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It’s a first for an Indian TV series. Mirzapur—The Movie cashes in on the much-loved three-season hyper-violent series that has become endemically popular. In a merciful situation, we have censors for the big-screen, so the violence and abuses are all kept under a tight leash. Though we have big-screen directors opting often for web sagas, the reverse has so far not been successful, including for Gurmmeet Singh, but this will be his breakthrough big-screen foray after duds like Phone Bhoot, Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene and What The Fish.
Of course, he has the advantage of a very familiar zone (for himself as well as the audience!), and so Mirzapur co-writer Puneet Krishna and he spin a superbly gritty and lightning-paced thriller. Any doubts regarding this being a prequel or sequel are removed by the revealed fact that the story denotes events between episodes 6 and 7 of the first season.
Now, this is a very challenging assignment indeed and Singh and Krishna not only achieve this wonderfully but deliver a whopper of a saga with well-loved cult characters (even though most are black or gray) in the correct canon. This, along with their commitment to value-for-money entertainment, makes the film a delightful watch for not just Mirzapurbuffs but for any thriller addict.
On the flipside, we know which character, however seriously injured, will live on and which will not. The story hinges excitingly on three aspects. One is the rivalry of brothers Guddu (Ali Fazal) and Bablu (Jitendra Kumar) Pandit, the trusted lieutenants, with Munna (Divyenndu), the rather dense son of Mirzapur supremo Akhandanand Tripathi a.k.a. Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi). Kaleen Bhaiya is the underworld mastermind who is the uncrowned king of his domain. And it is said that whoever controls Mirzapur controls the politics of Uttar Pradesh.
Kaleen blindly trusts the faithful brothers over his son, and frequently chides the latter as being useless. Whenever there is danger from enemies, Guddu and Bablu can be depended upon to eliminate the risk to Kaleen’s throne. As of now, politician J.P. Yadav (Pramod Pathak) wants cash from Kaleen for election funding and Kaleen must think of expanding his drug business to generate that. He is told of one Babban Yadav (Ravi Kishen), related to J.P. Yadav, who has a huge consignment of good quality. But Babban actually has his eye on the throne, and must kill Kaleen Bhaiya for that.
On another track, Munna loves Sweety (Shriya Pilgaonkar), who reciprocates Guddu’s love. Her sister Golu (Shweta Tripathi) loves Bablu. Both girls are educated to a good degree. Guddu is the hunky brute who believes in muscle- power, while Bablu is the level-headed man who uses his intelligence. The two form a Lothar-Mandrake-like combination who have their own definition of what is good though actually bad!
All these tracks come together in a spectacular climax shot in the desert of Jaisalmer, though the girls do not figure in them. And the only significant women here are Beena Tripathi (Rasika Dugal), Kaleen Bhaiya’s wife, Sheeba Chaddha as Guddu’s and Bablu’s mother, Sonal Chauhan as Mumtaz Bibi, Babban’s love, and Anangsha Biswas as Zarina, the servant in the Tripathi household. These four women play significant roles in the otherwise testosterone-driven actioner.
The technical values are splendid, led by the earthy overtones of Sanjay Kapoor’s cinematography, the apt music score by John Stewart Eduri and the snappy editing by Wilson Birampuria, which makes the 197-minute runtime never seem long as there isn’t a boring or stretched sequence. Within the predictable outcomes, the interest level remains high, and that is another laudable ace of this film.
Puneet Krishna’s dialogues are first-rate, with many a line destined to elicit applause from the viewers. Highlight sequences? Yes, there are many, like the face-offs between Munna and Guddu in the salon, the entire sequence of Vasudha’s watch being pawned that leads to the fireworks-laden first meeting between Babban and Guddu, the opening sequence in which the brothers deal with the wannabe ruler who breaks Kaleen’s trust, the way in which Babban and cohorts outsmart Bhairav Singh (Sushant Singh), the rightful owner of the drug consignment now in the hands of former, and many more.
Again to mention a flipside, the way Bablu guesses Babban’s location in the desert is more than a tad far-fetched, but that’s the kind of trope that makes for an entertaining watch worldwide!
The performances are brilliant, with Ali Fazal, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang (as the honest lawyer father of Guddu and Bablu), Sheeba Chaddha, Shaji Choudhary as Kaleen’s strong man Maqbool Khan, Divyenndu and Abhishek Banerjee (as Compounder, Munna’s loyalist), effortlessly stepping into their characters. Pankaj Tripathi, if possible (and this powerhouse actor makes it so!), exceeds his supreme turn in the series with his always uber-cool demeanor.
Ali Fazal is the life and soul of the story, aided by Jitendra Kumar as Bablu. Jitendra of Panchayat fame not only gets his best film role to date but is terrific as the always-unemotionally practical Bablu, who stonewalls Guddu’s impulsive ways of looking at things. Frankly, it is good for the movie that he has replaced Vikrant Massey, who would not have fitted the scheme of things as well after his recent outings in roles like Musafir Café and Pritam And Pedro in particular. And Jitendra’s natural intensity is much higher, his expressions more evocative.
The other ace of the film is obviously an openly-playing-to-the-gallery Ravi Kishan, who is magnificent as the scheming criminal and ardent lover with a wickedly humorous side to him. Sushant Singh is effective in the brief role of the sardonic Bhairav Singh. Mohit Malik is another solid performer as Beena’s lover.
The film, and its now-certain success, will open the doors to more ambitious film versions of the successful series. Despite its morally-ambiguous stance (except for the virtuous one called loyalty!), it is a solid watch.
Rating: ****
Amazon MGM Studios & Excel Entertainment’s Mirzapur The Movie Produced by: Ritesh Sidhwani & Farhan Akhtar Directed by: Gurmmeet Singh Written by: Puneet Krishna Music: Ray, Junaid Kumar, Anand Bhaskar & Dhanda Nyoliwala Starring: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Jitendra Kumar, Divyenndu, Ravi Kishan, Pramod Pathak, Rajesh Tailang, Anjum Sharma, Abhishek Banerjee, Mohit Malik, Shaji Chaudhary, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shubhrajyoti Barat, Satendra Soni, Rasika Dugal, Sonal Chauhan, Sheeba Chaddha, Shriya Pilgoankar, Shweta Tripathi, Anangsha Biswas, Harshita Gaur, Meghna Malik & others
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