‘MUMBAIKAR’ REVIEW | 2 June, 2023
By
KOMAL NAHTA
HR Pictures, Jio Studios and Riya Shibu Production’s Mumbaikar (UA) is the story about an aspiring police inspector, his uncle who is already a police inspector, and a kidnapping attempt gone wrong.
Sangram (Sachin Khedekar) is a police inspector in Bombay. His nephew (Vikrant Massey) also wants to join the police force. The nephew has a girlfriend, Ishita (Tanya Maniktala).
Mannu (Vijay Sethupathi) comes to Bombay from a village. He wants to become an underworld don. He joins don Shakeel’s gang. Shakeel asks Mannu to kidnap businessman Jhunjhunwala’s son but Mannu, by mistake, kidnaps underworld don Prabal Patil’s (Ranvir Shorey) son, Rahul. What happens thereafter?
The film is a remake of Tamil film Maanagaram. Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah have penned a story (based on Lokesh Kanagaraj’s original story) which just can’t manage to sustain the audience’s interest. The screenplay, written by Amit Joshi, Aradhana Sah and Himanshu Singh, is weak, and it would appeal only to a thin section of the elite audience. Not only is the structure of the screenplay problematic but even the drama itself is irritating, at least for the masses. Climax is as weak as the rest of the drama. Amit Joshi and Himanshu Singh’s dialogues are okay.
Vikrant Massey is alright. Hridhu Haroon is average. Vijay Sethupathi impresses in the role of Mannu. Tanya Maniktala is okay as Ishita. Ranvir Shorey lends fair support as underworld don Prabal Patil. Sachin Khedekar makes his presence amply felt as police inspector Sangram. Brijendra Kala leaves a mark as the hawaldar. Sanjay Mishra has been wasted as a driver. Others are passable.
Santosh Sivan’s direction, limited as it is by the poor script, is dull. His camerawork is splendid. Music (Yugprasad Bhusal, Ramdas V.S. and Joshua Ninan Oommen) is below the mark. Lyrics (Yugprasad Bhusal, Himanshu Singh and Joshua Ninan Oommen) are hardly any better than the music. Salil Amrute’s background music is terribly weak. Sham Kaushal’s action and stunt scenes are okay. Krishna Thakur’s art direction is barely passable. Dilip Damodar’s editing leaves plenty to be desired.
On the whole, Mumbaikar is meant for a very few among the class audience. For the rest, it is an apology of a film.
Released on 2-6-’23 on JioCinema.
#KomalNahta