When I first heard of Vishal Bharadwaj making a comedy, I was not immediately excited. Changing genres successfully is not that common. And so I did not make any plan to go watch Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola (I will shorten it to MKM in case it is needed again). Fast forward to yesterday: I was returning home from my endless search (don't ask of what), when I missed a turn and suddenly found myself in front Esqaure Kharadi. Now when I had first heard of this multiplex, I was staying some 15km away, so had marked it as 'too far'. In subsequent years, I myself had moved 15km, so in fact it was quite near now, but had failed to update my database. So I was little surprised, and a decision was made on the spot to go watch the movie (there were no other choices anyway).
MKM is branded as a romantic comedy, and it is fair to call it so, but more than that I found it to be a satire/commentary on the life in and present condition of our country. As such, the story is not outstandingly tight. Things happen apparently without reason and then vanish (in that manner it mimics life well), but each event in itself holds something of importance. The dialogs are subtle and intelligent, and there are enough 'Gulaabi Bhains' jokes, so the movie has mass appeal too (bwahaha). Pankaj Kapoor as always is outstanding and Imraan Khan is good too. But personally I found Shabana Aazmi to be the best. The subtle villainy she has portrayed is just outstanding. All in all, it appears that Mr Bharadwaj has made the transition quite nicely, and we certainly expect more good movies from him. Meanwhile, this one is definitely worth a watch.
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