Movie Review: Marjaavaan

Producer-  Nikkhil Advani, Divya Khosla Kumar, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar

Director-Milap Milan Zaveri

Star Cast-Siddharth Malhotra, Tara Sutaria, Rakul Preet Singh, Riteish Deshmukh and Shaad Randhawa

Genre-Vendetta

Rating-** (Two)

Disappointingly Predictable!

Jyothi Venkatesh

Brought up as the right-hand man of a tanker mafia in Mumbai, Narayan Anna (played by Naasar) Raghu’s (Sidharth Malhotra) life changes when he sees deaf and mute Zoya (Tara Sutaria). But this love story is probably destined for doom, right from the word go. The film’s half baked and predictable plot is reminiscent of many potboilers straight out of the 80s, and 90’s with barely any twist or for that matter novelty in execution. Milap has adhered to the conventional formula and aped the South style of loud action films, especially the Telugu films and there is love, drama, action and revenge packed in an exhausting two and a half hours of narrative, which not only has melodrama in plenty but also clichés and stereotypes.

Sidharth Malhotra has a fine screen presence and he makes a genuine attempt to put in an honest performance, though he tends to irritate with his staple mannerism of chewing the rear end of a match stick every time he saunters in the frame but his role is one-dimensional and the film’s overall writing lacks the depth to make it impactful. To the credit of Sidharth, he is very good in the adrenalin raising fight sequences

The film’s leading lady, Tara Sutaria, looks beautiful in the role of Zoya, with her flawless nude makeup and blow-dried hair but doesn’t have much to work with, except perhaps play the mouth organ and give voice overs for herself. Rakul Preet Singh (in a special appearance), who plays a overtly decked and made up bar dancer, Aarzoo has been wasted, especially when you compare her performance in her earlier film De De Pyaar De.

Ravi Kishan has also been reduced to do a small role and is wasted. Nassar in a role reminiscent of Varadaraj Mudaliar played by Kamal Haasan in Nayakan at least in the beginning impresses. Riteish Deshmukh scores as a midget Vishnu but unfortunately he is not able to evoke a feeling of terror and tends to be funny at times, thanks to the depth which is lacking in his characterization. Shaad Randhawa does a good job. The biggest problem with the film is that the director sets out to try to weave in current issues like communalism and the Kashmir problem, without much success, making it an attempt to preach.

On the whole, coming as it does from a writer director who sets out to give new content out of the box, Marjaavaan disappoints in parts and you walk out of the film with the feeling that you had just seen a loud formula ridden Telugu flick, the kind you used to watch avidly way back in the 80’s and 90’s unfailingly.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News,  Marjaavaan, Siddharth Malhotra, Tara Sutaria, Rakul Preet Singh, Riteish Deshmukh and Shaad Randhawa