am pretty sure you won't be disappointed by the performances, but the clichéd story might dull you!

After Table No. 21, I would not totally recommend to watch this but you won't complain as it is a VB movie (7KhhonM, Omkara) and not Dabangg 3!

Bottom Line: Watch it because it has and will give you a kickstart in this 3 day holiday weekend! But MkBkM is not pure filmaking. As we all are irritatingly bored by 2012's greatly depressing masala-item dance movies, 2013 is time for some enjoyment!

WATCH OUT FOR: Pankaj Kapur!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Language: Mild | Sex: No | Nudity: Very mild | Violence: Mild | Mouth- Kiss: Yes | Foreplay: Yes | Drugs: Implied | Alcohol: Strong | Smoking: Mild

There are a thousand ways to approach a serious subject. Yet with MBM, Vishal Bharadwaj does an entirely different take,and an effective yet entertaining one at that. The screenplay has an aroma of theater throughout, and is backed by some stellar performances by Pankaj Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and the new pair of Imran Khan and Anushka Sharma. The humor in the film has a quirky charm about it. Pankaj Kapoor exhibits brilliance in the portrayal of a character who can be loved and hated at the same time. I would strongly recommend the movie to avid theater audiences and also to those who would like to be served the Bollywood 'masaala' in an entirely different avatar.

Vishal Bharadwaj serves you "Mr. Pankaj Kapur on the rocks!"

'A twisted title, Limousine in gehu ke fields, African Zulu tribes, Pink buffalo called gulabbo, Politician sucking a lollipop in fields, Mao Tse-tung's (Maoism wala) desi avatar, UFO in a village?' Yes, this Vishal Bharadwaj film has more bizarre elements than you can ever think of !

MKBKM is one hell of a ride - from crazy, absurd, wacky, bizarre to... social, political, addressing some of the pertinent issues faced by our nation. Here you have one of the greatest actors of India in his elements, with his dual act of - caring, sensitive drunkard 'Hariya' and, a stern, selfish & staunch capitalist 'Harry'. Only actor of his caliber can carry-off such role with aplomb (he is teetotaler in real life). Please, hand over all the awards of 2013 to Mr Pankaj Kapur for his exceptional performance!

Director Vishal Bharadwaj has his own eccentric ways of making social commentary with issues such as SEZ (Special Economic Zones), land grabbing, capitalism, Maoism, corruption, honor killing, lokpal, media and what not! At one point, Bharadwaj doesn't even think twice before taking actual names of politicians -- from Sheila Dixit, to Rahul-s, Varun-s, Scindia-s of Congress as political heirs of successful politicians. It takes some time and effort from our side to get acquainted to this Haryanvi setup and accent...but if you start getting Bharadwaj's references and quirky dialogues, you are into this exhilarating mad-cap ride.

Imraan Khan as 'Matru' does well with whatever he can do with his limited acting capabilities. Anushka Sharma is effective, but she is getting typecast in these type of roles. Shabana Azmi is excellent in her sly and manipulating political avatar. Arya Babbar does well as Azmi's dimwit son.

There are many memorable scenes which only director like Vishal Bharadwaj can think of -- that hilarious fight between Matru and Mandola during "well" scene, Mandola riding a plane after getting drunk, Azmi's monologue about 'progressive' nation called India (over ages), the scene between Mandola and Azmi just before the rain arrives, Mandola telling 'Mao' - tu "left" wala bottle le, or the love story involving something as banal as "tooth-brush".

In some cases, Bharadwaj tends to go overboard especially towards the climax sequence and some of Imraan-Anushka's scenes are simply annoying. Sometimes, the film gets repetitive with street theater (natak) type execution.

Music: Vishal-Gulzar combo for music is delicious as always. It takes the film one notch higher. You get to hear samples of African and Haryanvi folk music in some of the songs. My picks from the album - Khamakhan, Badal uthiyan, Oye boy Charlie, title song.

Verdict: Overall, the film is as twisted as its title. So, watch it if you can digest this genre/Vishal Bharadwaj's films......otherwise you might walk out of cinema hall during the show, like some did where I watched the movie.

P.S. Pankaj Kapur is God of acting.