Mumbai Meri Jaan

“When you feel like crying, just urinate”, says a senior constable to his subordinate in the film adding, “That way you drain the excess water from your body”. This line acts as a metaphor to the pissed-off attitude of an average troubled citizen, about which he chooses to do nothing. That gives the gist of Mumbai Meri Jaan , a film that touches the lives of an assorted array of cosmopolitan citizens, in a way never witnessed before.

Amidst formula-driven films, only once in a while do you come across a movie which strikes chord with a social theme and is enormously entertaining at the same time. Only once in a while do you come across a movie that has an outstandingly original screenplay and more importantly it connects with the viewer convincingly. Only once in a while do you come across a movie that incites you emotionally and is technically flawless simultaneously. That’s Mumbai Meri Jaan!!!

In terms of theme and format, the film is reminiscent of Naseeruddin Shah’s Yun Hota To Kya Hota where multiple stories ran in parallel episodes and converged at the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. This one, too, has several tracks but the individual stories ‘emerge’ from the 7/11 train bombings in Mumbai. Much against your predictable perception, the film moves away from any opinionated or political argument on terrorism and traverses a more atomic approach by representing the ordeal of the violence in five individual lives.

Suresh (Kay Kay Menon) is a Hindu extremist who has a cynical outlook towards the minority community. Nikhil (R Madhavan) is a contemporary corporate guy who opposes plastic bags, endorses public transport and is progressively patriotic. Rupali (Soha Ali Khan) is a popular television journalist who sensationalizes news to make it saleable and considers that as freedom of expression. Tukaram Patil (Paresh Rawal) is a senior constable at the verge of retirement and is paired with a patrolling partner Sunil Kadam (Vijay Maurya) whose young blood wants to rebel against social injustice and corruption. Thomas (Irrfan Khan) is a nomadic coffee vendor who doesn’t gain a sense of acceptance in the class-driven society and has his own uncanny ways of getting back to the aristocrats.