Mukkabaaz Movie Review

MukkabaazUA Sports DramaDirector Anurag KashyapCast Vineet Kumar Singh Jimmy Sheirgill Zoya HussainRatingIn case theres some confusion on that front this film is essentially a trueblue love story rather than a boxingsport film strictly speaking or even a film on the love of sport Whats clear as bottled water though is its sharp unsubtle political statement Politics whether casteDalitgender in the correct sense defined as response to oppression or injustice of any kindThe film is set in Bareilly boondocks of Uttar Pradesh And in a filmic way no one absolutely no one gets the North Indian boondocks better than filmmaker Anurag Kashyap if his masterpiece Gangs Of Wasseypur 2012 is anything to go by You can smell the mitti ki badbu stench of the street soil in all its flavours while the secondunit gives you a fine wide view of the semidystopia youre specifically situated inMukkabaaz marks Kashyaps fab return to a realm he understands and expresses best with all its flaws angst and humour Tarantinoesque popculture references making it all as distressing as it is frickin fun and real While watching from the ringside you also cant avoid a bout of depression as you shouldntAt the centre of this is a young girl stunning Zoya Hussain basically trapped behind closed doors looking for a possible escape route from a world where her voice cant be heard both literally and figuratively Shes mute by birth The man whos willing to defeat anyone in the ring or otherwise to win her is a mukkabaaz an ace local boxer whose sporting ambitions at best would cap at landing a respectable but essentially secondrate job through sports quota in the government which is by and large true for all noncricketers growing up in IndiaOne Vineet Singh plays the lead the determined Mukkabaaz in this movie Hes also contributed to the script and lyrics in the films soundtrack Hes the sort of man who could so easily merge in the Bareilly backdrop Ive known Singh socially for quite a few years now as an actor much like his character in the film quietly biding his time like several others in Versova hoping to deliver a knockout punch if and when he does land a chance I met him recently right after watching about 20 minutes of Mukkabaaz at the MAMI festival had to leave because the sound in the theatre was terrible That long warm hug we exchanged expressed more than one can in any short consumer review Hes simply stellarIt also takes balls of steel on the filmmakers part to cast an actor in the lightweight category of fame and walk away with the swag of having made a fullon desi mainstream movie Besides a brilliantly curated background score the most Bollywood element of Mukkabaaz is the main villain Jimmy Sheirgill the smalltown Mogambo who bears not one redeeming quality He treats his entire family like doormat his niece like personal property Bareilly like his fiefdom and UP boxing like his private houseparty Hes also an elected politicianCould there be a case to make a film on politics which is ostensibly about sport Yes when sport is pretty much played like politics Outside of a farmers you may rightly assume that a sportspersons is the most honest job you reap what you sow the results are there to see and you cant fake greatness One cant help but admire the smarts and manipulative skills of desi politicians that through proper elections and thereafter favouritism nepotism and blatant corruption they manage to hold complete control over something as objective as sport in India I only know of few horror stories in cricket You can easily imagine what itd be like once you dig deeperKashyap uses sport even romance as fine entry point to speak truth to power along with the phoniness of Bharat Mata Ki Jai where we apparently love our country but hate our countrymen Bahut hua sammaan as a hook is to Mukkabaaz what Kehke loonga was to Gangs Of Wasseypur And really kehke li hai completelyWatch the trailer of MukkabaazCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go