Movie Review : Mukkabaaz

Mukkabaaz movie review: Vineet Singh, Anurag Kashyap's legendary knock-out punch

Anurag Kashyap's terrific form continues as he spares no one. From reverse casteism to the messed up political scenario, he trains his gun to many evils. Here's the movie review.

Updated: Jan 12, 2018 15:12 IST

By Rohit Vats, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Mukkabaaz
Cast: Vineet Singh, Jimmy Shergill, Zoya Hussain
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Rating: 4.5/5

Tum AC ghar me rehti ho, main ped ke neeche leta hoon
Tum nayi Maruti lagti ho, main scooter Lambretta hoon.
(You live in an air-conditioned house, I live beneath a tree. You look like a new car, I am an old scooter.)

Slow motion fist fight never looked more intriguing. A passionate but mostly untrained boxer is brawling with some ruffians on a congested street, and a mute girl is looking at him from a rooftop. There is pain, there is lust and there is a challenge. Can the boxer rise up, accept the invitation and fall in love with the girl who is so near yet so distant?

A gritty young man Shravan Singh (Vineet Singh) wants to be known as a boxer'. It's not just a game for him. It's his ticket to a better life, one that offers respect. He keeps Rocky's posters and calls himself Uttar Pradesh's Mike Tyson. Boxing is the only thing he is good at, but he is way past the age he should have made it'.

Like most of the sports federations in India, the UP federation is also cracking under political pressure. Bareilly politician and mobster Bhagwan Das Mishra (Jimmy Shergill) is the kingpin who makes or breaks careers. Unfortunately, the girl is his niece and that might kill Shravan's only reason to breathe, boxing.

It's a set-up we have accepted as part of our lives. Itna toh chala hai -- As if struggle is the one thing aspiring sportspersons should accept as part of their career graph.

The officials are neck-deep in corruption. Everybody wants to be in the good books of political heavyweights. A malfunctioning system is internalized, accepted.

Shravan with his idealism is a misfit. He is angry, mostly aimless and certainly not the one to bow down. Even hundreds of punches can't bend his spine.

Director Anurag Kashyap takes us inside the modest Singh household where they don't understand everyday English; in fact they are irritated by it. They probably consider English as one of the reasons for their misery. The son talks about passion' and the electrician father hears fashion' and keeps lecturing him. It's weirdly funny and a tight slap on the face of the education system and a society which equates knowing English with being educated.

Mukkabaaz keeps getting darker. In one of the scenes, Bhagwan Das asks a waiter to bring another jug for a harassed, helpless coach Sanjay Kumar (Ravi Kishan in a very unlike Ravi Kishan role), who belongs to a backward caste. Bhagwan Das, who is blind in one eye, immediately notices that the waiter's right eye is of stone. For a second, it appears like the nature's way of teaching him humility. But he isn't the one to leave his caste pride.

Men like him are the reason boxing tournaments take place in open and the place allotted for it becomes somebody's private property. Players don't understand the difference between medicines and prohibited drugs. For them, winning the state or national level championship is about getting a government job. They never aspire to win medals. Kashyap brings all these facets out in the open and then makes strong comments.

From calling out gau rakshaks' to calling the championship sponsor Bedaag (spotless), he teases us with in-your-face humour. You don't know whether to nod in acceptance or just look away when a boxing official tells Shravan, "Nobody wants to know what's happening in your life.

Kashyap's terrific form continues as he spares no one. From reverse casteism to the messed-up political scenario, he trains his gun on many evils. Mincing words was never his style, but this is bolder and very effective.

Interestingly, Shravan's love story with Sunaina (an enigmatic Zoya Hussain) never takes a backseat. It remains the prime emotion. The more ruthless the masters become, the more rebellious the oppressed get.

Jimmy Shergill might look over-dramatic to some, but he has tried his best to justify his persona, but such characters are not rare. Political aspirations collaborated with a strong sense of entitlement can lead to fatal actions.

Zoya Hussain is at the lack of words, but her eyes are not. She is aptly supported by the background music which needs a whole new article. It's wonderful and non-mainstream but the songs dare you to overlook lyrics.

