Mirzya is as tedious to watch as it is pretty to look at. The visuals are sumptuous, be it the ethereal landscapes amidst which the warrior Mirza fights for his Sahiban, or the modern day stables and palaces where he chases a childhood love. The story telling is not.
The opening sequence is a stylish one, the camera zooming into a house of an iron smith, going around him as he hammers away a hot steel rod, and entering the lava to emerge outside in a locality where a tribal settlement sings and dances. It is seamlessly done. The iron smith is Om Puri, and somewhere in this sequence, he smiles knowingly into the camera, breaking the fourth dimension. But he says nothing. Only later do you realize the apparently pointlessness of this.
The love story plays out in two tracks. One of them is sent in ancient times where Mirza is a warrior and Sahiban a princess. It is wordless, almost fully in slow-mo and montage, a dream-like sequence that keeps on cutting between the second setting. This is set in contemporary Rajasthan, which is in some aspects the opposite – detailed, deliberate, and intricately narrated. As if this wasn’t enough, the film periodically breaks into a song and dance with tribal men and women, dancing in a trance, celebrating true love.
Mirzya is as tedious to watch as it is pretty to look at. The visuals are sumptuous, be it the ethereal landscapes amidst which the warrior Mirza fights for his Sahiban, or the modern day stables and palaces where he chases a childhood love. The story telling is not. The revelation that Adil is the childhood friend Suruchi had been looking for is done shoddily. But what sillier is how she happily makes out with him, completely abandoning the love she had for her perfectly groomed prince charming not a few hours before. It is things like that jar, because the content becomes a contradiction to all the poise and finesse that the treatment possesses.
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela is a film that had similar positives and negatives, and this is where Mirzya probably fails the most. The lead pair is underwhelming at best. Neither have the appeal or the energy to propel the film beyond its trappings. There is no break through moment where you see a star or an actor. You absolutely miss the raw energy that say Ranveer bought to his character in Ram Leela. Brooding does not mean boring, and chirpy does not mean charismatic. This is not questioning the talent or effort that Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher would have invested into their roles, but the output is not elevating, and a judgment on how good they are remains open.
Mirzya is a tepid retelling of a story that is infinitely more interesting and dramatic than the film. It is a lark to see the impeccable Art Malik play the stereotypical doting but villianous Bollywood father. His trademark is breaking into Shakespearean quotes in a finely cultivated accent, and you cannot resist a reproach for the director, who has declared this film to be his love for the last few hears, mimicking that fine diction and doffing a hat to the bard himself: the course of true love never did run smooth, as Mr Mehra may have discovered to his own peril.
Hindi, Romance, Drama, Color