Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost (2003)
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Lara Datta, Chunkey Pandey
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Music Director: Anu Malik
Synopsis: turgid, pointless and boring film with a serious Lagaan wannabe complex
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

Apoorva Lakhia belongs to the new breed of directors—young, technically accomplished and armed with impressive credentials, having assisted Ang Lee on The Ice Storm before working on Lagaan. It all places him on something of a pedestal and naturally raises expectations. The promotional material certainly suggested something fresh and interesting.

Sadly, Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost turns out to be a film that is lacking in almost every department, with its only real saving grace being Anu Malik's lively and infectious soundtrack.

Kanji (Abhishek Bachchan) works in Mumbai for Sanju (Chunky Pandey), who rewards him with a television set. Kanji takes it back to his grandfather in a remote Rajasthani village that has only recently been connected to electricity. The arrival of the television fascinates the villagers, who promptly abandon almost everything else to marvel at this magical new invention.

Unfortunately, this doesn't sit well with the village priest, whose temple suddenly finds itself deserted and, more importantly, deprived of donations. Determined to restore his influence, he incites the local Thakur against Kanji.

Meanwhile, Kanji has set his sights on the voluptuous Kesar (Lara Dutta), first introduced gyrating enthusiastically to the MTV-inspired beats of "Saiyyan." Despite living in what appears to be a tiny village where everyone ought to know everyone else's business, Kanji somehow fails to discover until much later that she is actually the Thakur's sister. Kesar, for her part, falls hopelessly in love with the humble servant.

Needless to say, the Thakur is less than delighted.

By the interval we are back on painfully familiar ground: the stereotypical Thakur-versus-poor-villager conflict that Hindi cinema has recycled for decades. It all induces little more than a gigantic yawn.

That, in essence, is the entire story—one that stretches the audience's patience to breaking point. Only the most die-hard Bollywood enthusiast is likely to persevere through this stale, meandering exercise.

The film suffers from a massive Lagaan hangover. Lakhia appears to have wandered onto the Lagaan sets, borrowed a handful of its supporting actors and attempted to construct a film around a single idea. Unfortunately, that idea simply isn't enough.

The premise itself—modern technology disrupting the lives of simple village folk—is actually quite promising. Sadly, it is handled in the crudest possible fashion, relying on painfully broad comedy, vulgar jokes and tasteless humour that rarely even raises a smile. Lakhia brings virtually no originality to the material and never seems entirely certain what sort of film he wants to make.

Instead, endless time is squandered on laboured comic interludes that fall completely flat. There is barely a spark of inspiration anywhere in sight.

Abhishek Bachchan is perfectly adequate in a role that requires him, for much of the first half, simply to sit watching television alongside everyone else. Once the inevitable confrontation begins, he merely goes through the motions in a role offering little scope for anything more.

Lara Dutta is simply too sophisticated and glamorous to convince as a village belle. She makes little attempt to disguise it, playing the role like a classic 1960s Asha Parekh heroine—immaculately made up, dripping with mascara and ready to burst into song at the slightest opportunity.

Chunky Pandey is an embarrassment.

The film's one undeniable strength is Anu Malik's excellent soundtrack, which deserved a far better film than this. His music injects far more life into the proceedings than the script or direction ever manage.

Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost is one of the most pointless and tedious films of the year, and it will take some effort for another release to surpass it in sheer monotony.

One to avoid with a barge pole.