It all started off quite well, if you ask me. Not just for the film, but who I was watching it with. Somehow the quiet ( ‘put your cellphones off’) , sanitised environment of the plush multiplex has taken away the charm of a lively theatre, where people of all classes mingle to enjoy a show together — even talk back to the screen. I felt that in my relatively low-priced Chembur ( Mumbai) multiplex with this film.
Maybe the full-on Mumbaikar audiences showing up for the early morning, first-day show of this movie had something to do with the lead actor, Riteish Deshmukh, who’s been enjoying a strong front-bench following lately — since the release of the Marathi blockbuster, ’Lai Bhaari’, in particular.
This film’s set in the slums and chawls of Mumbai, and most of its inhabitants might relate to the day-to-day problems it briefly touches upon — water tank issue, space constraints, builder mafia, local political patronage, life in general. Some scenes are competently shot. The ensemble cast playing a bunch of road-side Romeos look convincing. In the background is the sound of Mumbai — basically bunch of drums being relentlessly beaten the hell out of — as it is during the Ganpati season, and at Navratri thereafter, and so many street festivals that precede and follow it.