In the first five minutes of Mumbaikar you will start wondering if you have stuck in the era of 1990s or early 2000s due to the technicalities the film lacks in. The film is directed by Santosh Sivan which sounds like an April Fools Joke. It’s hard to believe that it’s the same director who made Halo(1996), Asoka(2001), and also been the cinematographer of Raavanan(2010) and Vanaprastham(1999) ends up making an amateur film with cliched plot and terrible technical efforts.
Mumbaikar is a story about three men with certain goals who come to Mumbai to accomplish them. There are multiple storylines happening at the same time, gradually coming together towards the exciting moment.
Firstly, there’s Vikrant Massey’s character, who willingly chooses to be jobless and deeply loves Ishita (Tanya Maniktala), a HR manager at a BPO company. However, Vikrant’s character’s unpredictable anger causes problems in his relationship with Ishita. Despite his constant efforts to win her affection, Ishita remains resistant to his advances. Meanwhile, Munnu (played by terrific Vijay Sethupati) comes from Andaman to become a criminal in the city. With the assistance of his companion, he successfully enters the realm of organized crime. Additionally, we meet Aadil (Hridhu Haroon), who is from Uttar Pradesh but speaks with a southern accent, and he strives to make an honest living. Lastly, we are introduced to Prabal Kant Patil, alias PKP (played by Ranvir Shorey), a gangster who has amassed riches through the fishing industry and currently wields control over illicit operations in South Mumbai. When Munnu’s gang mistakenly kidnaps PKP’s son, chaos erupts, leading to intense confrontations, gunfire, and brutal fights. The collision of these different characters and their interconnected destinies sets the stage for the story.
Vijay Sethupathi makes an excellent Bollywood debut. As usual, the Super Delux actor proves his versatility in his talent. Ranvir Shorey deserved more screen time while Vikrant Massey as a creepy and possessive lover could be elevated in writing. Moreover, Hridu Haroon and Tanya Maniktala deliver a promising performance in their bollywood debut. Tanya has been recently seen as a ‘thirsty-for-blood’ vampire in Netflix Series “Toothfairy.”
Mumbaikar (streaming on Jio Cinema) is the remake of a Tamil film called “Maanagaram(2017)” directed and written by Lokesh Kanagaraj, who also shares the writing titles for this Hindi film. The plot is quite interesting in the way confusions between the characters and the narrative is created, but it still lacks in making an overwhelming experience.
