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Suraj pe Mangal Bhaari

When one has lost complete faith in the creativity of mainline bollywood cinema, along comes a movie such as this, which delights and gladdens the heart.

Very few movies combine the genres of slice of life and comedy, so skillfully. Think Piku and Vicky Donor, and I would slot this one right there. The comedy is a gentle one with subtle writing and the veterans cast in it, give it the perfect edge.

Let's start with the supporting cast of Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Supriya Pilgaonkar and Annu Kapoor, this is just the kind of writing that they thrive on. Consider the performance of Annu Kapoor, he acts not just with his face, which in this one, is obliterated with hair, his entire body acts. He was rarely in the mainframe but his gestures conveyed so much with few dialogues.

The Pahwas play off of, each other and Supriya is a master, bringing just the right touch of overt humor. She plays mother to an actor her own age and never do you feel it. Fatima Sana Shaikh is competent. She has a good role, but is just adequate.


There is Manuj Sharma in a good performance. I haven't seen him before but he deserves more roles.
Vijay Raaz delights in a significant cameo. Neha Pendse was good too.

Diljit Dosanjh was a treat to watch and he sings and dances and romances, but is at his best in his scenes with the other protagonist- Manoj Bajpayee. And Bajpayee is the master of quirky cool. Remember him in Kaun?
He is the reverse of a matchmaker in this one, he is a sleuth that ensures that matches are wrecked. Even his own sister's. But of course, his rationale is solid, though skewed. Right from his opening scene to the end where he is bitching about the transit in Mumbai, he holds you in thrall. I am glad we will soon see him in the second season of Family Man.

The master stroke of this script was to set the storyline 1995, because of course, in contemporary times all a sleuth has to do is scroll through social media pages to garner information about a person, even the color of their poop. :-) Watch out for how neatly this is done by the makers. And the appendages of that era make an appearance, a Walkman, a pager, a path breaking female DJ.

It is directed by Abhishek Sharma, whose previous work you might know. He did the Tere Bin Laden series and the very serious and very good Pokhran. He does seem to have a thing for beauticians!

I kept thinking how great it would have been to see this one in the theaters, laughing out aloud with strangers and spilling popcorn and colas, because you couldn't control your mirth. It certainly deserves more watchers, so give it love people. It's on Zee5.

P.S. it mentions my paternal home town of Moga repeatedly and that chuffed me.

P.S. I am eagerly awaiting Seema Pahwa's maiden directorial venture, Ramprasad ki Tehrvi to make an appearance on some OTT.


Cheers and here's hoping that this one will bring a smile on your face, mid-week.

#AllLivesMatter
#MiniasReviews





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