MUMBAI MIRROR: The subject is red hot
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| Director :
| Ankush Bhatt
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| Music :
| Anand Raj Anand and Amjad Nadeem
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| Lyrics :
| Shabbir Ahmed, Naveen Tyagi and Satya Prakash
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| Starring :
| Sachiin J Joshi, Prakash Raj, Gihana Khan, Vimala Raman, Aditya Pancholi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Raja Bherwani and Prashant Narayanan
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January 18, 2013 12:45:02 PM IST
By Martin D'Souza, Glamsham Editorial
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He is an honest cop, doing all the wrong things (drugs, prostitution, goondagiri...). However, he cannot bear to see any women being discriminated, especially beaten. His mother was once beaten black and blue, daily, by his alcoholic father. That created in him a hatred for men who disrespect women.
He is inspector Abhijit Patil (Sachiin Joshi).
He is a dreaded gangster who runs Mumbai city, or rather, buys his way through with his nexus with all the powerful people in government service (primarily police). He runs dance bars across the city which is a front for his drug peddling.
He is Shetty (Prakash Raj).
He runs a successful betting syndicate. Looks good, talks tough. Abhijit Patil is a regular punter who has run up a huge credit. He now wants his money back or else...
He is Duranni (Aditya Pancholi).
She is the pawn used by Shetty to get even with Abhijit. She once had something brewing with the cop who visited brothels. She now sets up Abhijit in connivance with Shetty.
She is Rani (debutant Gihani Khan)
He is a well-respected police officer. He is also the maternal uncle of Abhijit. It is thanks to him that Abhijit's reckless behaviour in the police force is tolerated.
He is ACP Gaitonde (Mahesh Manjrekar).
These actors form the principal characters of MUMBAI MIRROR. The atrocities carried out on women Mirrors the state of Mumbai and the country today. The producers get the timing right with a subject that is red hot -- Women and prejudice.
There is no good cop or a bad cop. A cop is just a cop, we learn. There are good human beings, we are told. So here we have a good human being in Abhijit Patil who is a good and bad cop rolled into one. Look at him from the wrong side of the law and he is a bad cop; view him objectively, he is a good cop who metes out instant justice. It's better to get rid of hooligans in encounters than present them in long drawn courtroom dramas. No, Abhijit is not an encounter specialist, but he ensures that those he guns down have a criminal past which the system fails to address.
To get the film in essence, one has to pay close attention to the opening dialogue which flashes back to a few days earlier. It's a game of chess between Abhijit and Shetty, each trying to check-mate the other.
Director Ankush Bhatt goes rat-a-tat-tat in the beginning before sobering down in the second half to unravel the mystery. And that's the spoiler; he does not feed you with the fact that there is more to it than meets the eye. Suddenly he presents a suspense sequence. Just like that!
Compared to his debut AZAAN, MUMBAI MIRROR has better content. However, the production values and action was Hollywood class in AZAAN. Add to it the camera angles which gave Sachiin Joshi a powerful profile. Here, the camera does nothing to flatter him. I mentioned in his debut movie that the lad has presence, none of which is seen here. If Sachiin wants to make a mark as an actor, he will have to be extra careful at the production stage as well as work on his voice modulation. But Abhijit Patil is definitely a shade cockier than AZAAN. A marked improvement.
Prakash Raj as expected is dynamic, terrific and fantastic, all rolled in one. It is a joy to watch such fine acting. The fright here for him is that he is given the same roles. Someone needs to give him a role that will do justice to his talent.
Prashant Narayanan in a small role stands out like he did in CIGARETTE KI TARAH. Another super talent. An actor to watch out for.
Gihana Khan is a bold girl. To debut in a negative role takes a lot of guts. As a heroine, she would have at least had a chance to dress well and sing a few songs. Vimala Raman as a television journalist has not much of a role while Mahesh Manjrekar's role could have been better fleshed out to give the film a cutting edge. The music too is nothing to rave about.
Rating: 2.5
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