SURAJ PE MANGAL BHARI REVIEW
Director: Abhishek Sharma
Starring: Diljit Dosanjh, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Manoj Bajpayee, Vijay Raaz, Annu Kapoor and others
Written by: Shokhi Banerjee & Rohan Shankar
SURAJ PE MANGAL BHARI is based in Bombay of 1995. Suraj Singh Dhillon (Diljit Dosanjh) is a single guy from Mumbai who has inherited Jai Mata Rani Doodh Bhandar from his father Gurunam Singh Dhillon (Manoj Pahwa), who had back in his days shifted his base from Punjab to Bombay with the hopes of making it big in the city. Suraj resides with his father Gurunam, mother Yeshodha Dhillon (Seema Pahwa) and sister Guddi (Vanshika Sharma). His parents are looking for a bride for him, but unsuccessfully so. His friend Sukhi (Manuj Sharma) advises him to act a certain way in order to attract the ladies, and he starts acting like a rowdy. After a while, Suraj’s parents find a match for him and he excitedly goes to the girl’s house with his parents. The parents reject him, stating they found pictures of him being rowdy and can not let their daughter marry someone like that. This leaves Suraj dejected and tries to find out who had clicked his pictures. After a lot of effort, he finds that it is none other than Madhu Mangal Rane (Manoj Bajpayee), a wedding detective, who had taken his pictures. He wants revenge on the detective but doesn’t know how. So he decides to woo his sister Tulsi Rane (Fatima Sana Shaikh) and make her fall in love with him. In doing so, he falls for her for real and expresses his feelings to Tulsi. At this time he learns of a shocking secret that can help him get his revenge on the detective, but that would also damage his prospects of marriage with Tulsi. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
The film has a simple story. Set in the year 1995, the film also tries to shed a light on some political issue, prevalent in those times. But one cannot think of a reason why it was necessary for the film to be set in the 90s? The story neither required it nor has it made any actual difference. The plot is simple but the film tries to be a lot of things and it is what lets it down, because it feels inconsistent. Besides this, the film is indeed funny and overall it does manage to entertain.
Technically, the film is okay. The Cinematography is decent but more could have been done to make sure the film indeed looked like it was based in mid 90s Bombay, a part of which is to blame on the costume design, production design, writing and somewhat also on the editor. All of them have come together and have contributed to make the film less authentic, and the only authenticity they managed to put together on the screen was the glaring sexism which was and still is prevalent in our society. But aside from that the film has been technically fine overall. Music was a non-starter.
Performances are what have made this one enjoyable. Diljit Dosanjh can play any role and still manage to be ever so charming. His performance radiates energy and he also manages to make the audience laugh with his act. Manoj Bajpayee is dependable as ever and is equally enjoyable to watch. Fatima Sana Shaikh is good for the most part but there is some minor inconsistency. Annu Kapoor (Shantaram Kaka) is brilliant. Manoj Pahwa and Seema Pahwa and Neeraj Sood are fine. Supriya Pilgaonkar (Rekha Rane) gives a good performance. Manuj Sharma supports Diljit well as his sidekick. The rest of the cast offer good support.
Director Abhishek Sharma gives us a good entertaining watch in the theaters after eight long months although there was room for improvement.