After the razzmatazz created by Singh is king, Jaane tus and God tussi great hos, here comes a movie that redefines the art of filmmaking. A film that captures the essence of life when something tragic hits you hard. A film that portrays a real life incident and its aftermath and sensitively send you a message that united, we can fight any thing. The film in question is Mumbai Meri Jaan.
The film revolves around the July 11, 2006 blasts that ripped trains across Mumbai’s suburban network and how it transforms the lives of people. The films protagonists are individuals from various walks of life. You have an fanatic hindu cum computer engineer (Kay Kay Menon), a rustic tea vendor (Irrfan Khan), a 9 to 5 kind office executive (R. Madhavan), an always on the move TV journalist (Soha Ali Khan), an on the verge of retirement police constable (Paresh Rawal).
It depicts how the train blasts derailed their perception towards rational thinking. It portrays the anger and emotion of insulting the minority community, who become the targets instantly. It delves into the subconscious and how unknowingly you become suspicious of the other person and objects. It brings about a bond in tackling such crimes. It absorbs you with its touching moments. It portrays the sheer nakedness of a system for which there’s no system of control.
Mumbai Meri Jaan is not any ordinary film. It’s extraordinary. In 2 hours 26 minutes, it canvases everything that a person may go through in such crisis. It instills in us that come what may, life goes on; we need to be sensitive to other people’s issues, we should not take anybody for granted; we should shoulder responsibility and put an end to this menace called terrorism. It conveys the fact that it’s within us to put an end to this hatred between communities, political parties and bring back the glory of Amchi Mumbai. A Mumbai that was so peaceful, so much fun to live in circa…20 or say 30 years ago. In fact the whole country.
Mumbai Meri Jaan has some heart-warming moments that will make any filmmaker sit up in awe. Take for instance the scene where Kay Kay befriends a muslim youth from his locality, when he initially suspected him to be a terrorist; the realization of Irrfan’s foolishness with his hoax call pranks and when he feels apologetic towards an old man who gets an heart attack while rushing out of the mall; the sensational retirement speech by Paresh Rawal; the blow-on the face of Soha Ali Khan, when she herself becomes the news, the observing of the 2-minute silence as a mark of respect to the bomb blast victims, Madhavans dreaded look scene when he finds himself on the tracks- realising how death missed him in the form of an angel friend who forced him to travel second class, the suicide attempt by the beat constable Vijay Maurya. These are some of the finest moments that’s well written and exceptionally canned. I can’t forget the superb visual special effects of the train blast and the passengers being blown out of the train and the aftermath of the devastation. The impact of the scene was such that I prayed silently for those people who lost their lives or got injured.
The films narrative is such that it does not provide us with any ready answers to end such terror acts and, I believe, that was the best thing. Because it’s up to us. By living in harmony with each other. By respecting the law of the land. By respecting the values & culture of each religion and community. By not segregating ourselves in to North Indians, South Indians. By shunning ruthless politicians & leaders who crave behind the pallus of communalism and by living in unison as Indians.
Mumbai Meri Jaan is truly a thought provoking film and I salute the director Nishikant Kamat for giving us such a wonderful film and for award winning performances by everyone in the cast. They looked real.
Don’t miss this masterpiece. Because masterpieces happen only once in a blue moon. So, what are you waiting for?