Munnibai (1999)
Cast:  Dharmendra, Sapna Sappu, Durgesh Nandini, Joginder, Anil Nagrath, Gulshan Rana, Arun Mathur
Director: Kanti Shah
Nutshell: Demented, Mind-Altering Curry Masala Western of Z Grade magnificence from the dynamic duo of Kanti Shah of “Gunda” fame and Salim Suma, creator of the brilliant Son of Dracula.
Review by Omar Khan

 

Munnibai followed Kanti Shah’s legendary cult classic Gunda, which has gone on to become arguably the greatest cult movie ever produced in Indian film history. The film is India’s true Midnight Movie epic, the sort of thing that could play anywhere in the world and pack in crowds, many of whom would know its incredible dialogues by heart. For fans of cult cinema, Gunda reigns supreme, and not without good reason.

Gunda arrived in 1998 and caused an uproar, with the fury of prudes and feminists helping to drive it out of cinemas in a number of states thanks to its deliciously crude and delightfully vulgar dialogue. The film wasn’t initially successful, but kept gathering traction on video and later YouTube, eventually earning itself a massive fan following. Like the finest vintage wine, it kept finding new appreciation and, years later, stands proudly at the summit as one of the most majestic cult classics of all time, earning accolades from all around the world. Dialogue writer Bashir Babbar ought to have a star in Hollywood alongside Donald Trump and assorted other luminaries for his stupendous work on Gunda. He alone elevated the film to legendary status, and deservedly so.

Munnibai, however, was not written by Bashir Babbar, though it too is loaded with spicy, juicy, clap-worthy lines designed to send its audience into raptures of delight. The cast is composed largely of Kanti Shah regulars, with Durgesh Nandini and Sapna Sappu chewing up the scenery as central characters, along with Dharmendra, who had obviously fallen on hard times by the mid-to-late 1990s and had been reduced to accepting films from Kanti Shah, where he would sleepwalk through his roles and normally wrap up his scenes in a day or two at most.

Most stars, other than Mithun Chakraborty, who has never been particularly discerning about who he works with, wouldn’t be caught dead acting in a Kanti Shah movie. Dharmendra and Mithun Da, however, appeared to have no such qualms. Pay them enough and they would jump through whatever hoops were required. No ego, no reputation to be bothered about, as long as the cash was good enough.

And so Munnibai is headlined by Dharmendra, with a supporting cast that includes Joginder, Sapna Sappu, Z-movie A-lister Anil Nagrath and a collection of other familiar faces.

The film doesn’t waste a second setting the tone for the two hours that follow. It is essentially one gigantic two-hour posturing session, with dakoos from various clans, Munnibai, Hira Bai and numerous others spouting ridiculously over-the-top lines while threatening each other with dire consequences for daring to oppose them. The dialogues come thick and fast and the bullets — the sort that can apparently be avoided simply by ducking — are showered continuously.

There are some sublimely ridiculous scenes, our favourite being the one in which Hira Bai kidnaps an infant for ransom. When she eventually decides to return the baby, she accidentally drops it and the poor child proceeds to bounce down a craggy hillside while Hira Bai desperately scrambles after it trying to catch up.

The entire film is utterly ludicrous from beginning to end and is punctuated by some asinine comedy scenes featuring Johnny Lever, as well as both a Jagdeep clone and an Amitabh Bachchan clone. The villains are more comical than villainous, including one who has a penchant for picking his nose and his brother, known simply as Takla — The Bald One.

Numerous bad hombres are represented, ensuring that there are multiple slanging matches and stinging dialogue exchanges throughout the movie. We have Takla Thakur, Sher Singh (Dharmendra), Munnibai, Hira Bai — daughter of Pagla Thakur, the nose-picker and niece of Takla — along with Gabbar Singh, Chandan Daku, Thakur Mahakal, Daku Hakim, Daku Raghav Singh, Daku Kala Singh (Anil Nagrath with a painted blackface), Mangloo the pimp, Dabbar Singh and, last but certainly not least, a sassy kotha girl who happens to be the spitting image of Munnibai and goes by the name Ram Katori.

There is also a stunning twist just before the interval.

Then we have Inspector Shankar, the earnest new policeman who is morally upright and also happens to have been Munnibai’s childhood sweetheart. Throw in four or five song-and-dance numbers that are pretty putrid and a protracted climax in which hundreds upon hundreds of bullets are dodged with consummate ease, and you have the complete package.

Munnibai is a total farce and a Curry Western of the most dreadful kind, and yet there is a certain charm to it precisely because of how utterly, insanely dumb it is. Arun Mathur deserves a mention for his vigorous performance as the Police Commissioner.  Sapna Sappu and Durgesh Nandini are the stars of the show and deliver extraordinary performances that do complete justice to their characters on screen.  

Munnibai is preposterous, ridiculous and utterly dreadful.

But that is precisely what makes it barely tolerable.