Going with a lot of expectations might just ruin your “long time” in the theatre if you are going there to watch “Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola”. And yes, let me clear this out first, if you are going in with watching three bollywood actors in action on the big screen, i.e, Pankaj kapoor , Anushka Sharma and Imran khan, well you are in for another disappointment because there are just going to like just two.
One, of course being THE Pankaj kapoor and the other, well neither Imran (which is expected) and nor Anushka ( yep, another disappointment), it would be” Gulabo”. If you don’t know who is Gulabi, let me spoil the suspense, its just a Bhains and that too a pink one. 🙂
The movie’s plot is “aimed” at being a satire, but in course of getting it right and also trying to give a Vishal Bharadwaji touch, of showing both the good and the bad side of a character, it ends up becoming just a meaningless long journey.
The story is about, Mandola, a village named on the family of Mandola and Pankaj kapoor plays the heir of the family. named Mandola, who suffers from “split personality issues” after drinking. And yes, the liquor that the village drinks is also named “Gulabo”. When, sane (i.e without drinking), speaks in english and is bent on making his Car plant project see getting approved, while when drunk, he ends up becoming a Haryanvi bursting bhen*** every sentence. And his partner in crime is, Imran khan’s character Matru, who happens to be fighting for the rights of the farmers, whose land is going to be taken away by the government for the car project, by disguising as an accomplice. And yes, the title does speak about “bijli” (one prime reason, I went to watch the movie in the first place), played by Anushka, who is the daughter of Mandola. A girl, who just wants people’s attention, is ready to marry a politician’s idiotic son even knowing all that, someday or the other goes in just her kachaa baniyan to bathe in the local pond while the villagers cheer.
The story shows, rather tries to show the struggle villagers have when vested interests try to take away their land, politicians and corruption, reasons for the rise of Naxalism, etc but yes fails on many counts. If delivering haryanvised accented dialogues with almost the same emotion is what Imran khan was roped in, then he did a pretty good job. Anushka, well acting wasn’t an issue, but some of the key scenes that she had, were with Imran where there was an evident lack of chemistry. But yes, the most paisa vasool thing of the movie was Pankaj kapoor. His range as an actor in just this one role is so amazing, that watching him shift effortlessly from one to the other is just speechless. The way, in which he delivers the dialogues, those little drunk dance and antics that he does, comic scenes or the ones with drama, he just changes gear at the click of a second.
Won’t say the movie is a total disaapointmnet, but the entertainment quotient is very limited and it all lies on the shoulders of Pankaj kapoor. Along with that, Shabana azmi plays a very greedy and cunning politician’s role who is ready to marry her son to Bijli just for the sake of more Power. Her flirtatious role with Mandola, is enjoying and would have been better if Vishal could have put a little more effort of extension in this direction rather than filling it with other things to make it this long.
Well, if my review sounded too long for you to keep your patience intact, you might just be disappointed. if you want to watch a gem of a character played by Mandolas, then go have a one-time watch. Otherwise, it’s up to you.
My rating- 1.5/5 stars.