National Awards Meri Jaan—You Bet!

A local train advancing with unhindered acceleration-the only thing unusual about it is that, only a few seconds back one of its compartments got blasted off, moves out of focus, as the camera converges on a 7/11 sign marked on a post in the vicinity, connoting the poignancy of the masterful moment created by Nishikant Kamat in his debut Bollywood venture, Mumbai Meri Jaan. Based on the Mumbai serial train blasts in 11th July, 2006, that triggered terror among the Mumbai inhabitants, MMJ is a brilliant portrayal of how things are, instead of how things ought to be, at the time of crisis.

A computer vendor whose corporation is in the doldrums (Kay Kay Menon’s Suresh), a posh executive who dislikes glossy comfort (R. Madhavan’s Nikhil Agarwal), a madrasi coffeewaala who is tired of being ridiculed, by and large in his desperate bid to catch up with the effing pace of progress and prosperity (Irrfan Khan), a quintessential representative of the malevolent media (Soha Ali Khan’s Rupali Joshi) and an aging constable on the verge of retirement, who regrets that in his 36 year long service he did not do anything worthwhile (Paresh Rawal’s Tukaram Patil) are the pivotal characters on which the narrative builds up. Their life, before and after the tragedy, that usurped one’s moment’s solace forms the thematic thread of the phenomenal MMJ.

A script strings five stories running parallel, with justified pace which is most essential in narratives of this kind, go too fast and the emotions get blurred, go too slow, and the films slugs . One just cannot abandon the feeling that it is a very sound script and the dialogues so very identifiable what with Kay Kay’s dry sarcasm or Paresh Rawal’s witty punches. Ditto with cinematography, it’s bloody brilliant to say the least. The background score appears clichéd at some parts, but still it does justice to the flawless script.

Probably the stellar performances by the ensemble cast, is the USP of MMJ and guys, just watch out for Soha. Soha surprises you with her mature emoting which was completely missing in RDB. Soha as the pain-in-the-@#$ journo and Soha as the woman who has just lost her fiancé had been portrayed with equal élan. See the look on her face when she receives the delivery of her marriage card which was never to take place, or when asked by her colleagues to make appear in a feature about her personal loss which would be used as a shameless primetime show element in the very news channel where she would cook up sympathy from similar incidents of apathy is highly commendable to say the least. At this context I would also like to mention about a gem of a sequence where we can see her face reflected on the floor and people walk over it, signifying what…that I leave it to you to derive at your own conclusion.

Kay Kay Menon as the prejudiced Muslim-phobic Mumbaikar on the threshold of bankruptcy, Madhavan as the terrorized daily commuter and Vijay Maurya as the constable torn between ideology and duty, are amazing. But Paresh Rawal and Irrfan Khan scores way above the rest. Probably for the first time in my eighteen year old life am I getting to see Paresh Rawal do comedy without becoming a caricature. And Irrfan….oh! Intense Irrfan….. he hardly speaks in the movie but his impeccable body language does the talking….and oh his eyes….. look out for his expression when he is kicked out of a mall and humiliated before everyone else including his daughter, because he dared to dream of a life where he can buy “kaafi (coffee) flavour ka scent”… just like that. When he realizes the way to derive sadistic pleasure by harassing his tormentors at the mall is just by pressing three buttons, his sudden change in body language is amazing.

The “Bombay Meri Jaan” track does wonders which begins in the denouement and continues till the end-credits roll. The end-credits are accompanied by photographs of the Mumbai blast victims….highly reminiscent of Black Friday.

MMJ is hard hitting, MMJ is beautiful, maybe because of the simple reason that an explosion which culminates into a ring of fire, here culminated into a wreath of red roses.