And then there is Vineet Singh. This is the performance we all will cherish for years. It's legendary and who knows it might become his performance of a lifetime. You will root for him, you'll duck the punches with him and then you'll go down with him, but you'll never leave him. He won't let you. Our very own Rocky is born.

The 156-minute Mukkabaaz is the best film in last one year or so, and this year couldn't start on a better note. Let's cherish Vineet Singh and his thickheaded brawler with open heart.

"For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. This line by Alexander Pope could well fit Anurag Kashyap; in a good way though. There is an impulsiveness and pugnacity with which he manages to go head on into contentious issues that most filmmakers would shy away from, especially in these tricky times. Which mainstream director would dare set up his or her film with cow-vigilantism in focus, using it as a pivotal plot point? Though I must say that the version of Mukkabaaz that hits the screens this Friday did seem to have a few odd changes from the one I saw at the opening of Jio Mami 19th Mumbai Film Festival With Star. The "Bharat Mata Ki Jai chants of gau-rakshaks seem to get muffled in one significant scene in the middle; to my recollection they were much louder and clearer in the festival version. And the "Jai Shri Ram gets entirely obliterated in another, right at the start.

The core of the film, however, remains. While sticking to the larger underdog trope of most sports films, Kashyap takes Mukkabaaz away from the time-worn "race to victory arc and thankfully also keeps the much used and abused false nationalism and flag waving routine away. This is in no way a celebration of sports but a hard-nosed look at the rampant corruption, nepotism and casteist politics at the core of games, and life in general, especially their centrality in Uttar Pradesh. No wonder, its denizens like me often call it Ulta Pradesh.

Shravan Singh's (Vineet Kumar Singh) boxing career threatens to come to an abrupt end when he crosses swords with the boxing coach Bhagwan Das Mishra (Jimmy Shergill). It gets even more complicated when he falls in love with Mishra's niece Sunaina (Zoya Hussain). In fact, it's the lady and his love for her that stoke the rebellion in him.

There is something very Sairat-like about the love story; in the yawning caste divide she is from upper and he from lower caste, in those stolen glances, in the role reversal how the girl is aggressive and the boy shy. In fact, in its construct, Mukkabaaz could well be the most mainstream one coming from Kashyap, the obvious nods to popular culture Madhuri Dixit, Rekha, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh aside.

Also read: After 17 years of struggle, Vineet Kumar lands the lead role in 'Mukkabaaz'

The God is in the details in the homes, lanes and offices, the trains and markets, the camps, championships and the many bouts. The God is also in the lingo of both the dialogue and the lyrics. There is the typical off the cuff UP wit, even in serious exchanges. The flare-up scenes between Shravan and his father (Rajesh Tailang) are riveting and give us the best dialogue to kickstart this year with: "Baapshunya to hum kahan seAryabhatta ho jaayenge (If father is a zero how can we become Aryabhatta). Or the jibe at Bhagwan's sterility: "Unkibeedi mein tambaaku nahin hai. Or calling the future sister-in-law (in the sports commentary parlance), "aagamibhabhi.

Kashyap has a fantastic cast, led by Singh who gives both his body and soul to Shravan. But, as usual, the odd ones out, stand out RajeshTaliang as Shravan's father is an understated delight. But there's also lots that rankles. The film's protracted length, for instance. After the engaging set-up the film steadily begins to lose its grip as it moves towards the climax. The fantastic soundtrack, which encapsulates, all that the film wants to convey gets too inconsistently used, often like a piece of loud noise overwhelming the scenes and smothering the performances rather than taking them forward. Despite hearing them on a loop otherwise, I was desperate for more long pauses between the songs within the film itself.

The realistic finale which is more about off-bout negotiations than a knock-out punch end Mukkabaaz in a low key manner. But "Bharat Mata Ki Jai (with a big dose of sarcasm) instead of "The End plate, after the disclaimer in the finale, is where Kashyap knocks it out of the park. Just as he does in naming his chief villain a Brahmin, mind you Bhagwan. Chuckle along and ponder some.