Watching Mithya is like watching a cricket match that started out well but ended up being one-sided after all. Anything can happen at lunch break. But in the second innings, there is no fight, no struggle to keep your attention and thus you end up with a very cold climax. And the cold-blooded murders don’t have anything to do with this cold. It is more like the “I couldn’t care less” cold.
The subtle comedy in the first half is an integral part of the plot – from a comment on “anything free is better” attitude, to the hints at the eating habits of people in the film industry. Barring a lone toilet joke, the interdependency between the lines and the situation brings a flow to the plot. The humor along with the art direction, the background score, the performances, etc. create an environment conducive to suspension of disbelief. And disbelief you can live with. Only to see the movie being rushed from one episode to the other keeping a 120 minute time-limit in mind.
Genre shifts or mixing too many genres generally bother me. But, the finger cannot be pointed towards that either. It moves from dark comedy to plain dark. That’s not that much of a shift. But its disconcerting to see the humor dry up along the way. I would blame the writing for the downfall – the dialogues are not witty or funny any more, the sub-plots not that well streamlined. And it lacked the punch, the mind-bending twist that a movie of this genre needs.
Giving credit where it’s due though, only the likes of Rajat Kapoor could cast Ranveer Shorey as the main lead. It takes guts to have Naseeruddin Shah play second fiddle. And he certainly has made an attempt to show the many layers of VK/Raj’s (Ranveer Shorey) character. Now, whether he was successful in getting them across to the audience is an altogether different issue. An awesome opportunity to portray the VK’s mental process is lost.
The first half-second half split in writing has taken its toll on the performances too. A promising start has everybody doing their bit and getting a cackle out of you with their comic timing. And suddenly, the acting too becomes very superficial as the movie approaches the climax.
On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the background score throughout the movie. At times however, especially in the beginning, it overpowered the volume of the dialogues and thus I might have missed a few good dialogues. But overall, it was refreshing accompaniment.
A second half that flowed better would have made Mithya a must watch with its tongue-in-cheek humor. The anti-climatic climax leaves you feeling high and dry. All this hoopla for what? The most common way to get to a oft-repeated noir climax?
Rating: Wait for video release
Rating Scale (best to worst):
• Must see – on the big screen
• Watch for sure, preferably in theatre
• Wait for video release
• Watch if you have nothing better to do
• Switch channels if it’s on cable!
Click on next page to read the details meetu scribbled while watching the movie – this may include spoilers. This review was also published on meetu’s website.
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