Mithya – A Review

18Feb08

Director Rajat Kapoor’s take on the gangster genre is a refreshing change than the usual RGV School of power struggle and intrigue. A dark humor, it’s a comic take on the life of an ordinary guy which takes an extraordinary turn.

VK (Ranvir Sheory) is a struggling actor whose daily grind begins with waking up early, making tea for himself, going to the barber, fascinating over the glamorous starlet Sonam (Neha Dhupia), dubbing for animated movies and playing nano-sidekicks (had to use nano somewhere).

What creates complications in VK’s simple life is his uncanny resemblance with the don Raje (Ranvir again). The rival gang headed by Saurav Shukla wants to eliminate Raje but a serendipitous discovery by Vinay Pathak and Brijendra Kala changes their plan. Sounds familiar? Very similar to the iconic Don in its basic premise but completely different in its execution, Mithya is what the Farhan Akhtar movie should have been instead of the all-style-no-soul product which he ultimately made. The rest of the movie is about the turn of events when the Saurav Shukla gang put their plan into action.

The movie is filled with almost the entire star cast of Bheja Fry with the glaring absence of Rajat Kapoor. If there was an Indian award for ensemble acting this movie is the strongest contender for the year 2008. Vinay Pathak and Brijendra Kala (ridiculously named Ram and Shyam) are simply brilliant with their comic timing. Naseer is as good as ever playing the don Gawde, which is actually Mustafa Mastaan (Bombay Boys) sans the rib-tickling humour. Neha Dhupia does her job well which is to look desirable while Irrawati Harshe makes a nice little comeback. But the movie belongs to two actors who till now were struggling for author backed roles. One of them is Harsh Chaaya. The immensely talented actor plays an over the top brother in law of Raje. It’s as if he was craving to release all those pent up energies since the days of Swabhimaan and given an opportunity he just burns the screen with insane rage. However the person who steals the show and is likely to be benefited immensely is the very talented Ranvir Sheory. I was pleasantly surprised with his range. I love Ranvir’s comic timing but his handling of the complicated scenes was exceptional. He is a discovery.

A commendable effort by Rajat Kapoor, who shows incredible maturity and control over the medium, in making a masterpiece for the modern times without playing to the gallery. Mithya is taut and intelligent, a tragi-comic take on the dark side of underworld. The dark ending leaves you shattered but it is good to see the director not giving in to the demands of happy endings.

A special word for the producer Arindham Chaudhri – When Arindham Chaudhri decided to produce movies he made a profound statement claiming he has got the perfect formula for making a hit movie and came out with the turkey – Rok Sako To Rok Lo. I don’t know whether Mithya is going to be a hit or not but certainly if he helps make one more movie like Mithya he at least would have the secret formula to make great cinema.

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