Director: Nishikant Kamat
This is the kind of film which can raise immediate hackles: it’s melding of fact and fiction creates disturbing vignettes of communalised communities and individuals, in ways that have been stated, and overstated, so many times before. But what makes Mumbai Meri Jaan a heartwarming enterprise is the manner in which those situations are nuanced, and brought to a believable, upbeat end.
Nishikant Kamat's first Hindi feature, based on the local train blasts in Mumbai in July 2006, borrows only its structure from `Crash' and other similar films ( different people intersecting on a given day, or moment, with the loose ends tying up with maddening neatness ). But its spirit is entirely Mumbai, entirely Indian, and that makes it infinitely superior to his hit Marathi debut `Dombivili Fast', which ripped off Hollywood's `Falling Down'.
Software professional Nikhil ( Madhavan) loves Mumbai, warts and all. He travels by train, because it's cheaper, faster, and ecological. Suresh (Kay Kay) is the sort of Hindu who thinks all Muslims are terrorists. Rupali (Soha) is a TV reporter who thinks nothing of thrusting mikes into the faces of the bereaved, with that infamous question : "aapko kaisa mehsoos ho raha hai (How do you feel right now?)", till her fiancé is killed in the blasts, and she is faced by the same query from a colleague.
Constable Patil (Paresh ) is serving out his last week on the force, after 35 years of being a beat cop, and trying to teach angst-ridden rookie Kadam ( Maurya) the ways of the world. And Thomas ( Irrfan), a poor coffee vendor, who takes out canisters of milk and decoction on his cycle, is just trying to make sense of what it is like to live in an increasingly xenophobic city : if Musalmaans ought to go to Pakistan, then dark-skinned Madrasis should go back to Chennai.
The first half seems more than a bit random, but the film settles down post-interval, and reminds us of how Mumbai found its mojo within minutes of the kind of terrorist attack that would freeze most of other cities in their tracks. And delivers some terrific performances : Paresh Rawal in particular, treading a very fine line between burlesque and finely-wrought drama, is superb.
The cynic within sneers at the too-sudden sight of a Hindu and Muslim sharing cutting chai and a cigarette. But the inner patriot cheers. We need more movies like `Mumbai Meri Jaan'.
