ANTARA'S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT IS END OF THE ROAD
By P. Shukla - Eye TV India Bureau
Critic's I-view
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Before reviewing the much talked about film of this Friday, there is one question that keeps repeatedly banging on the minds of every movie buff. Why a protégé of a filmmaker like Ram Gopal Verma will ever like to put an end to one's relations with him? It happened with Urmila Matondkar. It was Verma who made this unknown girl of films like 'Aa Gale Lag Ja' and 'Narsimha', a superstar overnight by giving her a big break in 'Rangeela'. The Ramu-Urmila friendship continued until the duo gave flops after flops in 'Jungle', 'Mast' and others.
Urmila wanted to grow beyond the wings of her maker and she called it quits one fine day. Verma then tried Antara Mali whom he introduced in 'Mast' in a short role. Later, Antara Mali became a star with her first big break in Ramu's 'Company', but failed in his 'Naach' at the box office. Verma found her next girl in Nisha Kothari and maybe that provoked Antara to approach outside the Ramu camp. In all probabilities, the last film of the Antara -Verma duo is 'Mr. Ya Miss', where Antara is not only donning the lead role but Verma has also given her permission to pen the story and also direct it.
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What more could a protégé ask from her mentor? All said and done, 'Mr. Ya Miss' has hit theatres this Friday without any great publicity or pre-release hype. While going by the content and the quality of the film, it is most certain that not many people would care about its fate even after its release. Add the news of Antara splitting with Ram Gopal Verma, and it makes no ripple. She wants to wear shoes bigger than her feet and end up losing even her sandals.
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Towards the year-end, many a writing can be seen on the great wall of Bollywood; a wall that has been tall enough for those who keep thinking of novel ideas. But only brilliant ideas don't make a perfect story. To know about the theme and plot of 'Mr. Ya Miss', a film that tells the story of a boy who changes into a woman, is very interesting to listen. The film has Aftaab Shivdasani doing a brief role of Sanjay who is a flirt and loses his heart on each beautiful girl.
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He has just one aim in life and that is to make fool of girls and play with their emotions. Incidentally, Sanjay dies and his soul reaches to God and the latter being kind decides to send this innocent boy back on earth so that he can redeem his faults. In return, he gets the body of a woman. So, Sanjay is reborn as Sanjana. And, Antara Mali plays the role of Lady Sanjay henceforth. Sanjay wants to settle his bills that were pending before his death.
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But after entering into the body of a voluptuous girl, his plans go haywire as he becomes the point of attraction. Every one eyes him from his home to the work place and even his best friend Shekhar (Ritesh Deshmukh) would love to share bed with this new persona. Sanjay's life changes completely and he realizes what it is like to be a girl with so many lecherous people around.
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Having said this, when we try to postmortem the whole film as a product to entertain the people, we find that there is not enough gripping material in this story to hold the attention of the movie watchers for more than two hours. The main flaw lies with the content. 'Mr. Ya Miss' written by Antara Mali herself could have been a very good idea for daily soap opera; where one has to give one stupid twist to the story everyday -- some emotions, some music and some visual and that's all . But to make a film on this one line idea is not an easy job.
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Though, Antara Mali has got good help in Satchit Puranik in the direction department, she fails as she did not plan her story around a great drama. John Wilmor has also tried to help Antara with some good camera work but she does not get much help from Raghuvir Shekhawat in dialogues. Comedy is a serious business and it is a massive task to make the ribs tickle. The chemistry among the characters is lacking, and that mars the whole idea in the end.
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Among actors, Aftaab could have been a treat to watch if his role was swapped with Ritesh. Ritesh fails to understand the needs of the role and lacks the intensity for a comedy of this kind. Only saving grace in the film among actors is Bharat Dabholkar who manages to bring in some smiles on the face of the viewers with his excellent performance. To direct a film and act too in it, was the biggest mistake Antara made in her directorial debut. She could have taken a more chirpy kind of girl than herself doing the lead role. Music is another let down for the film. On the whole, 'Mr. Ya Miss' does not have any attraction either for a Mr. or a Miss. The film was meant for multiplex audiences, but it would find it very tough there too.
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