BOMBAIRIYA movie review is out. Starring Radhika Apte, Akshay Oberoi, and Siddhanth Kapoor in lead, the quirky indie black comedy drama is the directorial debut of singer-songwriter Pia Sukanya. With the new wave of cinema scaling new tides recently in Bollywood, let’s find out in the movie review of BOMBAIRIYA what Pia Sukanya has to offer.
What is unique about BOMBAIRIYA?
BOMBAIRIYA by first time helmer Pia Sukanya is a quirkily funny ode to the city of dreams – Mumbai. An observation of the irresistible city told through its quirky characters who stumble upon choice and faith.
What is the plot/storyline of BOMBAIRIYA?
Meghna (Radhika Apte) public relations manager of Bollywood star Karan Kapoor (Ravi Kishan) is going through a tough patch. On an eventful day, Meghna’s auto rickshaw meets with a slight mishap with a scooty driven by Siddhanth Kapoor. Seeing the commotion on the street a stranger Abhishek (Akshay Oberoi) offers an unsolicited help to Megnha. What follows is a chain of events that take snaky turns as we are introduced to an accused politician Pandya (Adil Hussain) who is enjoying a luxurious life in a jail cell. The rival politician (Irawati Angre) Shilpa Shukla, a dedicated police commissioner Wadia (Ajinkya Deo), a mysterious CID officer Gujral (Amit Sial) and an old man on the banks of Mumbai’s worli sea face.
Script analysis
The story of Aarti S. Bagdi written for screen by Michael E. Ward and Pia Sukanya interestingly narrates the incidents happening with its characters, the situations they get into, spiraled by choice and fate with its core theme, vision and observation of the city of Mumbai – the city which offers more than pools of money apart from its breathtaking sea face. The belief is put forward in a quirky dead pan humour interconnected with interesting metaphors like a police station build on an illegal premise, a contact on phone stored as ‘never reply ever”, the choices we make, the chance we take. Things we want to be away with but can,t resist the charm and turn back again. However, the ambition to fit in a relevant message with all the good intent somewhat dries up the dry sly humour but overall BOMBAIRIYA manages to please the connoisseurs of quirky indie aficionados in India.
Performances
Powered by some excellent performances, BOMBAIRIYA is ruled by the amazing vulnerability, complex, evocative, and arresting portrayal of Meghna by Radhika Apte who has an amazingly rare sense of timing. Akshay Oberoi as the kind hearted dude is charmingly perfect and gives the required contrast to the other characters that have quirky traits. Siddhanth Kapoor as the man trapped between his choice and fate is competent and has flair of his own. Ravi Kishan as Bollywood star Karan Kapoor is funny and entertaining. Adil Hussain as Pandya is brilliant. Shilpa Shukla as the rival politician Irawati Angre fits in nicely and has her moments. Ajinkya Deo as Commissioner Wadia is fine. Amit Sial as CID Gujral is earnest. Director Akshat Verma in his debut as an actor is fine. The director Pia Sukanya one scene cameo as Nandini has its moments. Sharon Prabhakar just comes for one scene. Dhanendra Kawde as Jija and Shailesh Hejmady as constable Dheere add quirkiness to the proceedings.
Pia Sukanya’s direction in BOMBAIRIYA
Debutant helmer Pia Sukanya gets an interesting premise and she does justice to the theme and the genre. The air of quirkiness is maintained and the director successfully ties the loose ends left open in the beginning. Laced with sly and dry humour, Pia Sukanya manages to narrate her observation about Mumbai – the city of dreams. The debutant director impresses with her vision and execution. Pia Sukanya’s purpose is clear – she wants us to meet these people, know them, sympathize with them.. but don’t drive any conclusion and that is fascinating.
Technical analysis/making
Karthik Ganesh’s camera smartly captures the moments in broad daylight and dark with ease. Andrew T. Mackay’s music moves along while Antara Lahiri’s editing is fine. Mithilesh Suba’s production design is realistic and the production values are decent.
Music soundtrack of BOMBAIRIYA
The music by Arko Pravo Mukherjee and Amjad Nadeem is primarily functional with nothing to take home.
Flaws
While the writer director maintain the simile of the Mumbai city with its lead characters based on their observation, the humour which is sly and dry but is restrained and controlled. It holds, arrests but the overall sweep is missing. To get into the basic crux of BOMBAIRIYA, the audience needs to have an insight and taste of such quirky, dead pan fun.
Final verdict?
Question : How we mold our life? Answer: By the choice we make and the chances we take centering on things, people and places we are in. BOMBAIRIYA by singer-songwriter turned filmmaker Pia Sukanya is a welcome addition to the quirky list of Bollywood helmers who have a vision and the capacity to say something what they believe in. We have had movies where characters interconnect and their lives then start stumbling and getting controlled under the weight of coincidences. The ever mystical Mumbai city which has had its magical mystic described in evergreen classic songs like ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Jeena Yaha’ sung by Mohd Rafi and Geeta Dutt in Raj Khosla’s CID (1956) does get a quirky echo in its basic philosophy in BOMBAIRIYA. In simple words, if you have an ear for quirky, pan dead fun than BOMBAIRIYA is the song you may wish to hear at your nearest theatre.
