High on steam, low on everything else
Movie name:
Mr Singh & Mrs Mehta
Cast:
Prashant Narayanan,Aruna Shields, Naved Aslam, Lucy Hassan
Director:
Pravesh Bhardwaj
Rating:
All we’ve heard about Mr Singh Mrs Mehta over the past few weeks is the news that lead actor Aruna Shields’ nude scene was passed by the censor board. That’s close enough to make the curious teenage boys rush to theatres to get a glimpse of this adulterous tale this weekend. The film comes as a bit of a surprise with the way it is shot. When it comes down to morality, it steers clear from making any judgments.
Infidelity, cheating spouses and partner swapping — all of these elements feature in Mr Singh & Mrs Mehta. Karan Singh (Naved Aslam) and his wife Neera Singh (Aruna Shields) are a happily married couple and so are artist Aditya Mehta (Prashant Narayanan) and his wife Sakhi Mehta (Lucy Hassan). Neera Singh suspects that her husband is cheating on her. When Neera goes to find out what her husband is up to, she meets Sakhi’s husband Aditya. Both Neera and Aditya realise something isn’t quite right about their marriages. Instead of correcting what’s wrong in their marriages, they choose to take the easy way out by having an illicit affair. While their spouses are also unfaithful, Aditya and Neera continue to have illusions that they are faithful. Strangely, both Aditya and Neera never confront their respective partners and continue pretending to be happy in their married life.
The nudity (we know that’s what the audience will be waiting for) will disappoint many, thanks to the strategic blurring that happens. The artistic Aditya decides he wants to paint his new “muse” in the nude. Neera plays coy and denies him the right at first, despite prancing around naked after they have done what grown-ups do. There is little titillation here!
While the two men are comfortable with Hindi (why they need to speak in Hindi in a UK setting, don’t ask us) the actresses tend to stumble and fall annoyingly flat. Especially Aruna (she made her debut in Prince), who has “I can’t speak Hindi” written all over her face when she tries to get the nuances of Hindi right. Ditto for Lucy. She delivers her dialogues like a drone. Prashant delivers an effective performance.
Director Pravesh Bhardwaj has tried hard to make it look like Aditya and Neera have some chemistry between them, but the dialogues that are used to do the same only scream out “corny”. Where the film really suffers is the pace. Lucy and Naved Aslam have very little to offer. The characters who have their respective jobs are shown more in bed than their offices. There are subtle scenes, which the director leaves for the audience to gauge and imagine and are well-handled. He leaves the climax to the audience’s imagination.
The director has shot the scenes between Aditya and Neera very well; they seem comfortable in front of the camera. The first half of the movie is too slow.
Bhardwaj has concentrated more on an illicit affair between Aditya and Neera rather than the artist and his painting. The scenes get monotonous. It is the second half which picks up.
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