Mirzya Review

Expectations

Director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra debuted with a dark hard-hitting thriller 'Aks'. The movie, despite of the presence of big names like Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpayee, Raveena Tandon and Nandita Das failed to create its mark due. The director returned back with one more unconventional tale in the form of 'Rang De Basanti', but presented it in very entertaining as well as commercial format.

Later, his 'Dilli 6' failed to impress the audience while 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' turned out to be a massive hit. The director returns back with a love story in the form of 'Mirzya' due to which the expectation level are quite high.

Story

'Mirzya' is a story of two childhood friends Monish and Suchitra. A small prank leads to a crime due to which Mohnish and Suchitra gets separated. Monish (Harshvardhan Kapoor) grows up as Aadil, the horse trainer in a princely stable belonging to Prince Karan (Anuj Choudhry). Karan in engaged to Suchitra (Saiyami Kher) and are on their verge of tying the marriage knot. While teaching Suchitra, Mohnish comes to know that Suchitra still loves her childhood friend. Parted loves come together and try to go against the will of the world.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The story might sound repetitive but has been beautifully woven with visually enriching folklore of Mirza Sahiban. Both the stories run parallel to each other and keeps you intrigued in the film. These stories are presented in a musical manner with visual reference of village dancers. The brilliantly written screenplay by Gulzar uses the songs as part of story narration. The entire folklore track of Mirza Sahiban is fantastic and has been presented in one of the best visual narrating format.

There are no dialogues in this track and the expressions by the character along with the lyrical songs in background works brilliantly. The climax of the original folklore is shown in a spectacular manner but it's the climax part of the contemporary story which leaves the hard-hitting impression on its viewers mind. The cinematography by Pawel Dyllus is majestic.

Music is an essential part of 'Mirzya' and Shankar Ehsaan Loy displays some of their fantastic work in form of 'Aave Re Hitchki', 'Hota Hai'. 'Mirzya' and 'Teen Gawah'. Every word in these songs work like additional screenplay and dialogues in the film.

Director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra comes up with a musical love saga and presents it in the most simplest and unusual manner. Every frame of this movie is filled with creativity. Rakesh Omprakash Mehra captures the small nuances and presents them in a brilliant manner. Every silent close-up shot has lot to offer. Rakesh enhances his direction with additional help of fantastic locations, heartfelt lyrics and the eyes of his protagonists.

Harshvardhan Kapoor is fantastic as a silent sufferer and does his part with total grace. In every frame of the film, he is totally in his character and does not show any unwanted heroism. Saiyami Kher displays a fine performance.Anjali Patil in her small role was superb. Anuj Choudhry and Art Malik lend good support.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

On the negative side, the narration is slow in many important parts of the film. The re-bonding track between Harshvardhan and Saiyami lacks intensity. The minimal happenings in the central part of the film makes the movie bland in those parts due to which the connecting factor gets diluted. Couple of songs, especially the one just before the interval slows down the flow of the film.

Being a musical film, the songs and their placement might seem theoretical for the normal cinegoes. There are many weak, boring and bland moments in the central part of the film. It's just that the past work of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, rises the expectation level and works as a huge negative factor for the film.

The snail pace narration slowly grabs you in the film and world of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, which works brilliantly for good cinema lovers but might be hard to digest for the normal audiences. Om Puri and K.K. Raina are wasted.

Final 'Glitz'

'Mirzya' is an artily poetic film which has some stunning visuals, melodious music and good performances. It's just that the impact gets ruined due to super slow narration along with weak screenplay and boring presentation.