Film: Mirzapur: The Movie
Cast: Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, Jitendra Kumar, Divyendu
Directed by: Gurmeet Singh
Duration: 3 hours 17 minutes
Rating: * * *
Mirzapur perhaps marks the first instance of a popular web series being turned into a feature film. The series, which ran for three successful seasons over the last eight years, was helmed by Gurmeet Singh, who has also directed the film. Much of the team remains the same, with the notable exception of Vikrant Massey, replaced here by Jitendra Kumar who fits the bill perfectly.
To the credit of writer-creator Puneet Krishna, the film has been structured in a way that you don’t need prior knowledge of the series or its characters to follow the story. That said, there was a palpable sense of excitement among some audience members whenever familiar characters appeared on screen, regardless of how much screen time they got.
At well over three hours, Mirzapur is undeniably long. Yet it remains engaging for most of its running time, before beginning to drag unnecessarily in the final stretch. The themes of power, ambition, greed, success, and dirty politics are all fairly well established. At its heart, though, this is a film about the pursuit of power and what people are willing to sacrifice to attain it.
The world of Mirzapur is fascinating to watch, but certainly not a place you would want to walk into. Unfortunately, such worlds do exist in the real world. Mirzapur may be fictionalised for the purposes of the story, but the larger setting — Purvanchal in Uttar Pradesh — is very real. It is mentioned that whoever controls Mirzapur controls Purvanchal; whoever controls Purvanchal controls Uttar Pradesh; and whoever controls Uttar Pradesh, well, controls the country.
At the centre of it all is Akhandanand Tripathi, aka Kaleen Bhaiyya (Pankaj Tripathi), who sits on the throne of Mirzapur. He is level-headed, calculating and capable of being ruthless when dealing with his enemies. For him, power is everything. And he is hardly alone. Almost every character is chasing power, even if it means perpetuating an endless cycle of violence with no real endgame in sight. The obsession is not merely with power, but with the quest for it.
His trusted aides are the two young Pandit brothers, Bablu (Jitendra Kumar) and Guddu (Ali Fazal). Bablu is calm and calculating, though perfectly capable of pulling the trigger when required; Guddu is hot-headed and relies more on brute force. Their father, a lawyer, is understandably appalled by their involvement in the murky world of gangsters.
Kaleen Bhaiyya’s son Munna (Divyendu) is ambitious but incapable of doing anything without creating a ruckus.
He enjoys the privilege of being his father’s son, throwing his weight around without having actually earned anyone’s respect. There is a certain insecurity beneath the swagger, and Divyendu plays it well.
Ravi Kishan plays Babban Yadav, a drug dealer operating out of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, who wants to expand his footprint. And where better to begin than Mirzapur? After all, whoever controls Mirzapur controls the country.
The women, unfortunately, are mostly relegated to supporting roles. Kaleen Bhaiyya’s second wife (Rasika Dugal) has an agenda of her own, while the others — Shriya Pilgaonkar, Shweta Tripathi, Harishita Gaur, and Sheeba Chaddha — are largely positioned as love interests or family members. Sonal Chauhan plays Mumtaz, with whom Babban is madly in love and whom he plans to marry.
In one of the film’s more humanising moments, when she offers to make tea, he insists on making it himself and hands her the cup. It is a small gesture, but one not normally associated with gangsters in Hindi films.
That is perhaps what makes the characters interesting. For all their violence and ruthlessness, they are not entirely one-dimensional. Most have shades of grey, oscillating between moments of humanity and acts of extreme violence. Some have backstories that explain their behaviour, even if they certainly do not justify it.
The film does, however, lose some of its restraint towards the end. It becomes indulgent, stretches itself a little too far and occasionally slips into cheesiness. “Tum loyalty ke liye ladh rahe ho aur hum love ke liye” (“You are fighting for loyalty, I am fighting for love”), says one character in the middle of a do-or-die confrontation.
Technically, though, Mirzapur is impressive. The cinematography, in particular, makes a conscious effort to do something different, while the music score complements the mood and setting. Ali Fazal stands out, making the most of what is arguably one of the film’s more substantial roles.
The rest of the cast is uniformly good and holds up their end of the bargain.
