Manmarziyaan

MANMARZIYAAN is fresh and frothy, but flawed!

Helmed by the extremely talented Anurag Kashyap, this modern take on a love-triangle is both pragmatic and veridical. However, with a runtime that’s a bit too long and a second half that seems to be stuck in a repetitive loop, the film loses some of the charm that it creates all through. Nevertheless, a novel story, strong performances and great music make this one a deserving watch.

Set in Amritsar, MANMARZIYAAN follows the story of Rumi (Taapsee Pannu), a spirited young woman who finds herself caught up in a complicated love triangle involving her impulsive yet irresponsible boyfriend (Vicky Kaushal) and her self-possessed fiancé (Abhishek Bachchan).

For the first time, Director Anurag Kashyap forays into a full-fledged Love-Story genre. His earlier films like “Mukkabaaz”, did have a love angle at its core, but was never the larger theme of the film. However, here he showcases his prowess with a thoughtful love-triangle, and apparently does a great job at it. While his overindulgence does spill out in the second half of the film, he manages to still keep his film accessible and interesting throughout. Worthy of praise is his understanding of modern love relations in general, which comes out here with flying colours. He deals with some real issues that youngsters face today with respect to ‘PYAAR’, ‘SHAADI’ and ‘FYAAR’ (a word derived by the makers to denote love-making). The dialogue is crackling and the theme, very relevant.

Set in Amritsar, Kashyap, alongwith writer Kanika Dhillon, captures the tone of the region immaculately and each of his characters seem real. The Punjabi family culture and the charming streets of Amritsar have seldom been displayed with such authenticity in Bollywood. He’s helped by a winning music score by Amit Trivedi, who seems to be excelling at every theme he creates. Mostly flowing like a breeze with likeable moments, it’s only in the last hour that the film faulters. Firstly, the length is a key flaw, clocking in over two and a half hours. Then the love triangle reaches a sort of impasse, and somehow everything starts repeating itself more times than they should. Here is where Kashyap’s overindulgence with his subject matter starts showing its problems. My gut says, if you trim it by about half an hour, and you’d have a classic modern love story.

The actors are the main weapons of this film that mostly hits the target it set out to achieve. Taapsee Pannu is the real hero of this film. Her conflicts, her wishfulness, her spirited demeanour and her “Manmarziyaan” make this film what it is. She’s a natural, and this performance of hers just establishes that fact. Supporting her well are the extremely exciting Vicky Kaushal and the amazingly poised Abhishek Bachchan. Both have their own varied strengths and they display their craft in the most sensitive manner here. The rest of the cast is great too.

To sum up, MANMARZIYAAN is mostly a treat to watch, but is marginally spoilt by its long duration. Having said that, if you’re in the mood to witness some contemporary love complications, go for it. Yes, it has its share of shortcomings, but seldom do you find love stories in Bollywood which are even this sensible. Recommended!