tabloid! Bollywood film review: Manmarziyaan
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00:00Hi, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News Tabloid
00:03and I have to say it right out there
00:05that I have fallen in love with Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap's Man Marzia.
00:16It's a love triangle.
00:17Just when you thought you have seen it all
00:19when it comes to love triangles in Hindi film,
00:22director Anurag Kashyap, who's a maverick director
00:25known for his dark, gritty, dysfunctional gangster thrillers
00:29throws us a riveting love story.
00:31It stars Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu
00:35as the central characters in this film.
00:37It's a convoluted love triangle
00:39featuring characters that have a penchant for self-destruction
00:43and are eccentric in their own manner.
00:46What makes it riveting is the powerful performances by actors
00:50Abhishek Bachchan who makes a comeback after a self-imposed two-year sabbatical,
00:55Vicky Kaushal who's easily one of the best talents out in Hindi cinema today,
00:59there's Taapsee Pannu who's a bottle redhead
01:02and her character is equally feisty.
01:04She's impulsive in love and often reckless
01:07and then there's Robby played by Abhishek Bachchan
01:09who is the more calm, assured and restrained, mature one of the trio
01:15and then there's the lovable Vicky Kaushal.
01:18He's a commitment phobe, he's unsure about love,
01:21doesn't want to get married so quickly
01:23but he is insanely in love with Rumi played beautifully by Taapsee Pannu.
01:27Here's what I loved about the film,
01:29the collective performances by the three central characters.
01:33If you look at it, there's not a single note out of tune here.
01:37There's Abhishek Bachchan who puts in a very restrained performance.
01:40He is given a role which requires him to be this perfect husband material.
01:46You can also read it as boring and staid
01:49but full credit to Abhishek Bachchan
01:52for infusing such verve and life into this character.
01:56What was engaging was the way director Anurag Kashyap
02:00explored this love angle between Vicky and Rumi.
02:06They're two lovers who are very spontaneous.
02:09You can see that it's their physical desires
02:11that often make them less pragmatic in life.
02:14They're in love but they're not really sure how to go about it
02:17so they're quite young.
02:18There's Rumi who's got a firebrand personality
02:21but her reality is that she comes from a middle-class family in Amritsar.
02:26So she's a Sikh girl who has to appease her parents at the same time
02:30but is not sure what her heart wants.
02:33She wants to fall in love.
02:35She is in love but she's confused about it too.
02:38So this entire convoluted mix is beautifully brought out by director Anurag Kashyap.
02:44Apart from the performances,
02:45what stood out was the music and the pace of the film.
02:48If you look at the music, it's composed by Amit Trivedi
02:52and it's almost like it's woven into the character's lives
02:56and their predicament beautifully.
02:58You have even these dancers who are twins
03:03and what is interesting is the way an audience might perceive it.
03:07You might look at it as it symbolizes the dichotomy in a person's mind.
03:12You're sure or unsure.
03:14You're fickle.
03:14Do you want this or do you want that?
03:16Perhaps the twins symbolize that but it all depends on how the audiences take it
03:22and I thought that was beautifully relayed in the film.
03:25Regarding the pace of the film,
03:27in this case, director Anurag Kashyap has done a fantastic job
03:30of taking a very unorthodox love story and giving it some novel twists.
03:36Although we know every turn, we know what's going to happen next,
03:40we can't help but just watch it all unfurl.
03:43If I were to nitpick and perhaps talk about the flaws,
03:46although the individuals in this film are flawed,
03:49there's one thing that I thought was,
03:51did Anurag Kashyap, who's known to be a risk taker,
03:55play it a bit safe towards the climax?
03:58Although you know who the girl is going to choose,
04:00who the woman is going to choose at the end between the two men,
04:03did Anurag Kashyap actually play it safe?
04:05It's a question that you have to answer.
04:08In my opinion, I would think that yes,
04:10he did tread towards the orthodox conventional narrative
04:14of parents knowing what's best for their kids
04:17and whether arranged marriages sometimes may work out.
04:21I mean, it's a very romantic way to look at things
04:24and we did not expect that from Anurag Kashyap
04:27but that's not a deal breaker though.
04:28Another thing that I thought was interesting in this film was
04:32how prickly subjects such as marital infidelity,
04:35lust, love, heartbreak is explored with such abandon,
04:40wild abandon.
04:41There's a fierceness to it.
04:43They approach it with a sense of freedom
04:46and that comes across.
04:47That's I think one of the best parts about Manmasya.
04:50It's a no judgment zone.
04:52Nobody is judged.
04:53Everybody is selfish.
04:54Everybody has tones of grace to it.
04:56They also, in a way, they do things that,
04:59you know, cannot be really explained to a layman
05:02but still it all does make sense.
05:04It's impossible to choose favorites in this movie.
05:07I'm in team Robby.
05:08I'm in team Rumi and I'm in team Vicky.
05:11All the three actors did such a fantastic job
05:14of delving into the characters,
05:16bringing out their nuances and doing it with such subtlety.
05:19I mean, normally when you look at a Bollywood film,
05:22such love triangles are often laced with a lot of fights,
05:25chest thumping speeches, passionate speeches.
05:27Here, there's very little melodrama.
05:30I think the only melodrama that really comes
05:32is from Rumi's side
05:34because she's just reckless and impulsive
05:36but the others give very restrained performances.
05:40I think in terms of performances,
05:42everybody has done a great job.
05:44So, if you're looking for a love story with a difference,
05:47then put a ring on Manmasya.
05:49I have given this movie four out of five.
05:52For a full review, go to gulfnews.com.