How many times can you remake Romeo & Juliet? Mirza Juliet’s big spin on the story is a Hindu Muslim spin, which Arjun Kapoor’s and Parineeti Chopra’s Ishaqzaade had already employed 5 years ago. That leaves this movie with absolutely no originality. Save for the respectable execution, the film has very little going for it.
The story is based in Uttar Pradesh. Juuliet is the young sister in a bahubali family and Mirza is a professional assassin who wants to give up his life of crime. The two are childhood sweethearts but thanks to the bad writing, that part of the premise is established over two lines of clunky dialogue. So Juuliet who’s set to marry into a corrupt Politician family starts having second thoughts about her fiancé over the muscled steamy goodness of Mirza. The hero turning up the strong and silent vibe in abundance. The only silver lining to this dark cloud of run-of-the-mill writing is the sex overdose. Juuliet’s fiance wants to do it with her desperately. Only his creepy seduction tactics force Juuliet to fantasize about Mirza.
There’s just one moment of genuinely good writing and execution in Mirza Juuliet. The song Muhabbat ko misuse na karo talks about not getting lecherous under the veil of romance. The set piece for this song has Chandan Roy Sanyal forcing himself upon the heroine Piaa Bajpai. The irony has been conveyed to great effect in these 5 minutes.
Rest of the way, Mirza Juuliet is about old tropes of masala movies and romances being rehashed on Doordarshan level production quality. Darshan Kumar plays Mirza with a straight face, bulging muscles and intensity. But the performance is nothing to write home about. Piaa Bajpai has a solid Kangana Ranaut hangover and that’s not a bad thing. She’s makes this sordid film a little more bearable. Every other actor on the cast is severely over the top.
Composer Krsna Solo’s music is wasted in this film. Mirza Juuliet is the millionth time Hindi films have tried to cash in on the Shakespearean tragedy. Sadly, the charm of the concept hasn’t just worn off, it’s dead.
That’s my opinion about this film.