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Thursday 17 December 2015

Mumbai Pune Mumbai 2 : Is the return ticket worth it?


         This is going to be a short review .  Most of you have already seen it or already decided not to watch it in the theatres.  Maybe this would help those who are planning to watch it when it comes on the small screen. And even if it doesn't help then at least I would be able to vent out my frustration. This is the sequel to the highly acclaimed first part by Satish Rajwade. Does this one live up to the expectations?  Read on to find out.
         
           Let's talk about the first part.  It was not a totally fresh concept but the execution was excellent. The entire movie was based on the dialogue between just the two protagonists. On the background of Mumbai - Pune rivalry they explore each other's character. And their conversation was engaging enough to keep us entertained for the entire movie.  It was an honest effort and the main focus was how they get to know each other and that's what worked. Now coming to the sequel. To be honest, the sequel to this was a great idea to start with. Falling is love is one thing and maintaining a relationship is a different thing. The latter needs more effort. In fact even a third part seems a good idea about how their relationship changes after marriage cause that is a different ball game all together and probably the most difficult of it (Read my views on this topic here  . My apologies to the three four readers of the blog for the self promotion).  Anyways all this looks great on paper but then does it translate to a good movie. The answer is no. This time the idea was great but the execution failed big time. The rest of the characters instead of helping the movie take it off track most of the time. And because of it the emotional aspect of story takes a back seat. In fact not even once I was convinced. The beauty of the first part is that it seemed believable. But the things that happen this time around don't. None of the characters looked comfortable and convincing barring Prashant Damle of course. He is a pleasure to watch. He makes you laugh on the silliest of jokes. Swapnil Joshi fails miserably. He does this weird laugh for no reason most of the time which is irritating to the core. Mukta Barve is good but then the whole point of being confused on her decision even on the day of her marriage doesn't seem palatable in the first place and hence doesn't reflect in her acting.  The songs aren't good either. None of them even close to " Kadhi Tu"  from the first part

            Now coming to my major issue with the movie. We are now used to seeing product placements in movie.  But Satish Rajwade has taken this to a new level. He has managed to place a movie in between product placements. And trust me when I say that I am not exaggerating. It is annoying to the core. They are fine as long they are subtle.  But then in this movie they are  in your face. It looks like an extended ad for Red Label tea. In fact it was so omnipresent that for one moment I thought Swapnil Joshi is going to come out of the screen and serve me a cup of tea. The audience is paying so much not to watch the same ads that irritate them on the television. And they are not dumb either not to understand these ad placements. The motive of the ads should be that they subtly influence the consumers choice. Red Label has bugged so many people in this movie that I guess people will rather go with some other brand now.

        Overall I was disappointed a lot from this second part and that shows from the length of this review which was meant to be a short one.  Hopefully the film makers rethink their strategy for the next installment if there is one in the making.