Movie review: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, Pankaj Kapoor shines

New Delhi Jan 11: Star-Cast: Anushka Sharma, Imran Khan, Shabana Azmi, Pankaj KapurDirector: Vishal BhardwajGenre: ComedyStars- **/5The intoxicated industrialist Harry Mandola, played by Pankaj Kapoor, wants industrialization in his village titled with his name and therefore he would do everything which makes his dream comes true. He takes his daughter's name Bijlee, played by Anushka Sharma, and swears “Main Bijlee ki Kasam Khata Hoon, main sharab chhod doonga” (I swear on my daughter Bijli, I'll quit alcohol)But every time he tries to quit alcohol he is haunted by a pink buffalo who laughs out at him. Sometimes he perceives the animal on a bed, sometimes in the backyard. No matter what but he is trapped and again pleads for a drink. You feel so impressed with Pankaj Kapoor's performance that you wouldn't imagine any better drunkard than him. Vishal Bhardwaj defines an intoxicated person with humor in the form of Pankaj to portray how addiction to alcohol can make one go haywire. This one thing we thought would be dealt with as an issue in the flick but it is not. The Haryanvi Harry has hired a driver Matru, portrayed by Imran Khan, to stop him from this addiction. But Harry wants the drunkard to remain addicted as he knows that it is his weakness and a way to save the farmers' land from being ruined. Yes, Matru is not just a driver but an educated advocate and is back from Delhi to save his farmers' earnings from Chaudhari Devi, depicted by Shabana Azmi, a powerful politician. Chaudhary Devi has a stack of dirty games in her mind to acquire farmers' land. Harry is enslaved to Chaudhari's beauty and also finalizes Bijlee's wedding with her son Baadal, played by Arya Babbar. Will they all succeed in their motives? Vishal Bhardwaj brings you with a mix of predictable answers. The show opens with a Landrover car demolishing a beer shop. Recalling 10 min before this act, drunkard Harry offers a Rs. 1000 note to the tender for a single bottle of beer which he in his traditional abusive language rejects. After the demolition, they cheer out with bottles in their hands. Just when I expect a pure Haryanvi comic-riot throughout the run time, the other unrequited occasions added with too many aspects mismatch with the concept. Vishal Bhardwaj takes a satire on big politicians and their motives of money making. I still hold and hoped that this may be Bhardawaj's main issue to deal with by portraying socialism versus capitalism. But the issue is not practically dealt with. Looking at some more loopholes, an aircraft crashing in a ploughed field is considered a UFO landing. It may be Bhardwaj's intention to reveal how uneducated farmers perceive such acts. But it proves to be non-essential. You wouldn't stop to compare with Akshay Kumar's ‘Tees Maar Khan' and ‘Joker' the way the things are dealt with. The other scene where Bijli feels attracted to Matru since her childhood and finally falls in love with him dumping Baadal seems ordinary. Baadal realizes that the duo is in love and gives a supporting smile. You feel he'll support him but nothing relates further. Farmers' hard work and their struggle are portrayed in a common and ordinary way. Imran's encouraging words to farmers needed more energy. Though he learnt the Haryanvi dialect yet he doesn't deliver with the same local attitude, o should we call, swagger? We recall his last year's release “Ek Main Aur Ek Tu” and we recommend him to do similar roles.In the climax Anushka is usual as a drunkard daughter and performs well while she breathes fire into the feisty Bijlee. But we expected much more from Anushka Sharma after ‘Jab Tak hai Jaan'.Vishal Bhardwaj is one such maverick who has managed to dish out movies, without ingratiating to the market forces, which had tremendous aesthetic value to enamor an expert of cinema. He mastered the art of adapting the Shakespeare's plays into top-flight movies, such as Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello), and in “Matru..” he even gives a mention to the great dramatist but sadly he doesn't comes out with somewhere nearby perfect drama. Yet, he will be among the greatest filmmakers.I'll go with a modest 2 stars just for the outstanding performance of Pankaj Kapoor. While the flick disappoints, his Haryanvi dialect tickles your bone like “Gala sookh raha hai mara, tu gaddi chala, peechhe baithke peeta hoon","Tu chalayega nahi toh main rokunga kaise?" "Main parson se peeni chhodriyau". Go for him and don't expect too much once you enter the theatres.