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 Imagine…what happens when your loved one gets a cut on his or her finger? What are you reactions? What happens if instead of a cut on his or her finger, it is the entire finger, or worse, the entire hand gets chopped off? It would hurt you, wouldn’t it? Now imagine if you knew that you could do something to prevent this--if you knew that it is your carelessness and indifference that has lead to this--wouldn’t you feel guilty? You surely would and post facto you would feel that you would go to any extent to save your loved one. But the hard reality is it is post facto. A major event like a 9 September or 11 July changes the lives of those who are affected, but for everyone else it is just a gruesome news. Would it require hundreds of blasts killing at least one loved one for everyone to get us all together? This is the essence of the question Mumbai Meri Jaan poses—it is a movie that makes an appeal.
As the title credits juxtaposed with videos of India’s political history were shown on-screen, I thought the movie was going to be a docudrama on what happened during the serial Mumbai blasts in the train and how people tackled it. Actually, I almost believed that by the intermission. However, this movie—which starts off with its cast acting the crowd that we see everyday in trains and buses, on roads, in malls, in colleges, in offices—takes a sharp turn midway and goes on making many comments on the social consequences of the insensitive individualism that we are breeding. We are the characters. Mumbai Meri Jaan is about us. Fear. Hatred. Necessities. Fame. Power. Ambition. Love. Frustration. It is about the things that drives us. The film focuses on these various drives with its five characters: Nikhil Agarwal (Madhvan), Suresh (Kay Kay Menon), Tukaram Patil (Paresh Rawal), Rupali (Soha Ali Khan) and Thomas (Irrfan Khan). There is a beautiful, but small role, played by Vijay Maurya (as constable Kadam), who builds in a frustration of not doing what he must do. That small role shows the other aspect of these drives—frustration for not being able to do what one is supposed to do. Mumbai Meri Jaan is about how one event and its aftermath changes lives of these five characters. Nikhil, whose wife is expecting a child, is traveling by train. Nikhil is a man who wants to keep Mumbai safe and clean in his own small way. He believes that small efforts from everyone counts. He represents an ideology that a small part of our young, literate, upwardly mobile young society likes. His life changes as he sees that anything can happen to anyone. He is scared for his family and for society. He has an option of moving out of the country and but he chooses not to run away from the problems that his society is facing. The blast induces in him the fear of the same thing happening again during his travels. Suresh on the other hand builds hatred towards Muslims. He is an educated person, with work not coming his way. The blast builds up this hatred as he tries chasing Yousuf, whom he suspects has some connections with the blast. Rupali represents the segment of the society which is the source of information for everyone around. She represents the press that sensationalizes every issue and gets a story out of pain for their viewership. Her fiancé is killed during the blast—the tables turn as she becomes the story herself. Thomas, is the ignored, unimportant, underprivileged and suppressed part of our society. He is nothing to anybody, and so is his family. The world he lives in has nothing for him apart from suffering—all pleasures are for the rich. The blast gives him a chance to become important. His stray phone call makes him feel important as he sees people panicking and police moving around with his one phone call. Tukaram and Kadam are the mute spectators. Tukaram representing the major part of us who have adjusted to whatever is happening and though he knows the difference between right and wrong, he has no intention to even try to correct the wrong, as he knows there are powers bigger than him which will not let him do that. Kadam on the other hand feels he is avoiding his duty by not doing what is right. Some of the most beautiful dialogues in the movie come through their interactions. The blasts change their lives as they realize that they need to do their duty, however difficult it may be—they need to try getting out of the usual and do things differently. They represent the unequipped saviors that we have in our policemen.
I would absolutely and loudly like to appreciate the director Nishikant Kamath for not sticking to the real life situations that we face in the second half of the movie and giving a critical statement on society through his work. The second half of the movie moves the normal people he shows in the first part to their edge. It is the method of storytelling post interval which I enjoyed the most. I would have loved it even more if the director would have featured the “why” part of the movie well. There was no mention on the motives of the people who do this. They, too, are as much a part of us as the other characters are. Another person who should be given as much credit as Nishikant for the movie is Yogesh Vinayak Joshi. He is the one behind the tight and spell-binding screenplay, story, dialogues and lyrics. There were quite a few artistic masterpieces that he brought in as the story moved. A few of the scenes which will leave a long impact include:
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Mumbai Meri Jaan, instead of showing a dark, saddening consequence, which real life has, turns towards a very optimistic ending. Nikhil overcomes his fear. Suresh overcomes his hatred, Rupali overcomes her hypocrisy. Thomas overcomes his need for attention and power and Tukaram overcomes his corrupt life. The movie has a lot to say as the lives of its characters move on. The movie ends with a note of hope for everyone.