Tribute to the spirit and resilience of Mumbai

Post 2006 train bomb blasts in Mumbai, there was a newspaper headline – ‘Mumbai Ripped Apart’. The same day, another national daily carried the same news, but with a different approach towards it. It read – ‘Mumbai Survives’. It was just the difference in various point of views from which people looked at the entire incident.

‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ tries to deal with the same. At one level, it shows how there are people who overcame the fear of bomb blasts and moved on in life as if nothing has changed. While there is another sect of people whose lives have forever been unsettled because of this incident.

In terms of theme and format, the film is reminiscent of Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘Yun Hota To Kya Hota’ where multiple stories ran in parallel episodes and converged at the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. This one, too, has different tracks but the individual stories ‘emerge’ from the 7/11 train bombings in Mumbai. From a brilliant broadcast journalist to a patriotic corporate man; from a retiring policeman at the twilight of his life to a rookie cop at the dawn of his career; from an angry and xenophobic unemployed young man to a coffee-vendor struggling to survive and belong: ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ follows the lives of people from all strata of Mumbai's bustling society as they tackle the aftermath of a fatal incident that brings out the best and sometimes the worst in them.

The modern city of Mumbai is a collage of seven islands. In the film Paresh Rawal, wonders if the seven train bomb blasts, which killed over two hundred people, will divide the dynamic city again. It's perfectly observed moments like this that make the film so special. A movie like this helps society to introspect, to find its strength and drawbacks.

Amidst formula-driven films, only once in a while do you come across a movie which strikes chord with a social theme and is enormously entertaining at the same time. Only once in a while do you come across a movie that has an outstandingly original screenplay and more importantly it connects with the viewer convincingly. While the film embraces an underlying social theme, it at no point tends to get preachy and also steers away from taking sides or getting judgmental. It’s the director’s slice-of-life approach that makes you receive the film with an unconditional open mind.

‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ is embellished with superlative performances. Paresh Rawal comes up with one of his most poignant performances in recent times, a pleasant change from his customary comic act. His climax speech that covers the plot-points of all the protagonists brings a lump in throat. Despite playing a character with similar motivations like in ‘Shaurya’, Kay Kay brings variety to his act. Soha Ali Khan is outstanding in the scene where she breaks down in the hospital. Irrfan Khan doesn’t speak a single Hindi word in the film but yet conveys immensely through his expressions. His character oozes innocence in the climax sequence where he seeks pardon in his own charming way. Vijay Maurya is exceptionally good as the idealistic junior constable. Madhavan is at his best.

This film is a brilliant piece of cinema; mainly because, it is not rushed into production like some of the other films in mainstream Indian cinema. It has spent its deserved time on the scriptwriter’s table. What we have, as a result, is a film that looks complete. For people complaining of incompetent scripts, here is a screenplay that is immaculate, intelligent and emotionally binding. 'Mumbai Meri Jaan' is a director's tribute to the spirit and resilience of Mumbai and its people. The climax is one of the most subtle and heart-rending, yet strongest ones I’ve seen in Hindi cinema in the recent times.

In a scene from the film, Paresh Rawal tells his junior Vijay Maurya, ‘Mumbai mein sirf picture dekhne ka, acting nahi karne ka’. It’s this evasive sense of responsibility that the film highlights our attention to. At least as an audience, be responsible enough to respect such cinematic attempts.