The Cinemawala

The whiz kid of Indian cinema, the flag bearer of contemporary directors, the enfant terrible Anurag Kashyap is back with a solid uppercut and this’s surely going to knock out everyone out of the ring. Heavily promoted as a boxer’s love story, ‘Mukkabaaz’ is many things. Kashyap tries to pack up many things in one box and it shows as a writer-cum-director’s overindulgence with the script. At 2 hrs 35 minutes, it’s a tad longer and could’ve been kept a little tighter with a crisp editing but then again who cares! Kashyap makes the audience eat out of his hands as we sail on this epic love story where the ‘milan’ of the couple is full of hardships because ‘yeh pyaar nahi hai khel, priye !’

Danish of Wasseypur comes full circle and his talents take wings after meaty performances in ‘Ugly’ and ‘Bombay Talkies – Murabba’. Vineet Kumar Singh puts himself in fire and it shows on screen. He looks, walks and talks like a boxer. Zoya Hussain as the feisty Sunaina has a great debut. And as it always happens with Kashyap’s films, it’s the ensemble cast which performs superbly. Ravi Kishen again reminds you what phenomenal actor he is and it’s a pity that he has not been explored enough on screen. Jimmy Sheirgil does well as the big bad wolf Bhagwan Das Misra. He even looks menacing thanks to the weird looking contact lenses.

However, it’s the writing and the dialogues that make the film immensely watchable. In an emotionally charged scene, boxer Shravan Singh roars at his father that when both his parents didn’t do well in their studies and are zero, how can they expect him to turn into Aryabhatt! In another scene, when the Shravan is unable to reply to his father’s jibes as he is chewing a pan and asks where to spit, his father sarcastically remarks to spit it on his face, as he has already shat on his dreams and urinated on his hopes!

Packed with punches, this’s the film to watch.

The Cinemawala Rating: 3.5/5