{"id":698,"date":"2008-02-15T23:32:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-15T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2008\/02\/review-mithya-2.html"},"modified":"2017-10-15T20:11:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T00:11:43","slug":"review-mithya-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2008\/02\/review-mithya-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Review : Mithya"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, <\/i>here<\/i><\/a>.
\n<\/i>
\nRating : Very good (4\/5)
\nGenre : Suspense \/Comedy \/ Romance
\nYear : 2008
\nRunning time : 1 hour 40 minutes
\nDirector : Rajat Kapoor
\nCast : Ranvir Shourey, Naseeruddin shah, Neha Dhupia, Saurabh Shukla, Vinay Pathak, Brijender Kala, Irawati Harshe, Harsh Chaya<\/b><\/p>\n

MITHYA : ENGROSSING COMIC THRILLER !<\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of my wildest dreams come true. A dream that one day film directors would revolt against standard-issue masala, boy-meets-girl formulas, and decide to carve out their own niches. What gladdens my heart furthermore, is the fact, that not only are film-makers moving away from the ordinary, they are actually pushing the envelope to give us interesting, intelligent cinema. The fact that a film like \u201cMithya\u201d is made and executed with finesse, and an outstanding cast is proof enough.<\/p>\n

Rajat Kapoor returns to the Director\u2019s chair after Mixed Doubles (2006) and Raghu Romeo (2003)<\/a>, with another \u201cdifferent\u201d story. This time he ropes in the usual suspects Ranvir and Vinay, and other stalwarts like Naseeruddin shah and Saurabh Shukla. Mithya means \u201cfalsehood\u201d \u2013 as in our hero Vinod Kumar (Shourie) being forced to live a falsehood. I hate to give away too much here, because the story is one to be relished \u2013 the less you know the better. Still, for all the folks who want at least the bare bones, let it be known that the film is about VK, as he is known , a small-time, struggling actor, who inadvertently gets caught between inter-gang rivalries, due to, shall we say , a quirk of nature.<\/p>\n

Shukla and Kapoor have written this film. And, really, while I\u2019m chuckling at the new twist they\u2019ve given the \u201cdouble role\u201d formula, I\u2019m all agog with curiosity as the film progresses. The story is quite, quite unpredictable, as it veers this way and that. Shourie has the meatiest role as our hero, VK, a good-hearted fella, practicing his dialogue and his expression, even when all his role calls out for is him playing dead. He does his 2-bit roles in films, kow-tows to directors and producers in the hope for bigger breaks, and nurses his whisky (with it\u2019s free glass) on the beach. This is where trouble comes calling.<\/p>\n

Naseer plays Gawde, a mobster who hopes to knock off the big Don \u2013 Rajendra Sahay. In cahoots with him is his rotund partner (Saurabh Shukla), a desi Danny DeVito of sorts ; appears harmless (is given to bouts of mirth) but is actually pretty lethal. Gawde\u2019s girlfriend, starlet Sonam (Dhupia) is roped into Gawde\u2019s plan, and Ram (Vinay Pathak) and Shyam (Brijendra Kala) are Gawde\u2019s men who do the actual dirty work. Harsh Chhaya and Iravati Harshe, two names who\u2019ve transitioned from the small-screen to the big rather well, round off this astounding cast.<\/p>\n

This is a thriller, but does contain more than it\u2019s fair share of comic moments. There is romance too, although subtle. It\u2019s all pretty realistically done, of course, the helplessness and anguish of the protagonist there for all to see. \u201cMithya\u201d\u2019s characters appear to be real people; they live their sordid everyday lives, scheming to be better, have more , grasping at straws. Mithya subjects it\u2019s hero to massive emotional upheaval; not only is he unceremoniously yanked out of his humdrum everyday life, at a mobster\u2019s behest, but his world goes all topsy-turvy when he forms attachments which cannot ever come to fruition. Thus not only is VK, angry, scared and hateful, he is also adored, loved and loves in return. One genuinely feels for the guy.<\/p>\n

Ranvir Shourie<\/a><\/strong> plays his role beautifully \u2013 I was moved to tears at the scene where he returns to Iravati, to implore her to take him back. Dhupia comes in strong as Sonam, and Naseer and Shukla do justice to their characters, as expected. Kala and Pathak have smaller roles but are very good.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s USP is it\u2019s story and screenplay, of course. The music (songs and background score) I don\u2019t remember \u2013 so little impact did it have. Still, I have no complaints; in fact I am delighted with the film. This one is a definite must-see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here. Rating : Very good (4\/5) Genre : Suspense \/Comedy \/ Romance Year : 2008 Running time : 1 hour 40 minutes Director : Rajat Kapoor Cast : … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,76,14,112,15,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-62","category-bollywood","category-drama","category-outstanding","category-recommended","category-thriller"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":4,"uagb_excerpt":"Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here. Rating : Very good (4\/5) Genre : Suspense \/Comedy \/ Romance Year : 2008 Running time : 1 hour 40 minutes Director : Rajat Kapoor Cast : … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-bg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7438,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions\/7438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}