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So, Madhur Bhandarkar's clan has started making its impact on Hindi films. First, there used to be offshoots from R K Films, Yashraj Films, Ram Gopal Verma's company and now Madhur Bhandarkar's league has started its own voyage. Writer Manoj Tygai who has been associated with Madhur since the beginning of his career has taken a big leap and has made his debut as a film director. The only problem in this jump from being a writer to a director is that Manoj hasn't tried to look different from his mentor. Instead, he has tried to nurture his last film as the writer of Page 3.

Manoj Tyagi is no doubt a good writer and with Madhur he teams up well, but once you hold the megaphone from the chair of a director, you need to look beyond the script pages. Manoj Tyagi's first film as director, 'Mumbai Salsa' has an urban class look and feel but tries to play with its emotions. It's good to see the trend of these kinds of films flourishing in the Hindi film industry that caters to a niche class of the audience. The niche market has grown up beyond proportion overseas and it will be good for filmmakers as well as the newcomers if these kinds of films sustain in the business of cinema.

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Watching 'Mumbai Salsa' is altogether a different experience from watching a masala entertainer. It comes with a statutory warning -- please do not expect miracles in the film. 'Mumbai Salsa' is not an out and out entertainer; it has shades of complex emotions and on these emotions and complexities of life Manoj Tyagi tries to play his tricks. He weaves the story of eight friends living in the dream city of Mumbai.

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The film has the realistic approach towards making that has been the crux of all Madhur Bhandarkar's films except his debut film 'Trishakti'. Manoj takes his story to every nook and corner of the city. And the common point in all these characters is a pub called Mumbai Salsa. These people meet at this place and this meeting changes the rest of their life forever. Weaving different stories into one film isn't a unique idea in Hindi films. People have witnessed the failure of films like 'Salam-E-Ishq' and the success of 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.' to some extent in this genre. But this genre started in the west with teenage love stories followed by the horror genre. However, these kinds of stories are yet to find a definite market in India.

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Coming back to the film and its making, 'Mumbai Salsa' is no doubt has a good base on which a good film would have been made. But alas, the movie has become an alien even in its first takeoff. The problem with the film is not the concept but the treatment. The film starts and opens the box of Pandora in the first few reels and then takes a huge dip. The situations, the problems and the plot come after one other and then suddenly there is a huge lull. Manoj Tygai might have worked a lot on his scene distribution and shot division, but had he shown his film to some film doctor, the latter would have saved a lot in terms of discomfort. 'Mumbai Salsa' is a winner at concept level, mediocre at making level and just misses the average line at the narration level.

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So , Manoj Tygai in his effort to come out with a unique name, coins the term Mumbai Salsa, but why would a teenager like to see a film based on a Mumbai Pub in Chandigarh or in Bangalore. The name and ambience play a major role in getting crowds for a non-star cast film. Change the name of the film to "One Night with Beer Glass", and you would almost double the bill on the opening day. Second, Manoj Tyagi also fails in getting the right cast for the film. Come to think of names like Linda, Dilip and Ray Irani and you would not even like to go to see a film like 'Bheja Fry' or 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'. You need to cast better known names in the industry if not big names. It's not as if the film is a total loss on this level, Vir Das and Manjari Fadnis do give you a feel of comfort and also come up with very good performances. However, it is not the same with other actors like Dilip, Neela etc.

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'Mumbai Salsa' scores on music level and Adnan Sami has done wonders in his comeback innings. Not only he sings some very good songs but also creates pulsating tunes for other singers. He is moving ahead very firmly as a music composer and with the song like "Chooti Si", he is sure to get many awards in the coming year. The film also has some very good work in choreography and cinematography.

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To sum up, 'Mumbai Salsa' won't go very well with even niche audience in other metros of the country. Even in Mumbai it's going to face a tough competition from 'Jab We Met'. 'No Smoking' and 'Bal Ganesh' will, of course, share the weekend niche. Not a good selection of the release date, but better luck next time, Manoj. The show must go on.