Monday, August 08, 2016
The Legend of Michael Mishra
Bihari Romeo
There is some interest in Manish Jha’s latest, The Legend of Michael
Mishra, because this director made Matrubhoomi, a dark, incisive film on the
aftermath of unchecked female infanticide. His next, Anwar, sank without trace,
so it is understandable that he would want to make a film in a popular format.
Unfortunately,
he fails with this romcom that he makes in a quirky style set in a fully
kitsch-ed up Bihar. When a word like ‘legend’ is used in the title, without
irony, then what follows cannot be a juvenile love story.
FP (Boman
Irani) runs a dhaba, where tourist buses stop with a well-planned puncture. He
tells a bunch of passengers the story of Michael Misra—in Bihari style all ‘sh’
sounds become’ ‘s’, ‘f’ is pronounced ‘ph’, ‘w’ as ‘bh’ and so on.
As a young
lad, Michael fell in love with a girl he saw dancing. He does not know anything
about her, and hopes to recognize her one say from her style of saying “hello.”
He grows up to be a kidnapper (Arshad Warsi), with a moronic sidekick Half Pant
(Kayoze Irani--miscast), and finds the girl, Varsha (Aditi Rao Hyderi) at a
Patna talent show, where she performs a ludicrous dance number with great
confidence.
Though
letters tossed into balconies, Michael learns that Varsha will reciprocate his
love, if he reforms. So he walks into a
police station, amidst cowering cops and turns himself in. He ends up being
sent to a distant prison forever.
Meanwhile Varsha goes on to become a movie star.
Jha tries so
hard to entertain and charm, but watching the long film with every gag falling
flat, and every performance a dud—including the ever bankable Warsi—can be
wearisome. By the time the twist in the end arrives, most viewers would have
zoned out.
Labels: Cinemaah
