Mumbai meri jaan...

Just saw the movie 'Mumbai Meri jaan' directed by Nishikant Kamat.
Always wondered how Mumbai was after hearing so much about it. Visited it for three day a couple of years back but as a tourist though. This year went to Mumbai for three days and did a lot of PG hunting as the wife had to stay there for two months. Fell in love with the city. Well, what did I like about it? It is fast paced and life does not slow down come what may! Really liked that character of Mumbai or rather the folks of Mumbai. My wife loves every minute of it there as she has found the best shopping deals in all nooks and corners. So much so that some of her local friends consult her for before they go on shopping! She even had to take her owner for a shopping trip...
Now, back to the movie. This movie depicts the life of six Mumbaikars. A small brief on the six characters is given below before continuing with the movie review.

1. Madhavan is a guy who has a well...corporate life and prefers to stay in India and take the train to work everyday much against the advice of his Friends and family. He has a slightly patriotic bent of mind and is also Eco friendly. A typical 32 year old Yuppie.

2. K K Menon is a computer dealer who is suspicious of Muslims. He keeps suspecting one of the customers, Yusuf who frequents the same hangout - a small tea shop of anti social activities.

3. Paresh Rawal has given a superlative performance as a police constable who doles out practical advice to his mentee played by

4. Vijay Maurya, who wants to change the system and is very frustrated of the police inability to act against influential people and the bad image the force has in the public mind.

5. Soha Ali Khan plays an upcoming news reporter who loses a loved one and becomes the story in her own news channel called 'Kyun Rupali bani Rudali'.

6. Irrfan Khan plays an immigrant road side tea vendor who feels marginalized by the 'haves' of the society.

All their lives converge when the Mumbai Train bomb blasts happen. Soha loses her fiancé' It changes their perspective while in some ways empowering them. With a brilliant screenplay and great script, it shows their life as it is without taking a judgmental stand. That is the best part of the movie as it realistically depicts their lives. The movie has no songs and that only adds to the charm.

I do wish the director, Nishikant Kamat would have made it move faster. I am sure he could have extracted more from the character of the role of Soha Ali Khan as he has done from Irrfan Khan. The bomb blast on the train could also have had better special effects though the series of scenes of which the bomb blast is a part is great and has the desired effect.

Overall a very watchable movie. I would give it a 4 out of 5.